What is American Jiu Jitsu?

Our particular style is derived from Hakko-Ryu Jiu Jitsu, which means "the School of the Eighth Light". Its basic principles are founded in the belief that strength should never be used in combat. Like our founding art, American Jiu Jitsu focuses on leverage, off-balance, and the knowledge of anatomy to overcome an attacker. Using an arsenal of weapons such as throws, locks, pins, pressure points and strikes, the Jiu Jitsu practitioner can overcome an attacker with little effort on their part. Jiu Jitsu literally translated means “the Gentle Art” so while it is nice to have, size, strength, and flexibility, are not needed in this system.

We are primarily a stand up Jiu Jitsu style with an emphasis on ground defense, and defense against weapons. The types of weapons we use (knives and escrima sticks) are based on practicality in a modern world. Our style focuses on teaching defensive techniques that you can apply in the real world. For instance, you are more likely to be attacked with a knife than a sword. Similarly, it is more practical to learn how to fight with a stick, because it’s common to have quick access to an umbrella, stick or even pencil. However, our main goal at the Metrowest Academy of Jiu Jitsu is to help our students realize that the best self defense is the ability to walk away and not have to engage in combat.

The earliest records of Jiu Jitsu are from a school formed by Takenouchi Hisamori in the 1500’s. His style used weapons such as swords, daggers and sticks as well as unarmed grappling techniques. This style was known as Takenou chi-Ryu and is widely regarded as the early roots of what we now know as Jiu Jitsu. During the following 400 years over 700 different styles and schools were in existence. The various systems of Jiu Jitsu became popular because it was widely used by the Samurai as military training. However the art of Jiu Jitsu greatly diminished after the fall of feudalism.

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