Over the past 20 years Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has experienced rapid growth with gyms opening everywhere on a global scale. However, what about Japanese Jiu Jitsu? It is far less popular and doesn’t have global popularity like BJJ does. Here we will examine the differences between the two and what they offer in terms of martial arts. With this said, here is the debate of BJJ vs Japanese Jiu-Jitsu.
Table of Contents
What is Japanese Jiu-Jitsu?
Firstly, Japanese Jiu Jitsu has been around for a much longer time in comparison to BJJ. Its origins date back to 700AD. It has a much longer history compared to its Brazilian counterpart which began during the 1920s after being inspired by the ground game of Judo. This is not uncommon at all for martial arts. If we compare modern-day MMA with Pankration. The former began gaining popularity in the early 1990s whilst pankration was popular before the bible was written.
Japanese jiu-jitsu is never done without a kimono, with people preferring more of a traditional, baggy gi. This is pretty similar to the uniforms found in Karate and Judo, thus putting a focus on grips as a large priority. If we compare this with BJJ, the kimono is not really baggy at all and also is commonly performed without a gi at all.
Secondly, Japanese Jiu Jitsu has more of an emphasis on stand-up grappling rather than the ground game found with BJJ. There is no guard pulling taught in Japanese Jiu Jitsu. Instead, takedowns have a bigger emphasis as well as looking more towards wrist locks as submissions. It is pretty much a hybrid of judo mixed with aikido.
Not only this, but due to the origins of Japanese Jiu Jitsu it still maintains some of the traditional mystique which surrounds the older martial arts. For instance, in a Japanese Jiu Jitsu school, there’s a bigger focus on drilling and looking back throughout history.
What Are The Differences Between BJJ & Japanese Jiu-Jitsu?
- Typically you will not find leg locks in Japanese jiu-jitsu, which are now commonplace within BJJ. Instead, you could probably compare Japanese jiu jitsu to Aikido which also looks closely at small joint manipulation and standing throws.
- It should be noted that BJJ was very heavily against leg locks until the past 20 years. After this period we saw a rise in heel hooks performed in nogi tournaments.
- You will never find a Japanese jiu-jitsu gym that runs no gi classes. Almost every BJJ gym will offer this.
- BJJ is more sparring based and is more realistic in the sense of putting the skills that are taught into practice. Japanese jiu-jitsu is more drilling with no resistance.
- You will be very unlikely to find a Japanese jiu-jitsu tournament (or at least a full contact one). It would not be difficult to find a BJJ tournament every weekend in your local area if you live in the USA.
Conclusion
Japanese Jiu Jitsu should still be respected as it has influenced a variety of effective martial arts such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu which have flourished in modern times.
At the same time, it should be noted that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is significantly more popular these days due to its application in MMA and real-life situations. Japanese Jiu-jitsu has not really been seen in any high level MMA match or a single high level grappling competition since the standards have drastically declined compared to BJJ.
Although it may be interesting to learn the history of Japanese Jiu Jitsu. It is best to look toward Brazilian Jiu Jitsu if you want effective, applicable fighting skills.
So, who wins? BJJ vs Japanese Jiu-Jitsu
If Japanese jiu-jitsu were to make a comeback and be trained properly in a way similar to BJJ. You would most likely find that it is actually a very good martial art.
Often martial arts are ruined over time due to their restrictive rulesets and governing bodies. This has been displayed with 2 Olympic sports Taekwondo & Karate. At one point in time, both of these sports were legitimate full-contact martial arts with good techniques. Now they have devolved to point fighting with minimal contact.
If Japanese jiu-jitsu were to spar properly with full contact training, you may eventually see it become synonymous with BJJ and be unable to tell the difference between the two. Until then, there can only be one winner with BJJ vs Japanese Jiu-Jitsu. That is, of course, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
