Jujitsu is one of the oldest Martial Arts known to man. From the Japanese "jujutsu", it translates as the "the gentle art".

Jujitsu began as the unarmed combat of the Samurai. Along with the warrior's sword, Jujitsu became a weapon at the Samurai's disposal. Strikes, throws, grapples and restraints were the core of the Martial Art where an unarmed warrior could defeat an armed and heavily armoured enemy.

As Japan entered the Edo period, the art changed to fight a new enemy. One that would not be heavily armoured nor be in a battlefield situation. The new enemy would be one dressed in normal attire and be found in the streets. Here, new techniques such as vital point strikes would be used. Against someone dressed in armour, a vital point strike would be useless, but now they became necessary.

It was also during the Edo Period (1600s) that a Japanese military doctor by the name Shirobei Yoshitoki Akiyama travelled to China to study medicine and various Martial Arts. Upon returning to Japan, he travelled on to the Tenjin shrine for a hundred days to worship. It was here Akiyama was trapped in a snow storm and witnessed how the snow had shattered a mighty oak tree, while a weaker willow tree bent, allowing the snow to simply fall to the ground. This philosophy of yielding to an opponents force to use it against them became prevalent within Jujitsu and is still a fundamental teaching.

Jujitsu can also be seen as a sort of father to many Martial Arts. Aikido, Judo, Hapkido, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Bartitsu and Kajukenbo being a few of the Martial Arts that were originally derived from Jujitsu.