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Budo Notes
1. Some terms: jujutsu

Note: Many of these notes, in contrast to my public web site at www.furyu.com, is meant primarily for my fellow students in iaido and/or Takeuchi-ryu. Therefore, some definitions or technical explanations may not necessarily be generally accepted by members of another style or school.

Jujutsu: The Terminology
In the Takeuchi-ryu, the term "jujutsu" is used generically to define any methods that involve unarmed grappling methods. In actuality, various types of methods were meant for different situations, and they were often given different names based on their techniques, end goals and applications.

Jujutsu is more properly used than the Westernized word "jujitsu," which in Japanese characters, doesn't really mean anything. It's only one letter in English, but will change a whole Chinese character in Japanese. Jujutsu means the method (jutsu) of suppleness; not necessarily yielding or weakness. The "ju-" is the same character as that used in judo.

One should make a distinction between the various classical jujutsu styles, as well as differentiate between gendai, or modern, jujutsu and classical (koryu) jujutsu. Whether or not any one particular system is inherently better than another is a matter of opinion, and of course it will vary from practitioner to practitioner. However, this does not necessarily mean we should leave our judgment at the door. We should assess each and every martial arts we encounter and quickly size up the technical worth of that particular ryu. Modern jujutsu, or "jujitsu" schools, as they label themselves, tend to be somewhat simplified, and sports and/or self-defense oriented. On the other hand, some classical koryu jujutsu schools may have become little more than shells of their original due to the low level of its subsequent teachers.

Most such jujitsu schools in the West are based upon some rudiments or subsets of Kodokan judo, developed further by the founders of those schools. Therefore, in my opinion, they display markers that to a discerning eye, can place the techniques as derivative of judo. That is not to say that they are ineffective, as classical judo itself was derived from koryu jujutsu, distilled and refined into what I would say was the "best of the best" techniques for tournament contests.

Classical koryu systems will, in contrast, often (but not always) look and sound quite different from Kodokan judo. Some, meant for footsoldiers, may have very effective but crude-looking methods. Others, developed for upper class samurai, may appear refined and subtle. Some koryu jujutsu may include only fighting methods for military purposes. Others may include kata for self-defense or early sports jujutsu (which is sort of like rough-house judo).

In my opinion, not all classical jujutsu systems as they are presently taught are reasonably effective enough to warrant study. On the other hand, not all modern jujitsu systems are as effective as they may claim to be, contest and sports wins notwithstanding. Just because a jujutsu or "jujitsu" is modern or classical, lower class or higher class, doesn't mean that it's a guarantee of success or quality of methods.

An interesting and popular subset of jujutsu is that of the aiki-related schools, which include the different aikijujutsu factions and aikido. They are related not just in terms of history, as all current aiki schools are derived from Takeda Sokaku, but in terms of technical characteristics. However different they may appear to be, they are more similar to each other than to other koryu jujutsu schools. Thus, a Ki Society kote gaeshi method may appear similar to a Honbu Aikikai kote gaeshi which will look similar to a Daito-ryu method, even though they may be different in some finer points, and they will all look very different compared to any similar technique taught in a non-aiki jujutsu school.