Jujutsu, Judo and Jiu­jitsu: A Historical 

Comparison of Terms
Matthew C. Krueger 
 
Acknowledgements: ​ I would like to thank Ellis Amdur, Anna Seabourne and Cliff S. Judge for
insights, comments and suggestions on the content and structure of this paper.
 
Abstract: ​ This paper seeks to explore the wide variety of transliterations that have been used for
the Japanese kanji ​ 柔術 ​ in Western languages during the 20th century. I intend to provide a
historically grounded understanding of the different terms and outline the reasons that
contemporary usage of specific spellings is important for historical continuity and accuracy in the
hoplology ​ research of these martial arts.  
 
Keywords:​ jujutsu, judo, jiu-jitsu, martial arts, Brazil, Japan. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“To ask may be but a moment's shame, not to ask and remain ignorant is a lifelong
shame.” 
- Jigoro Kano 
 
“Sometimes, you don't have to win, you cannot win. But that has nothing to do with
losing.” 
-Rickson Gracie 
 
 
Introduction: What is Jujutsu? 
 
The Chinese ideograms ​ 柔術 (referred to as ​ kanji in Japanese) have been transliterated in a wide
variety of different ways since the term’s introduction into non-Japanese languages. ​ Jujutsu,
jiu-jitsu, jūjutsu​
, and ​jiujitsu are some of the variations that have been used over the past century
within English. Some publications have been known to use multiple variations within the same
work (e.g., Longhurst 1906, pg 1).  
In English, these terms are used collectively to refer to a set of physical martial practices
that commonly involve throws, joint locks, strangles, chokes, and grappling, both while standing
and on the ground, to achieve either the submission of an opponent or to cause enough damage
to their body to prevent further offensive action.  

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 Historically, traditional systems of ​ jujutsu were a skill subset within comprehensive
combative systems (​ 総合武術 ​ sogo bujutsu​ ) (Skoss 1997, pg 181) that emphasized small
weapons usage while armored. They were known by a variety of different names including
yawara, kumiuchi, taijutsu, torite​ , and many others. It was only later that the term ​ 柔術 “​ jujutsu​”
began to be used to refer to all of them. Donn Draeger specifically states: 
 
Used incorrectly, ‘jujutsu’ embraces far too narrow a variety of systems of combat. The
word also gives the mistaken impression that jujutsu is an absolutely weaponless form of
combat. The principle of ​ ju ​
, ‘pliancy’ or ‘flexibility,’ is invoked, and, being misunderstood,
gives rise to still further misconceptions regarding the so-called ‘gentle art,’ jujutsu.
(Draeger 2007,​ ​
pg​​
112) 
 
Classical lightly-armed and armored “​ jujutsu​
” continued after the establishment of the Tokugawa
Shogunate brought an end to the perennial warring of classical Japan during the early 1600s.
However, with this peace came a slow and gradual shift in classical combative grappling systems
towards an increased emphasis on unarmed and unarmored self-defense (Hall 2014, pg 214).
This shift in focus from battlefield combat to self-defense had by the late Edo period found the
practice of the majority of ​ jujutsu systems being adopted by the commoner classes as a reflection
of its relevance for civilian self-defense​ .​
(Amdur 2013, pg 277. Draeger 2007, pg 117​ )
With the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate 265 years later in 1868, a rapid-modernization
period followed that was known as the Meiji Restoration. Many traditional practices in Japanese
culture were abandoned in the face of an overwhelming promotion of all things “Western” as
being superior to traditional Japanese practices that were seen as the vestiges of an oppressive
and anachronistic warrior class. (Benesch 2014, pg 40, 42) ​ According to critics, traditional
martial arts should be abandoned as antiquated and representative of the “feudalistic thought”
that had kept Japan shackled and isolated. (Draeger 1979, pg 113)
With increasing militarism during the years preceding World War II and an interest in
industrial expansion to fuel the economy, Imperial Japan sought to improve the physical
conditioning and nationalistic spirit of Japan’s youth. Jigoro Kano in 1882 synthesized a modern
derivative martial art from a variety of traditional ​ jujutsu systems, in part to preserve a cultural
tradition he saw as intrinsically valuable as well as to reinterpret it for a modern age. Due to this,
classical ​ jujutsu ​schools experienced in one sense a revival as renewed interest brought more
students again to their doors. At the same time, however, ​ jujutsu ​
eventually was modified and
subsumed by the prevalence of judo​ .​He eventually came to call this re-interpreted martial art
Kodokan Judo​ . For several decades, the distinction between ​ judo and ​
jujutsu was not clear even
in Japan. In fact today in modern Japan, clear distinctions in the names used to refer to different
systems is not consistent in the sense that Westerners tend to prefer: 
 
...in my experience Japanese speakers can be surprisingly loose with terms like “​ judo​ ”,
“​kendo​ aikido​
”, “​ ”, etc ... in the west we tend to use these terms as names for specific
martial arts, but over there a practitioner of ​ Yagyu Shinkage ryu might be asked why they
enjoy "​ kendo​" or perhaps "​ koryu kendo​ ," a ​
Takenouchi ryu guy might say his "​ judo​" is a
bit different than what he learned in grammar school, and I was once asked by a ​ Daito ryu

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 sempai what attracted me to study "​ Daito ryu aikido.​ ” (Cliff S. Judge, personal
communication, August, 28th 2015) 
 
During the late 19th and early 20th century, outside of Japan the lack of differentiation between
the terms “​jujutsu​ ” and “​ judo​
” was compounded by a lack of consistency in transliteration and
usage of the terms when transitioned from the Japanese language to Western languages.  
 
History: The rise and spread of Judo 
 
The system today known as ​ Kodokan Judo formed by Jigoro Kano was seen during the first
decade after 1882 as simply a new system of ​ jujutsu (Hall 2013, pg 269). In part his decision to
name his art, ​ judo​ , instead of ​jujutsu was due to prevailing social stigmas associated with the
word ​jujutsu​
. (Gracie 2001, pg 8)  
 
Kano stated: 
 
Many jujutsu ryu often indulged in such dangerous practices as throwing by rather unfair
means, or by wrenching limbs. This led not a few people who had occasion to witness
those wild exercises to deprecate jujutsu as being dangerous and harmful to the body.
Moreover, there were some ill-disciplined jujutsu ryu, the disciples of which made
themselves obnoxious to the public by willfully throwing down innocent people or by
seeking quarrels. It thus turned out that the word jujutsu carried with it an unfavorable
association in the minds of some in higher classes. Hence my desire was to show that my
teaching, in marked contrast to jujutsu teachings [as] interpreted by men of those classes,
was quite free from danger and was not to be used as a means for reckless
aggressiveness… [My system] if taught under the name jujutsu might prove unacceptable
to persons of the higher classes. (Draeger 1979​ ,​
pg 114) 
 
However, ​ Kodokan Judo was not the first usage of the word “​ judo​
”. Two centuries prior a school
known as the ​ Jikishin-ryu became the first recorded school to use the term and several other
systems (known as ​ ryu​
) continued this usage. Thus, it became necessary for Kano to include the
designation “​ Kodokan​ ” to differentiate his system from the ​ judo of other classical systems.
(Draeger 1979, pg 115)  
In 1905, a number of books were available in English including Sadakau Uenishi’s ​ Text
Book of Ju-Jutsu as Practiced in Japan and these were also available in Brazil. The government
and military of Brazil were aware of “jiu-jitsu” as a form of military and police training prior to
1905 (Pedreira 2014, pg 26). Japan's "science of jui-jitsu" at least in part was marketed in the
West as one of the reasons that a "weak" Asian nation was able to beat a then-modern
super-power like the Russian Empire. 
In 1908, two professors of the Japanese sport of “Jiu-Jitzu” arrived in Brazil, Sada Miyako
and Mme. Kakiara. Demonstrations and challenge matches were performed in 1909 and Sada
apparently did some teaching (Pedreira 2014, pg 46-47). At the same time, Mario Alexio taught

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“jiu-jitsu” along with boxing and capoeira in Rio de Janeiro between 1909 and 1914. (Pedreira
2014, pg 65) 
Kodokan Judo graduates Mitsuyo Maeda and Geo Omori both arrived in Brazil around
1914. (Pedreira 2014, pg 67) However, Maeda chose to consistently refer to his practice as
“jiu-jitsu.” (Gracie 2001, pg 10) Whereas in 1932, Geo Omori made a point of explaining the
history of Kano’s synthesis of the art from prior systems of ​ jujutsu and declared that “jiu-dou”
was the new name for Kano’s style of “jiu-jitsu.” (Pedreira 2014, pg 217) ​ Fundamentally, the
linguistic problem created at this time was a lack of understanding and awareness of the
distinction between classical ​ jujutsu and modern ​ judo among the public. This included the
journalists, authors and publishers who were producing materials and promoting events about
what was in a transitional period referred to at first as “Kano Jiu-jitsu” and as time passed
“Kodokan Judo.” 
At this point the physical practice that was becoming Brazilian Jiu-jitsu diverged from
both classical ​jujutsu and modern ​judo​
. Such that today the three exist separately, with Brazilian
Jiu-jitsu being a distinct art that yet retains considerable cross-training compatibility with its
close cousins. 
 
N­gram Analysis: When were the words used? 
 
The following are a series of graphs generated by Google's Ngram Viewer
(https://books.google.com/ngrams). This tool generates graphs representing the instances of a
word's usage in known publications within a particular language over a period of time.
Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, Portuguese is not one of the languages supported by
Google’s Ngram Viewer.  
The first image is an example showing the percentage of times the three words "​ judo​",
"martial arts" and "kung fu" show up in English language sources from 1900 - 2000. 
 

4 
  
 
During the decade spanning 1910 to 1920 there was a slight increase in the usage of “​judo​
” (blue)
followed by a lull and then sudden explosive growth after 1930. 
The second graph compares the usage of the terms ​ judo​ jujutsu​
, ​ , jiujitsu and jiu-jitsu
during the same time period.  
 

5 
 
Note here that the spelling "jiu-jitsu" (orange) occurred much more frequently than any of the
other terms from 1900 to 1910 followed by a tapering off in usage after the dramatic rise of the
term “​judo​
” after 1930. 
 
Problems with Transliteration 
 
Transliteration is a practice wherein a word from one language is incorporated phonetically into
another language. A large portion of modern Japanese involves English words that have been
transliterated using the Japanese method of phonetic pronunciation (see Table 1 as examples) 
 
 
Japanese  Pronunciation  English 

コンピュータ  konpyu-ta  Computer 

トラック  torakku  Truck 

コーヒー  ko-hi-  Coffee 

Table 1:​
English words transliterated in Japanese 
 
At the turn of the 20th century, transliteration (also known as “romanization”) of Japanese words
had not been standardized outside of Japan. Due to this lack of standardization, words used for
the practice of ​jujutsu​
/​
judo at this time were inconsistent and based on some variant of the
phonetic transliteration of ​
柔術​ "jiu-jitsu."  
The three primary methods of transliterating Japanese words are the Hepburn
romanization, ​ Kunrei-shiki Rōmaji​ , and ​ Nihon-shiki Rōmaji​. All were invented around 1885
during the modernization and Westernization influences of the Meiji Restoration. Today Hepburn
variants are the most common methods of romanization. 
The pronunciation of ​柔術 (​ jujutsu​) rendered in each romanization method can be seen in
Table 2.  
 
Hiragana  じゅうじゅつ  

Hepburn  juujutsu 

Modified Hepburn  jūjutsu 

Kunrei-shiki  jyûjyutsu 

Nihon-shiki  jyûjyutu 
Table 2:​
Romanization variants of ​
柔術 
 

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As described above during the early 20th century the term “jiu-jitsu” or a close variant was a
more common method of phonetically writing ​ 柔術​ in English.  
 
This usage is representative of Japanese words that have entered the English language in an
organic fashion rather than intentionally adhering to a specific romanization method. 
 
For example, the English word “​ judo​
” also does not adhere to any of the common methods of
Japanese romanization for the kanji ​柔道​ . 
 
 
Hiragana  じゅうどう 

Hepburn  juudou  

Modified Hepburn  jūdō 

Kunrei-shiki  jyûdô 

Nihon-shiki  jyûdô 
Table 3:​
Romanization variants of ​
柔道 
 
The rise of the usage of the word “​ judo​
” coincides with Kano’s attempt to internationalize
Kodokan Judo​ in the 1930s prior to World War II.  
 
Because Kano believed that Kodokan Judo could contribute to the peace of the world and
improve the general welfare of mankind, he made very determined attempts to
internationalize judo. He traveled abroad eight times to further this goal. While in London
in 1933, Kano spoke of his plans for a world judo federation and the dissemination of the
teachings of Kodokan Judo throughout the entire world. (Draeger 2007, pg 122) 
 
It is understandable then why ​ jujutsu​
/​judo was being referred to primarily by the term “jiu-jitsu”
from 1900-1910. The distinction between the two was unclear even in Japan and it was not until
after 1930 that Kano began to internationally spread ​ Kodokan Judo​ under that name.  
In 1914, the year that the Gracie family states their art was founded. English publications
were still about ​ two decades away from using the term "​ judo​
" in common publications. Mitsuyo
Maeda who was fundamental to the development of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, through his teaching of
judo ​in Brazil​
,​ judo​
initially did not use the term “​ ” to describe what he practiced and taught while
in Brazil. Some have speculated this was due to philosophical differences with Kano (Gracie 2001,
pg 8). However, by the 1930s ​ judo ​had become a term exclusively associated with Kano’s
Kodokan Judo and so it likely made sense both politically and economically to disassociate the
grappling practiced by the Gracie family from Kodokan Judo hence, choosing to refer to their art
as “Gracie Jiu-jitsu”. Later legal disputes over the use of the Gracie family name resulted in a

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popular shift towards using the term “Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.” ​ This is why we have Brazilian Jiu-jitsu
today and not Brazilian ​Judo​ .  
 
Conclusion: So What? 
 
Whereas one can claim that Brazilian Jiu-jitsu is at least in part a derivative of ​ Kodokan Judo and,
thus, should be referred to as Brazilian ​ Judo​
; it is an act of retroactive linguistic historical rewrite
to use such a term. The term “​ judo​
” was not being used consistently in either Japan or the West in
written works at the time that proto-​ Kodokan Judo came to Brazil. It was not until 1925 that
there started to be clear differentiation of the names in Japan (Motomura 2005, pg 233). 
Today, the modified Hepburn method of romanization is the most common. Thus, when
referring to the practice of ​ jujutsu of the variant form considered strictly Japanese in a classical
sense, the term “​jūjutsu​
” is the most accurate. Given the lack of macron usage in English the term
“​jujutsu​
” becomes the next best option. 
Continuing the usage of the term “jiu-jitsu”, when referring to the grappling arts that have
come from Brazil, represents respect for history of the art and is a reflection of the historical time
period during which it was transmitted to a new group of people. 
 
Both help the modern reader and practitioner differentiate clearly between the two practices. 
 
 

   

8 
References
Master-At-Arms Badge For Boy Scouts​
. London: James Brown & Son, 1925. Print.

Old School: Essays on Japanese Martial Traditions. ​

Amdur, Ellis. ​ Wheaton: Freelance Academy
Press, 2013. Print.
 
Benesch, Oleg. ​ Inventing the Way of the Samurai.​ Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Print. 
 
Draeger, Donn F. ​ Classical Budo. ​ Boston: Weatherhill, 2007. Print. 
 
Draeger, Donn F. ​ Modern Bujutsu & Budo.​ New York: Weatherhill, 1979. Print. 
 
Fairbairn, W.E. ​ Shanghai Municipal Police: Manual of Self-Defense. ​ Shanghai: China Publishing
and Printing Co., Ltd., 1915. Print. 
 
Gracie, Renzo, Royler Gracie, John Danaher, and Kid Peligro. ​ Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Theory and
Technique. ​ Montpelier: Invisible Cities Press, 2001. Print. 
 
Hall, David A. ​Encyclopedia of Japanese Martial Arts​ . New York: Kodansha, 2013. Print. 
 
Josefsson, Johannes. ​ Icelandic Wrestling​ . Akureyri: Þórh. Bjarnarson, 1908. Print. 
 
Longhurst, Percy. ​ Jiu-jitsu and other Methods of Self-Defense​ . New York: L. Upcott Gill, 1906.
Print. 
 
Motomura, Kiyoto. ​ Budōin the Physical Education Curriculum of Japanese Schools.​ In Alexander
Bennett, ed., ​ Budo Perspectives.​ Auckland: Kendo World, 2005, pp. 233–238. Print. 
 
Pedreira, Roberto. ​ Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949.​ ​
Sunnyvale: GTR
Publications, 2014. Print. 
 
Skoss, Diane. ​Koryu Bujutsu: Classical Warrior Traditions of Japan, volume 1.​ Warren: Koryu
Books, 1997. Print 
 
Sutherland, W. Brown. ​ Ju-jitsu Self-Defense.​
London: Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd., 1913. Print. 
 
   

9 
Appendix A: Selected Examples of Usage
 
The following are examples of how the word “jujutsu” has been used in a wide variety of ways
throughout the past century.  
 
“... the unique Japanese system of self-defence known as Jiu-Jitsu (the word is spelt
indifferently Jiu-Jitsu and Ju-Jitsu)” (Longhurst 1906, pg 1) 
 
“A Scout must attain proficiency in two out of the following subjects : —
Single​ Stick, Quarterstaff Fencing, Boxing, Ju​ Jitsu, Gymnastics, and Wrestling.” (Brown
1925, pg 5) 
 
“These methods are adopted mainly from the Japanese science of Jui-jitsu and depend for
their efficacy on the fact that the average man can bear physical pain only up to a certain
point, beyond which he will submit to the will of the person having the power to inflict
that pain.” (Fairbairn 1915, pg 4) 
 
“Jiu-jitsu is actually an old and mistaken way to represent the Japanese characters.
“Jujutsu,” or perhaps “ju jitsu,” is the correct version. However, “jiu-jitsu” is the traditional
spelling in “Brazilian Jiu-jitsu” so we have retained it.” (Gracie 2001, pg 9) 
 
“Like the Japanese with their ‘Jiu Jitzu’ we have kept it to ourselves.” (​Josefsson, pg. 7) 
 

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