Japanese and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu “What is the difference between Japanese Jiu-Jitsu and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?” The first and most important reason can be found in the art’s history and is primary to all others discussed afterward.
In the early 1900’s, Judo was being developed from a variety of Jiu-jitsu styles in order to make it the most complete and effective martial art in the world.
If you recall the history of Judo’s beginning, you know that it was made up of mostly standing techniques at first, from Kito Ryu Jiu-jitsu and a few other styles.
Our Jiu-Jitsu in the United States was underdeveloped compared to the Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is simple to learn, so simple that a dedicated student of one year can easily beat martial artists of other styles who have many years of experience.
The techniques taught in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu are also effective and have been tested on knowledgeable martial artists who are not cooperating.
The differences in the two styles of Jiu-Jitsu are not necessarily in the technique, but in the practice and application.
First of all, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has a very sophisticated ground-game, where Japanese Jiu-Jitsu places importance on standing techniques, as does Judo.
Judo as a sport does not allow leg locks, where Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu does.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has no time restraints on ground positions and stalling most often occurs while standing.
Older styles of Jiu-Jitsu are usually preceded with their style name or Ryu.
To really understand the differences between Brazilian and Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, one must research the history of both arts.
In particular the birthing of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by Carlos Gracie, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’s founder, who was an avid boxer.
Maeda, the man who introduced Gracie to Jiu-Jitsu, was also a student of Judo, which at the time was considered an updated version of Jiu-Jitsu, or Kano ‘s Jiu-Jitsu.
While older styles of Jiu-jitsu stuck to their core curriculums, Judo soon forgot about experience and turned its attention to gaining world wide exposure as an Olympic sport, which would eventually restrict the once great art and cause it to focus once again on primarily standing techniques.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a progressive style of Jiu-Jitsu; once a technique is developed and used in competition, other Jiu-Jitsu players begin to design counters to that technique, and counters to those counters, which allows Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to evolve freely.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu players do not prepare for the untrained opponent; they assume that their opponent may be more technical.
Comparing “Old” Jiu-Jitsu to “New” Jiu-Jitsu is like comparing old cars to new.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has more techniques on the ground whereas Japanese Jiu-Jitsu has more standing techniques.
Without proper modification, these “Secrets” don’t mean much, but when you combine them with the refined practice of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, you’ve really got something.
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