I just might be an idiot...

[glockmeister]

NO, the term JIU JITSU is a mistranslation. The reason the gracie's kept it is just for tradition.At the time, that was the common spelling howbeit a wrong one. Thats why U will almost always see BJJ use that spelling as JIU and not Ju. When writing his book, "mastering jiu jitsu" Gracie makes that distinction. So for the most part when you see it spelled jiu jitsu, it is referrning to Brazillian, not Japanese. with JJJ it can be spelled as jujutsu or jujitsu.

[koryustudent]

Japanese Jiu Jitsu - 85% standup, 15% groundwork

Brazillian Jiu Jitsu - 5% standup, 95% groundwork

Not one ounce of disrespect, but it all depends on each individual school. I study at a Japanese Jujitsu school school, and we do half stand up, and half on the ground. My teacher is an old school Judo guy from Japan, and he tries to set the class up as he was taught.

Each technique that exists in BJJ does exist in Japanese Jujitsu. BJJ players just seem specialize mainly on what is called Ne-waza or ground fighting.

Granted I am just basing this on what I know from watching BJJ matches and reading books on BJJ. If anybody can show me a technique in BJJ that does not exist in Japanese JJ or Judo, I would love to see it.

The only difference I can see from BJJ and Ne-waza is the gi. If I am incorrect, I welcome any information to the contrary.

Asw far as the spelling goes, I have seen as many as four variations and the are all to my knowledge correct:

Jujistu

Juijitsu

Jiujitsu

Jujutsu

Japanese has three separate alphabets, so its only natural that there would be numerous spellings in English.

[AndrewGreen]

Thanks.

BTW, can I get a home course in crazy penguin ninjutsu?

I'm considering selling a home study course

[legkicker]

I'm going to address a couple of issues in this thread. Jiu jitsu/jujutsu/jujitsu/etc. are just different romanization of the same Kanji. Some JJJ spells it as jiu jitsu still and keeps it this way because of tradition. Yes, romanization from Kanji to English has changed throughout the years(sempai is now "officially" senpai). So TECHNICALLY speaking it shouldn't matter how you spell jujitsu.

Realistically, however, in BJJ it's spelled jiu jitsu, if you ever see someone that's a BJJ practitioner spell it any differently I'd be quick to arch your eyebrow. Many BJJ practitioners also don't pronounce it the Japanese way, they pronounce it more like "zhu jitsu". My theory on this is because of the Portuguese language and because of the way it's spelled. I could honestly care less but I'm one of those few people that know a bit about the Japanese language, Martial art history and evolution.

Now, the 2nd thing I want to address in here is that Japanese Jujitsu is kind of a generic term. What I mean by that is not all Japanese jujitsu focuses on newaza/jointlocks/throws like some of you are saying. Some styles of JJJ focus on atemi/striking. Some also use the strikes to set up for the throws/jointlocks/takedowns and vice versa.

BJJ is much different than JJJ because it's not so much exactly from "old school" Jujitsu(koryu schools), but more from Judo. The kind of Judo that BJJ comes from was different than most Judo that you see practiced, now. This is why, in my opinion, BJJ should be BJ for Brazilian Judo, but that's just my opinion. Anyway, sorry to get off track but if any of you have any questions on romanization of Kanji, send me a private message, have funsies.

Edited July 22, 2006 by legkicker

[alsey]

good post legkicker.

i've been to four different JJJ schools; two of them called it jujitsu, one called it ju-jitsu, one called it jujutsu. you'll see these variations on spelling crop up everywhere in japanese martial arts (in fact, in anything japanese, chinese or korean translated into english. you can also see it in arabic or any other language that doesn't use roman letters when you translate it).

i'll also say that in those four schools the amount of groundwork varies quite a bit. 15% groundwork is probably a bit low in my experience, i'd say more like 25%. at my current dojo the seniors seem to do mostly groundwork.

[bushido_man96]

Hey, when you say it, it all sounds the same, right?

[elbows_and_knees]

I haven't read this thread yet, so this may have already been said, but jujutsu is the proper romanization. that is really the only difference. jiu jitsu is not the correct spelling, however, it was a spelling adopted when GJJ was coined.

Now, technique wise, there is a vast difference. jjj is more standup oriented, while bjj is ground oriented. The stand up of bjj involves more throws and takedowns - to get the opponent down quickly - and not strikes and standing locks, as seen in jjj.

[RicksonFan]

Typically the Japanese is Ju and the Brazilian is Jiu.

Japanese Jiu Jitsu - 85% standup, 15% groundwork

Brazillian Jiu Jitsu - 5% standup, 95% groundwork

I don't know that BJJ is that little standup, it really depends on your school.

[parkerlineage]

From now on, I'm just calling what I do Jew-Jitsoo and living sticking with that.

[koryu]

We had our JuJutsu training incorporated into our normal class routines and were told that traditionally in Japan it is JuJutsu where in brazil it's JuJitsu. I'm not sure if any of it is true, but that's what I was told. I studied it for the practical application and never really worried about the spelling of it.