Today, martial arts are plenty. You can choose between striking-focused, kicking, and even grappling ones. Because of that, you may get confused when trying to decide one fulfilling your desires. So, let’s examine whether BJJ is a martial art:
BJJ, or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, is a martial art because it teaches people practical and effective fighting techniques. Like other fighting styles, it grants its trainees exercises that naturally will better themselves physically and mentally. Likewise, it has rich history, a common theme amongst martial arts.
If you take a look at judo, for example, you’ll notice how much of a rich history it has. In terms of today’s Drama shows, it’s nothing. And still, because it has evolved from an initial purpose and rose into what it is today, the fighting community regard it as a traditional martial art.
Then, of course, we have modern martial arts. These are fighting styles that may or may have not existed in ancient times. Their common theme is the amount of popularity they’ve attracted throughout recent years. To give an example, boxing is a modern fighting style.
Returning to our topic, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is one of the most effective martial arts worldwide. If you’re unfamiliar with the current fighting scene, most elite UFC fighters know and use ground grappling, which is what BJJ teaches, as their primary or secondary martial art.
Using ground grappling allows them to finish a fight in less than a couple of seconds, since BJJ is the art of chokes and submissions. It’s all about using it correctly and effectively, which is what you learn in training.
Before we continue, if you want to learn more about the best BJJ fighters from around the globe, ensure you follow the link to an article of mine on the topic.
What makes BJJ a martial art?
This section will discuss and explain why BJJ is a martial art. Throughout history, people have learned it for the same purpose. That was until today. Today, the case is different; people learn how to fight not to learn how to fight, which is surprising.
BJJ is a martial art because it has a rich history with the purpose of teaching people how to fight fiercely. That said, today’s world isn’t as much about learning to fight weaponless, but about self-improvement. That’s why, currently, many trainees started their Jiu-Jitsu journey for self-improvement.
And still, throughout history, people have decided to give BJJ a try, since they wanted to learn self-defense. They didn’t care about mental health and self-confidence as much as we do—today.
Since that was the case, BJJ was all about learning to fight. It was its initial, and what seems to be its last, purpose.
Throughout this article, you’ll notice a reoccurring theme, which is purpose. Later on, I’ll dedicate an entire section to this topic, since it is what ties everything together. Purpose, is, indeed, what martial arts do best.
As such, if you want to learn more about what ties all fighting styles together, be sure to stick to the end of this article.
The amount of positive impact Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu had on its trainees throughout history until now—is astounding. I don’t have any numbers for you, but I can guess from the amount of Forum posts I’ve read that mentioned BJJ positively. Truly, there’s no losing from learning it.
To conclude, what makes BJJ a martial art is its purpose (to teach others how to fight) and its rich history. In the following section, we’ll discuss its history and what makes it so unique.
Before we continue, I encourage you to follow the link to read about the benefits of martial arts. Reading them will help you stay consistent and dedicated in your training.
The history of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Our story starts in Japan. A guy by the name of Mitsuyo Maeda started learning the art of Jiu-Jitsu. He was so impressed at the life-changes and benefits he had gotten from consistent training. That was when he decided to dedicate his life to the spreading of Jiu-Jitsu.
Maeda, with a couple of other students, got a chance to fly to the US, where they began demonstrating this martial art. Their sole goal was to spread it throughout Europe and other countries. Eventually, they landed in Brazil.
It’s important to note that Maeda’s and his partners’ demonstrations went extremely well. As such, Jiu-Jitsu started to spread all throughout the world.
In Brazil, 1914, Maeda took on a guy you may recognize the name of as his student. That guy is non-other than 15-year-old Carlos Gracie. Carlos was so impressed at how extraordinary this fighting style is—that he decided he wanted to master it.
As you may know, he did just that. Later on, Carlos shared his knowledge and teachings with his family. They were so impressed that they decided to give it a try themselves. That, of course, is the start of BJJ as we know it today.
Then, the family adopted the martial art and honed it to be more effective and require less physical force. That’s one of the primary reasons why BJJ is as effective as it is – it’s suitable for anyone, regardless of size or weight.
In 1925, the Gracie family opened their first BJJ academy. They used to teach BJJ while honing it themselves, which is the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu we see today.
The rest is history.
Is Jiu-Jitsu a martial art?
Thus far, we specifically discussed BJJ and whether it’s a martial art. However, we didn’t specify it for Jiu-Jitsu, the original fighting style. So, is it a martial art?
Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art because its initial reason for existence is to teach others effective fighting. It does that by teaching its trainees ground grappling, the most practical and effective technique in the world of martial arts. Likewise, some Jiu-Jitsu styles also teach striking, and thus, are more applicable to real life.
Throughout history, people have wanted to learn self-defense in times of war. When the times revolved around peace, there wasn’t a true need for martial arts.
However, once things get hairy, that’s when new fighting styles come in existence. They help the citizens of a particular region learn self-defense. That’s how martial arts are born, and that’s how Jiu-Jitsu came to life.
Purpose – a common theme amongst martial arts
Throughout history, there have been countless fighting styles. While most of them failed, few rose to where they are today. What you know exists today are the ones that rose into the top of the chain. Well, then, let’s examine what makes them unique.
Purpose is the linking piece between all martial arts. In fact, it’s the same amongst all of them; it is, as you can imagine, to teach others how to fight fiercely. That’s the entire point and the initial reason people have created them.
Because of that, all fighting styles which purpose is to teach other self-defense—will be martial arts. The ones that didn’t rise and survive the test of time—are also the ones that didn’t have a strong sense of purpose.
As a result, few are the people who were passionate enough to dedicate themselves to it.
Now, let’s examine BJJ’s purpose:
The purpose of BJJ is to teach others how to fight fiercely. Back in history, Samurais wanted to learn how to fight if they ever got into a situation where they’re weaponless and afoot. As a result, they constructed and adopted Jiu-Jitsu.
As I’ve elaborated in one of the previous sections about the history of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the rest is history. Because the sense of purpose was so strong, many individuals began dedicating themselves to the art of ground grappling.
Finally, if the sense of purpose isn’t strong, people won’t dedicate their lifetimes to contribute and master this martial art. With BJJ, however, the sense of purpose is extremely strong; which means many people revolved their lives around it.
That’s the reason Brazilian Jiu-JItsu is a martial art.
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Final words
To end this article, I want to emphasize the amount of positive impact BJJ had on all of its trainees. From the first moment people started learning it, it built a close link and because of that, it survived the test of time.
Samurais first started to learn and teach Jiu-Jitsu in their community. As a result, they’ve been able to first spread it throughout the world. The history of Jiu-Jitsu, is, indeed, rich and full of drama.
I encourage you to start training in any martial art as soon as possible, since your well-being will improve almost immediately. Hence, you’ll receive both mental and physical benefits, such as increased confidence and reduced stress.
If you have the slightest of urges to begin your journey, go ahead and do it now!
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