A peeve: the highjack of "jujutsu"

[zDom]

(Gah.. typo in the title.. jujutSu I meant of course ...)


Not pet peeve (I live in an apartment — not allowed to have pets )

but...

It irks me how announcers have highjacked the word "jujutsu" (well, jujitsu actually...) to describe all grappling.

"His jujitsu is really good ..." announcers say or text summaries of a fighter even if the fighter's background may actually be wrestling, judo or just generic techniques learned in a MMA gym.

I understand HOW it happened:

They MEAN their "Brazillian Jujitsu" and have shortened it to just "jujitsu."

But I don't like it.

By misuse of this word, they are burying the real meaning of jujutsu which includes so very much more than ground techniques.

And they are helping people forget that real jujutsu is Japanese and that BJJ is actually "Brazillian Judo" or "Brazillian Ne-Waza."

I really wish announcers and other people discussing MMA fights would say "ground fighting" or "ne-waza" or even grappling when that is what they mean instead of using jujitsu as a synonym for the above.

I have no objection to them using jujitsu in those cases where the person actually HAS trained BJJ... although even then I wish they would specify it as "their Brazillian Jujitsu."

I'm glad they don't misuse "taekwondo" this way to describe techniques from every person they see in the ring throwing a kick.

Ok. I'm done. Go ahead and flame away

 

[Kosho Gakkusei]

Strong agreement here. It's frustrating that when you meet another martial artist and they say they practice "Jujitsu" you have to ask them to clarify. Although the proper pronunciation is Jujutsu, so you have an idea by the way they pronounce it. If they say, "Brazillian Jujitsu" I say, "Oh, Brazillian Judo."

I'm glad they don't misuse "taekwondo" this way to describe techniques from every person they see in the ring throwing a kick.

Yes, for that they use Muay Thai.

_Don Flatt

 

[howard]

Hi Scott,

Another in agreement with you here. Although, I don't think it's really surprising.

Seems that the MMA announcers use "jujutsu" as a generic term for all grappling, like you said. It seems to me to be similar to the way about 30 years ago most people called all Asian arts "karate", or the way even today a lot of people call all Chinese arts "kung fu" (which isn't even a name of any specific Chinese art - it's just a generic phrase that can refer to any pursuit involving diligent effort).

It also seems to me from personal experience that relatively few people, even in the MA world, are really familiar with what traditional Japanese Jujutsu is. There aren't that many true Jujutsu schools around compared to other arts. And most of the ones I'm familiar with are pretty small. Not that many people want to put up with the rigors of honest-to-goodness Jujutsu training.

I don't think the MMA announcers mean any harm, I think they're just unfamiliar with true Japanese Jujutsu. Not cool, but not surprising either.

btw, Don - great comment about Muay Thai. That's the best laugh I've had today. Thanks.

 

[jim777]

Not pet peeve (I live in an apartment — not allowed to have pets )

but...

You need a fish tank! PM me, we'll talk Oscars :lol:

I do know where you're coming from though.

 

[Darth F.Takeda]

I do get tired when i tell someone I study and teach Jujutsu and they come right out with "Gracie".

I say no Takeda, he actually killed people.

I would not say that they do Brazillian Judo, what they do was called Jujutsu by Maeda, so tht's good enough, but it would be nice if more remebered that Jujuts was a Smaurai art, and is an art of war, not of sport.

 

[Boomer]

I hafta agree, I get annoyed by the stupid terminology that comes out of announcer's mouths (especially Joe Rogan....for a similar rant look here:
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49043&highlight=Joe+Rogan&page=3 )

But what I've come to realize is that Dana White has made a superior effort to mainstream martial arts, and when you do something like that, you need to dumb it down for the rest of the country.

I find that most martial artists are annoyed by this, and rightly so. We are almost a society unto ourselves, that welcome only those ready to participate in the sweat, blood and tears of the systems we study. Now we have all types of wannabes that think they "know croddy and jew jeetsew" from what they see in the popularized MMA.

 

[CuongNhuka]

I notice the differnice between the three methods that MMA anouncers love is "Boxing" AKA modified Muay Thai, Ju Jitsu AKA Brazillian Jujitsu (which is about locking the opponent out), and "Wrestling" which is about getting to the position to "ground and pound".
Ultimatily it is a pointless way of classifing a general set of Martial skills. If I was in an MMA fight and the anoucer said I had good Wrestling/Jujitsu, I would stop fighting and start yelling at the moron. I wouldn't for Boxing though, since Cuong Nhu does include Boxing, and I am a handsy fighter.

 

[SKB]

O-wait it should get better!!! Now that the word is in the main stream everyone will soon have to use it. There will be dolls with "Jujitsu grip", how about adolecent freaky jujitsu expert rabbits? Already people think you have to associate your self with jujitsu or you are not practicing a real MA. Or one which is effective for anything.

 

[Ybot]

As a Brazilian JIU-JITSU (as we who train in it usually spell it) practitioner I find it a bit annoying, but less annoying than when I here people call the various Chinese martial art styles Karate, or Tae Kwon Do Kung Fu, etc.

"Don't you think Jet Li's Karate was awesome in Fearless?"

It's alright though, it's just stereotyping, something humans seem to love to do.

 

[howard]

As a Brazilian JIU-JITSU (as we who train in it usually spell it) practitioner ...

Yes, you're right. Jiu jitsu is the way Jujutsu is usually spelled in Portuguese. That's most likely because that's the closest you can come in Brazilian Portuguese to the proper pronunciation of Jujutsu.

I believe that the most accepted romanization of the kanji in English is Jujutsu. Can anybody confirm that?

Thanks.

 

[CuongNhuka]

There is a style of Ju Jitsu that is based losely on Cuong Nhu (conceptualy, not techniquely), and thats how they spell it. However I have seen Ju Jutsu, Ju Juitsu, Jui Jitsu, Jui Jutsu, Jui Juitsu, Ji Jitsu, Ji Jutsu, and Ji Juitsu. Not to mention making it all one word. So, 18 ways to spell one idea, wow. Aint that something?

 

[Darth F.Takeda]

Jujutsu is how most Japanese based Jujutsu ryu spell it in English.
At least thats how it's spelled on my belt diploma's and my Kamban. (License to open a Dojo.)

 

[BlackCatBonz]

Jiu jitsu was just another romanization, just as riu was for ryu, also jyu jitsu.

There is no real wrong.....we are just trying to approximate a sound depicted by an ideogram in our own spelling.

Just another thing for people to argue over......I don't care how you spell it, I know what you mean.

 

[CuongNhuka]

Jiu jitsu was just another romanization, just as riu was for ryu, also jyu jitsu.

There is no real wrong.....we are just trying to approximate a sound depicted by an ideogram in our own spelling.

Just another thing for people to argue over......I don't care how you spell it, I know what you mean.

Check out the Wing Chun section, there are all kinds of spellings for every thing. Probably true no matter the area, but I notice it alot there.

 

[CuongNhuka]

Jiu jitsu was just another romanization, just as riu was for ryu, also jyu jitsu.

There is no real wrong.....we are just trying to approximate a sound depicted by an ideogram in our own spelling.

Just another thing for people to argue over......I don't care how you spell it, I know what you mean.

Check out the Wing Chun section. They have alot of spellings for everything. I'm sure that is true no matter the section, but I notice it alot there.