From the category archives:

Jujitsu History

A Brief History of the Samurai Sword

Continuing on ‘Brief History…’ theme, let’s look at what the west know as a Samurai sword.
The official name of the commonly referred to Samurai Sword is actually the Katana however, any curved blade in the Japanese culture has been given the same name – especially through western pop culture such as comics and films. [...]

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A Brief History of the Nunchaku

In the 1970’s, Bruce Lee’s film Enter the Dragon gave the western world its first glimpse of the ancient martial arts weapon the nunchaku. The strange twirling weapon was comprised of two sticks held together by a small chain. It had the ability to strike an opponent from long range or choke him while in [...]

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A Brief History of the Naginata

In a Japanese samurai class, certain members traditionally used a pole weapon known as the naginata. The shaft of this weapon is made of wood, and has a large curved blade on the end. The shaft of the weapon ranges from five to seven feet and the blade is can be a huge three feet [...]

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A Brief History of the Bokken

The bokken is a Japanese training weapon used when learning the art of the sword. Originally, the wooden bokken was most likely copied from similar training tools in China. The bokken, or boken, became popular as a training sword during the Muromachi period in Japan, between 1336 and 1600 A.D. during the beginning of [...]

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A Brief History of the Katana

The Japanese Katana is known as one of the deadliest edged weapons originating from Oriental cultures, perhaps through western movies and culture, but rightfully also through the hundreds of thousands who have died by its edge.

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Japanese Terminology

Japanese Language in Jujitsu - Kanji Terminology

Some Jujitsu schools have done away with using the Japanese language in their training, others consider it integral to both preserving the art and conveying certain ideas. Here’s a list of a lot of the Japanese Jujitsu translations and terminology used in the dojo.
Everything from Age Uke (Rising block) to Yame! (Stop!), if you’re looking [...]

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