Jiu-Jitsu is originally a Japanese art of self-defence. Jiu-Jitsu means the soft and gentle art. Referring to the martial art: the opponent is not resisted with pure body strength. However, submission on the attacker is achieved as efficiently as possible. To achieve this, attention is paid to many different techniques: clamping, hits, punches, kicks, strangles and throws. The physically stronger opponent is overcome by yielding. This makes the sport suitable for both men and women.
Jiu-Jitsu is a traditional Japanese form of unarmed combat. The exact time of origin is unknown, but it said to have been developed during the medieval times in ancient Japan. During the many wars fought in this period, a samurai may lose his weapon on the battlefield. It is here were the need of unarmed combat and therefore Jiu-Jitsu came to existance. The greatest evolving of the martial art came during the Edo period which was a time of peace and prosperity. Many weapons and armor were left as decorations and it is through this peaceful time that hand to hand combat became more popular as a use of self defence. Furthemore, this also gave rise to competition between Jiu-Jitsu schools as soldiers would challenge others to duals. It was a very popular past time activity for the famous japanese warriors called samurai under the unified and peaceful government at the time.
Just like in almost every other martial art, Jiu-Jitsu also has ranking. You start with the white belt which is followed consecutively, by yellow, orange, green, blue and brown. Then black follows 1st to 5th dan. Above 5th grades are awarded for special merits/deeds. This means that you can no longer take an exam to get higher than grade, but that you must have made yourself useful for Jiu-Jitsu in a certain way.
For the belt exams there is a difference between the beginners group and the advanced group. In principle, the beginners group takes exams twice a year. You can earn a yellow or orange belt if the trainer thinks you have met the exam requirements. For the advanced group, the exam is by appointment, which means that you can discuss with the trainer whether you can take an exam for your next belt. If he agrees, then an exam date can be planned. If you want to know what you need to know and what you have to do for a new belt, you can look this up in the exam requirements (for this you can contact the trainer). All exams up to and including the brown belt can be taken within Arashi.
Brown belt? What is next? After you have obtained your brown belt, an exam within the association is no longer sufficient to pass your next belt. For this you have to take a separate exam, the district east exam. A number of external teachers assess whether you are goog enough to earn a black belt. In principle you are only eligable for such an exam if the trainer approves it.
Jiu-Jitsu in its original form is not very suitable for competitions, because its focus is heavily on eliminating the opponent as effectively as possible, which means that a match involves a lot of risk. That is why a number of modified forms of Jiu-Jitsu have been invented in order to be able to introduce a competition element in the sport.
The fighting system consists of 3 phases. The first phase is a kind of karate phase, in which the kicks and punches are used. The second phase is the judo phase, this is about grabbing and throwing. Finally, the third phase, in which ground techniques are shown (Ne-Waza). In the fighting system, the three phases merge smoothly into each other.
In this part two Jiu-Jitsuka’s show beautiful techniques. The techniques are performed in 4 series: grabs, covers, kicks, punches and armed attacks.
For a few years now, a Dutch kata championship has been held once a year. This involves looking at which couple can best perform the Ebo-no-kata or the Ne-waza-kata. For each kata there are 3 poules (if the admissions allows it, one for the youth, one under 1st dan and one for the 1st dan and above.
