[Skorzeny]

Croburn:

What is the name of your new instructor? Perhaps I can check him out "remotely."

Covert Mission:

Your misunderstanding (based on watching the Ultimate Fighting Championships) is understandable. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu certainly emphasizes the ground element (much like water, they say) to counter the weight or strength advantage (or striking advantage) one's opponents may have. In the earlier UFCs, most opponents of the Gracies were stand-up strikers. Hence, following the principle of fighting where you are strong and your opponent is weak, the Gracies took every fight to the ground.

The question of Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu versus Japanese Jujutsu has been settled a long time ago (even before the advent of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu). Now, what the heck do I mean by that?

You may recall that at one time (at the turn of the 18th Century), there were dozens, perhaps, hundreds of different Ryu's of Jujutsu in Japan. Some were purely striking arts, some were purely throwing arts and some combined the two. Only a handful dealt with Ne-Waza (ground grappling).

Now, because many of these technques, whether striking or throwing (or stand-up joint-locks), were "dangerous" in the sense that they caused serious injuries, most Ryu's of Jujutsu practiced their techniques in a cooperative fashion (as many Japanese Ryu's of Jujutsu and Aikido still do). For example, my partner/opponent grabs my lapel, I grab his wrist, he lunges forward and I then do a Kotegaeshi. It was hoped that through repeated practice, one may be able to reflexively do these techniques on an opponent "for real." There were also literally hundreds of different variations of techniques depending on every imaginable circumstances, which were taught as the instructors "felt like it" each day.

Enter Kano Jigoro. Kano was a respected educator. He was very strongly influenced by a Harvard professor in Japan who urged the Japanese educators to fuse Western scientific methods with native Japanese culture to produce a stronger and more beautiful Japanese culture. Kano had been trained in a number of different Ryu's of Jujutsu. He sought to infuse the spirit of scientific methodology and understanding to otherwise arcane and "artistic" Jujutsu. He studied the principles of techniques, balance and leverage found in Jujutsu. He founded Kano-Ryu Jujutsu, which then became Kodokan Judo. He also reduced the number of techniques found in Jujutsu for two reasons. First, he discarded "dangerous" techniques (meaning techniques which could not be applied in a measured "scalable" way) so that his pupils could practice with full force and yet not hurt each other. Second, he realized that practicing hundreds of techniques only a few times each was counter-productive and useless.

So, Kano adapted (some say created) the principle of Randori - free sparring, because he realized that, while techniques learned through static, cooperative practice may work against unskilled opponents, they were difficult to execute against skilled opponents who moved unpredictably and dynamically to avoid such "set-piece" attacks. Also, he instructed his pupil to practice a handful of "proven" techniques repeatedly, so that they would be greatly adept at them.

During the 19th Century, there were a number of contests (the UFC of the day) held in Japan to select the most effective martial art for the police forces that were then being modernized. During these contests, Kano's Judoka practically demolished every Jujutsu Ryu that cared to fight against it. So, Judo reigned supreme for some years until it ran into a rather unique system. The name is rolling off my tongue right now (Kito-Ryu?), but the practitioners of this system, realizing that they could not exchange strikes or throws with the superior Judoka, simple grabbed their opponents and fell to the ground where, with their superior ground skills, defeated the Judoka. So, realizing a deficiency in his Judo, Kano recruited these men into his system. By this time, Kodokan was virtually the martial arts HQ of Japan. Kano had invited Shotokan and Aiki-Jujutsu masters to his school and train his students. Kano's Judo became almost "perfect" - with atemi-waza (striking), nage-waza (trapping and throwing) and ne-waza (ground grappling), all practiced dynamically through sparring. This Judo, by the way, was a vastly different Judo than is practiced in Olympic or sports Judo of today.

It was about this time that a Kodokan Judo/Kano Jiu-Jitsu master, Maeda, settled in Brazil and taught the Gracies. Gracies, in return, further refined this system by combining it with boxing and other arts (such as catch wrestling) to make it more street effective, particularly for the small men that they were. They did this for seventy years, engaging in constant street fights and challenge matches. In the 1980s, one of the sons of the Gracies, Rorion Gracie, brought the art to this country and the rest is history. No other "pure" system whether from Japan, Europe, the rest of Asia or the US could defeat it. Gradually, martial artists took two paths. Some, like Jeet Kune Do (US), Shooto, combat wrestling and Wa-Jutsu (Japan) incorporated this style of fighting into their own. Others (Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, Aikido, and ad naseum) took the approach of "burying their heads in the sand and pretending like they never saw it."

On the contrary, BJJ continues to grow. ten years ago, armbars and chokes were the techniques of choice, but more and more we see a variety of leglocks being used in BJJ (influence of Sambo and catch-wrestling). In fact, heel-hook is my absolute favorite technique.

Parenthetically, In Japan, martial arts were banned during the American occupation and Judo was only revived as a "sport" rather than a martial art. To further gain acceptance to the Olympics, it turned itself into jacket wrestling. Kano, before his death, observed a "modern" Judo match and remarked "This is not my Judo, this will be the death of Kodokan Judo." Older Judo masters, upon observing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, remarked that it was very similar to the "rough and tumble" Kodokan Judo of pre-World War II (when Judo reigned supreme).

Even in Japan, BJJ style of fighting is extremely popular. In fact, the Gracies are held in awe and respect there. Rickson Gracies has fought in Japan a number of times, getting paid $800,000 for one fight (a staggering sum in martial arts contests unlike, say, boxing). Many professional Japanese fighters have adapted and incorporated this art into their own and some of them have become quite good at it (like Sakuraba Kazushi, often considered by many to be one of the two best middleweight fighters in the world, the other being Frank Shamrock).

So, to answer your question, "traditional" Japanese Jujutsu was long ago defeated by Kodokan Judo (pre-WWII), which in Brazil evolved into Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. There is a reason that the Japanese Jujutsu died out - it was ineffective unless one put decades of training into it (like Ueshiba Morihei did) and it was less suited for the modern world (where defense against swords or defending against attacks while sitting on knees are not particularly useful). Japanese Jujutsu (particularly Daito-Ryu Aiki-Jujutsu) has had something of a revival because of Aikido.

Personally, I think that both Aikido and some Ryu's of Jujutsu are fun to look at and aesthetically beautiful to practice and observe. I myself practiced Aikikai Aikido for some time. However, I know a number of Aikidoka and Japanese Jujutsuka (several of them Yudansha) who know 100s of techniques and yet could not do a single one against me in a real fight (or know how to deal with a real punch). At the same time, while I have a "limited reportoire" of techniques, I can get a straight armbar (juji-gatame) or a heel-hook, a single technique, from virtually any position you can think of. Why? Because 1) I practice a handful of proven techniques full-force in every conceivable position possible and 2) I am taught the principles behind the bio-mechanics of these techniques that even if I run into a position that I've never encountered, I can "figure them out" in no order. It's a difference between being taught a very large multiplication chart (Japanese Jujutsu) as opposed to being taught the principles of multiplication and then being forced to do "live" examples repeatedly (BJJ). Who is going to be better at math (real fighting)?

Ving Tsun or Wing Chun is a southern Chinese martial art that is mostly strongly identified with Hong Kong. Bruce Lee studied it as his "base" art (but then supplanted most of its striking elements with those from boxing). Its attack and defense are based on a centerline. So unlike kickboxers or TKD folks, they don't fight "sideways." They fight more or less frontally. It's a decent striking and trapping art, but not one that is highly effective in real fights. The reason is that most people crash through the "trapping zone" into the clinch and the grappling zone or they stay out in the kicking and punching zones/ranges.

If you are interested in Wing Chun style of MA, I'd recommend you to check out Jeet Kune Do instead.

Sorry about the long post, but I thought that I would not do justice to the topic unless I explained myself fully.

Skorzeny

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For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence. Sun Tzu