When Bruce Lee popularized martial arts with his famous movies Enter the Dragon, Way of the Dragon and Fist of Fury, little did he realize the massive growth in popularity martial arts would receive. From a few practitioners (practicing discretely in private dojo’s) in the 70s, to today where almost every city and town has a dojo offering a martial art.
Competition
When the early practitioners decided to use some of the techniques in a competition environment (primarily Judo), the art was changed for ever; from an unarmed combat fighting system that trained troops to kill (or they would be killed), to a points scoring sport.
But with the popularity of the martial arts has come the inevitable commercialization. From dojo’s that all look the same (offering the same limited syllabus), to dojo’s giving out black belts when the senior instructor feels like it, the growth of martial arts is not without it’s problems.
Commercialization is inevitable to a certain extent; even martial art masters have to pay their bills! But for the serious student who wants to learn the traditional techniques and ways, none of the styles can match Ju-Jitsu.
Extensive Syllabus
The first thing that new to Ju-Jitsu students will notice is the extensive syllabus. The vast majority of Ju-Jitsu styles have at least seven belts, including the black. Each belt will have a separate distinct set of techniques that must be performed to a suitable level before the student can progress to the next belt. Typically, each belt will require a minimum of three to four months of training before grading. Because of the extensive syllabus, it can take up to four years before a proficient student will achieve their black belt grade.
Brazilian Ju-Jitsu
In recent years Brazilian Ju-Jitsu has become very popular – particularly in the United States. The Brazilian style differs from the more traditional Japanese style in that the majority of the techniques are ground based. That is not to say that practitioners of Brazilian Ju-Jitsu don’t do any throws or locking techniques, for instance, but majority of their techniques are designed around ground work.
To find a suitable dojo, prospective students should research their national association or federation. In Canada the Canadian Jui-Jitsu organization web site lists all of the major Ju-Jitsu associations. In the UK, the World Ju-Jitsu Federation is the largest federation of Ju-Jitsu practitioners with over 60,000 members (world-wide), and in the US the American Federation of Jujitsu or the American Jujitsu Association have member clubs throughout the states.
John Glimmerveen - John Glimmerveen is a freelance writer and author specializing in automotive, motorcycle, and motorsports subjects. In addition, John is ...
