Customer Reviews

Mastering Jujitsu (Mastering Martial Arts Series)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

No, that's not a quote from Gichin Funakoshi or Moriei Uyeshiba.

That's from Ian Fleming's "From Russia with Love."

The Gracies agree. The bad news is that we're told that 'There is no Santa Claus' against multiple opponents, so wannabe James Bonds are out of luck.

The good news is that when Royce Gracie entered the 'Ultimate Fighting Championship' he was able to do what most martial arts promised but could not deliver; consistently defeat much larger men.

At 170 lbs soaking wet, Royce kept winning against Sumo, Greco-Roman wrestlers, Boxers and Karateka-- as did the rest of his family.

Fleming would have approved of their methodology. The Gracies had tons of eperience, Brazilian law did not forbid no-holds barred challenges.

A bit of a throwback to the 19th century catch wrestling matches, if not quite The Wild West . . .

This book covers the beginning of the Gracie clan's ascencion to prominence. The authors make the point that martial arts which teach 'deadly moves' e.g; eye-gouging, shuto throat strikes and such are weaker than those which practise safe techniques--an easily explained paradox in their view, since the 'deadly' ones (Karate and Ryu-style Ju-Jitsu) have to remain theoretical--not too many students being willing to get their throats crushed in practise; whereas boxing and Judo spend most of their time in sparring safely against a training partner-that is not being cooperative.

Thus they have nothing but the highest praise for Jigoro Kano, founder of Judo. Indeed their 'lineage'is traced back to him via Mitsuyo Maeda,(1871-1941) a Judoka who saw Judo lose to the Fusen-Ryu school of Jujitsu. This was the first time Kodokan Judo had EVER lost against the 'theoretical' schools

Fusen Ryu employed ground grappling.

Kano added this to Judo and Fusen Ryu was 'incorporated' into Japan's official national sport--but not before Yukio Tani, a Fusen-Ryu stylist traveled to England around 1900 and defeated all comers, sometimes fighting as many as 50 a week. He only weighed 125 lbs.

In any case Maeda moved to Brazil followed Yukio's example and quickly adapting to foreigners who wrestled without a gi, boxed, etc.

He then met and befriended Carlos Gracie, and the rest, as they say is history. . .

---------------------------------------

This book shows some of the most basic (read effective) holds, takedowns and submissions in BJJ.

It also treads on some toes by stating that the cherished concept in JKD about 'ranges of combat' (kicking, boxing, trapping and grappling) has proven to be false. A flying knee can be long range and a grappler who has his mind set on a clinch and takedown from 15 feet away, will indeed, take you down.

A possible weakness is the dogma that 'all fights end up on the ground' which the authors sometimes amend to 'most fights between usnkilled opponents' etc.

The reality is that BJJ confesses to having no defense against two or more opponents save running or looking around for 'improvised weapons'-- See chapter 10, JuJitsu for self defense.

But there is a lot of data in which a boxer a karateka or a good street fighterhas indeed prevailed aginst two men---and more. Ask around your friendly local barroom bouncers, LEO's , and MP's.

Come to think of it, many in the military police and other similar organizations think the world of the hand to hand combat developed by the likes of Fairbarns, Sykes and other commando trainers from WW2--which are indeed 'theoretical' Furthermore with the introduction of 'Redman' and other protective suits and gear, the gap between theoretical and practical is closing.

Lastly, and I know I'm nitpicking--I think the world of the Gracies--Bruce Lee would be somewhat taken aback by the statement that the roundhouse " Can be safely regarded as the 'king of kicks' ". Here the authors are referring to Thai low roundhouse using the shin to attack a boxer's leg.

I'm surprised the authors did not follow their own logical conclusion, that the low side thrust kick to the leading leg of the opponent does not exist in Thai boxing because it's too dangerous and thus is 'theoretical', but might prove quite handy in a real fight , just as Bruce thought.

In any case, all martial artists can be gratefull to the Gracies for putting back some perspective into what works and doesn't, as well as for founding an organization where it does take years of hard work to earn a 1st degree black belt, as opposed to--well I'm too much of a gentleman to name names but if you've been around the MA scene, you know the score- and where possesing one actually means that yes, you can handle yourself in a fight-- WHAT A CONCEPT !

Outstanding book.

This is a notable contribution to the martial arts literature, particularly from the standpoint of theory. There have been several recent books capitalizing on the popularity of Brazilian Jujutsu (BJJ) such as those presenting basic techniques, a training syllabus, and self-defense applications. This book is distinguished clearly from those by its more systematic coverage of the general principles and their origin, allowing more advanced martial artists of all styles to learn what makes Brazilian Jujutsu so effective under the submission fighting and "no holds barred" conditions where it excels. This book also takes on unarmed fighting strategy in general, and so does not limit its coverage to the traditional methods of BJJ.

The book has several remarkable strengths, especially for a martial arts technical book. It treats cultural evolution of martial arts in an unusually serious and competent manner, it is relatively free of stylistic bias despite being written from within the perspective of Brazilian Jujutsu, it is very well written, and it has a logical structure with clear, useful, well-chosen examples.

The book also has a couple of minor but notable problems. First, the authors chose a completely non-scholarly format, and so they have some difficulty making serious historical and technical points with a very bare minimum of sources. Second, the authors treat principles as if all principles were strategic, thus largely missing technical (e.g. biomechanical) principles.

Third, the authors avoid an important central issue, the classification of strategies based on the degree of risk and commitment. An important distinction should be made between strategies that minimize the damage an opponent can do to us ("minimax"), and strategies that create the maximum opportunity to do damage to an opponent ("maximax"). Without this distinction, Japanese Judo and Jujutsu seem to the authors to be 'without a systematic strategy," when in fact they have a consistent systematic strategy but it is based upon the Japanese aesthetic and strategic principle of the "sudden death" finish. The goal is to use first opportunity to execute a devastating finishing move rather than to accumulate positional advantage in a series of phases.

The difference is one of the logical relation between preconditions and commitments in strategy. Just as in chess strategy (e.g. see Vukovic, "The Art of Attack in Chess", ch. 11) there are in general a set of preconditions that make a commitment to an attack sound, and missing those preconditions the attack is unsound and can be countered devastatingly by a skilled opponent. Knowing the preconditions that will make the risk of a move worth taking is an extremely complex and error-prone matter that in most fighting strategies has to be done through experience and intuition.

Since an attack necessarily requires a commitment and therefore produces vulnerability, it is important at high levels of skill that the attack (finish or transitional move) be done when the necessary preconditions are in place rather than simply hoping to pull them off through speed and strength. What the BJJ phased positional strategy does is to break down the preconditions for attack uniquely well and ensure that they are present. A finish (or transition) doesn't begin until the advantage is present for it to succeed with a high degree of likelihood, unless a very clear target of opportunity opens up. This way, BJJ fighters rarely get countered and frequently succeed at reaching the next step of their positional goal, especially against opponents who are waiting for larger openings to appear, even though they may have great technical skill. This is what I think is the reality behind the "lack of strategy" of other grappling approaches.

This book does a very competent job placing the (strategic) principles of Jujutsu into Japanese social and cultural context, using more than just the standard uncritical mythology usually found in books of this type. The difficult topic of cultural evolution in general and martial arts evolution in particular is covered unusually well, although it stops well short of being a scholarly presentation. The general problem of trying to explain both convergent and divergent evolutionary patterns in culture is introduced in an understandable way, and the weaknesses of the "common origins" theory of Asian martial arts are made very clear.

Having detached their analysis from the questionable "common origins" theory, the authors are able to make a strategic analysis of unarmed combat based on a more sophisticated combination of historical, social, and technical factors. With this analysis, they accomplish something akin to what Bruce Lee and the Jeet Kune Do theorists attempted years ago, and what Paul Maslak addressed in his "Strategy in Unarmed Combat" and "What the Masters Know," but with a new twist. Whereas previous analyses focused on the range-dependence of standing fighting, the authors of "Mastering Jujutsu" add their understanding of mixed martial arts fighting. This allows them to incorporate both the principles of grappling strategy and the principles involved in fighting against grapplers, and to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the of the range-based strategic approach.

They find the range-based approach marginally useful. Where they consider range important to standing fighting is in the same sense that Maslak divided ranges into "infighting and outfighting," and classical Budo considers a single critical distance or Ma-Ai to be important. The JKD-inspired idea of separate ranges for "kicking, punching, trapping, and grappling" ranges is found to be an inferior teaching tool in a very persuasive analysis using both practical examples and general principles. The authors divide standing ranges into "non-contact" and "contact," and demonstrate why this is as useful a range-based analysis as can be attempted.

Where the book has its greatest value is in its clear and very general presentation of the origin and application of the phased positional strategy of BJJ, and the examples of how it is executed in mixed martial arts, submission, and self-protection fighting. This is one of those rare books that while written from the perspective of one discipline has value that easily crosses disciplines. An excellent addition to the literature of unarmed fighting strategy.

I LOVE THIS BOOK! This is one of the most comprehensive works on the principles behind one-on-one, unarmed combat that I've read. We're not talking one of those "every move in the world" books here, though some are included. No, this is more on principles and theories which reallity fighting, specifically jujitsu, embrace. The book starts out with a rather extensive history of BJJ, going all the way back to ancient Japan. Briefly covered are the different theories of how martial arts developed around the world, which was interesting to read. The book then goes into the different stages of combat; the clinch, the free-movement phase, and groundfighting. I have to admit, I've never really been satisfied with "long, medium, short" or "kicking, punching, trapping, grappling", and I'm a little jealous that I didn't think of Gracie's stages of a fight on my own. His division is based on the different skills needed for each stage of a fight. Further chapters cover the stages by themselves. The free-movement chapter covers basic strikes, blocks, and long-range "shooting" takedowns. The section on the clinch actually goes over the most common clinch possitions (over-under, front headlock, double-underhook, etc.), and includes brief strategy for both. The authors give insights into strikes, takedowns, and submissions from the various clinch possitions. Groundfighting is covered in the next chapter. The focus is on the different possitions/pins, and is covered in a hierarchical manner, from most desirable to least desirable. Two chapters are then devoted to specific aspects of grounfighting; winning from the bottom, and winning from the top. These are probably the most technique-rich sections. Escapes from bad possitions, transitional movements to different possitions, and common submissions are shown. After that is a short chapter on training in general, and competitions that attract BJJ stylists are given a little detail (sport BJJ, submission wrestling, and MMA events). The last chapter is on using the theories of BJJ that have been presented in the book for self-defense. This one chapter is what Royce and Charles Gracie's self-defense book should have covered. Among other things, this chapter goes into the "prayer stance", a seemingly benign possition that enables you to defend yourself efficiently; six general catagories of violent encounters, and how their dynamics might effect the techniques used; and how to deal with common attacks, including a very pragmatic look at group attack. A nice feature of this book is that the authors look to present all views and theories of a situation, even if it doesn't really jive with BJJ's main tenents. I can also see how the style keeps evolving with exposure to different arts; many of the clinch moves are taken directly from amature wrestling, and the only kick presented is the Thai-style roundhouse kick. As I mentioned earlier, this book isn't a mega-technique book, but the techniques that are presented could be best termed "essential". The authors also make no bones about the environment that thier theories best suit: one-on-one, unarmed combat. There is definitely a sense of prejudice towards grappling and groundfighting, and this is where I kind of take issue with some of the stuff said. Early MMA/NHB events are brought in as evidence of "little guy beats big guy using grappling", but in UFC's 1-7, without going into too much detail, of six cases where the winner of a match was greatly outweighed, three were won by striking, and two of the remaining matches ended up with the grappler taking a severe beating, and the last one lasted about 20 min. with little action. In other words, I question the "little guy beats big guy using grappling" theory based on those events. Other than that, no real complaints. Great book overall, and an exelent illustration of BJJ theories and how they're applied. Good for anyone interested in what to expect out of a one-on-one, weaponless fight, or a MMA/NHB event.

If you want to learn Ju-Jitsu, it's best to take classes, and practice with real partners. But as for learning specific moves and combinations, as well as the theory behind the moves, this is the best book around. It also covers the history of Brazilian ju jitsu, and the Gracie family's envolvement in martial arts. Renzo is one of the best mixed martial arts fighters around, and he did a great job making this book. Also, it's a great buy at only 14 bucks. Get it now, you won't be disapointed.

The main complaint I had was that I was expecting to see alot more on techniques rather than history. About 1/2 of the book is spent discussing the history of how BJJ began and how it has evolved MMA. The technique section was OK and didn't have anything new. This would be a great book for someone who's just started doing BJJ, or thinking about getting into BJJ

This is one of the earlier books on grappling from the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu perspective. Renzo is one of the big name Gracies form the Gracie Barra school and an early Pride veteran. He is also cousin to Royce Gracie of UFC fame. And that is where this book leans. The combat applications of Jiu Jitsu.

This is both a how-to guide and a snapshot of where Jiu Jitsu was in relation to MMA and self defence a few years back. The game has changed, but the book is still relevant. The book is largely about grappling against the striker, but includes enough striking work to show where jiu jitsu fits into the big picture.

This is a book I couldn't put down. It is nice to come across a good martial arts book that one can actually READ, rather than just look at pictures and techniques. This book contains history which details the evolution of Judo and its descendant Jiu-jitsu in Brazil and beyond; it has strategy; it has techniques, self-defence concepts, and many other things. It is written by a Ph.D in philosophy, so its style is excellent. As a classicist, I enjoyed reading the quote from Herodotus at the start of the book, and the reference to the ancient Greek Pankration.
Now, to be fair, I should relate some things to consider:
1. It is written by ground fighting specialists who have taken their preference for ground fighting into MMA and have had a great deal of success there. Others have taken their specialties in striking into MMA and have had a high degree of success also, as the book clearly points out. Thus, while this book attempts to be balanced in regards to the 'phases of combat' concepts that it presents, its area of specialty is in the ground phase: the sections covering the clinch and striking are good, but clearly not as sophisticated as might be ideal.
2. The statement that wrestlers have achieved their stunning successes in MMA primarily through being 'bigger and stronger' than their adversaries is an unfair comment to make. Wrestlers rather use their skills to stay on top of their adversaries from where they can beat them into submission. The kind of positional skills wrestlers exhibit are proving to be more and more important in MMA as their continued victories clearly point out. Since Jiu-jitsu itself promotes pinning, even if less so than wrestling, it seems quite illogical for the authors to discount the strategy wrestlers take with them into MMA. One weakness of Jiu-jitsu is that its rules over-emphasize the submission at the expense of the pin, encouraging one to sacrifice one's dominant position for an attempt at a submission that can be disastrous if the intended victim weasels out of it and even worse if he then ends up on top. Judo has at all times, even when the Fusen-ryu practitioners joined the Kodokan, counted pins as victories. Indeed, there is no evidence at all that the Fusen-ryu folks ONLY fought for submissions. Just as they brought their intricate ground chokes and joint locks, so too did they bring their expertise in pinning (osaekomi). Modern MMA is bearing out the combat validity of this form of training more and more. It is in many cases simply much safer to pin and strike than to sacrifice one's position for an attempted submission. In Judo, of which the Kosen style is most famous for its ground work, pinning and submitting go hand in hand as equally valid combat techniques. To be sure, pinning in an MMA situation in order to strike is not the same as pinning someone in a mere grappling match, but so too is submitting someone in MMA quite different than submitting someone in a grappling competition, due to the important inclusion of strikes. Just as the submission grappler must alter his style for MMA, so too must the wrestler, and we have all seen how the positioning and striking skills of the wrestlers have been proven equally effective in achieving victory as the positioning and submitting skills of the Jiu-jitsu fighters. Ideally, one will have mastered both.
3. The authors make the comment that no martial art can prepare one for combat against two or more opponents. This is a little pessimistic and something of an exaggeration. There are indeed persons who have fought against two opponents and won. In these kinds of situations, being able to strike hard and fast and to stay on one's feet are critical. Staying on one's feet is particularly important so that one can retain the option of fleeing the situation: once tangled up on the ground grappling with one of the assailants, one has compromised one's ability to escape. The authors seem to assume that one cannot train to keep on one's feet in combat - that one will of necessity fall down or be knocked down by one's assailant at some point in the fight. This is patently ridiculous, since there are many forms of wrestling around the world that can train one to keep on one's feet very well, and their efficacy has been proven time and again. By using a strategy of sitting down and saying "come and fight me on the ground", one is nullifying one's offensive potential. These are facts that practitioners of an art that focusses on grappling on the ground may not like to consider.
4. The authors state that 'most fights end up on the ground'. But, what they seem to skip over are the various reasons why this is so, and how this comes about. In fact, many times fights end up on the ground due to one of the fighters being knocked down with a punch, or being thrown over a chair or other object, or even simply by tripping or slipping. Often the fighter who falls is stunned as a result of the punch or as a result of his impact with the floor or ground. If you can be the one knocking or throwing the other fighter down, and being able to thwart any attempts to do the same to you, then you have a potentially greater advantage going into the ground phase: it is much better to ground-fight someone stunned, disoriented or hurt than someone unscathed.
5. There is no in-depth coverage of using throws/body slams to harm one's opponent in this book. As mentioned above, it is advantageous if one is able to slam one's opponent into the ground and take some of the fight out of him. Unlike in sporting MMA rings, the real world tends to have a mostly un-matted surface area, and in cities, much of the earth is covered in solid concrete, making the hard contact between the ribs/spine and the ground as a result of a throw more disturbing than in the ring.
So, as long as one keeps the limitations of this book such as those mentioned above in mind, one can gain a great deal of insight into unarmed combat and MMA fighting.

This book contains a lot of verbiage about the history of jujitsu, which unfortunately was not what I was hoping for. It is also entirely no-gi based.

The book does a good job of breaking down the most common positions two fighters can get in. For example, winning from the bottom is broken down into attacks from the guard which is further broken down into attacks from the closed guard, and so on.

If you are looking for a more in depth technique book, check out Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribero.

An alright book, reviews a lot of positions which is important, but not enough submisions in my opinion, however it does cover a variety of techniques for takedowns and those are very important. It does not show counter-attacks nor defense if you get in trouble.

If your BJJ instructor is like mine, then he doesn't talk much about theory or high-level strategy - he's too busy showing you how to do the stuff. I found this book to be the perfect compliment to a "less talk, more work" training regimen because it takes the things you are learning and applying (normally immediately) each week, and explains the foundations and reasons behind them.

For example I came from kenpo and never had strong grappling skills or a lot of experience in it, so I could accept that I didn't want someone to get double underhooks locked on me, but I had no true understanding of the implications of screwing that up. Rather than stop the class a dozen times to ask questions, I suggest reading this book first, then asking questions. Previous reviewers have touted the "phases" of combat instead of the traditional "ranges", and I also found that very helpful. The ranges always seemed a bit too ... neat to me. Both theories are very helpful and should be learned in my opinion, if only to argue intelligently for/against one.

The writing style of this book was actually quite good as well. This worried me since the Gracies focus on combat, not English literature, but the co-author is a PHd who managed to NOT throw unecessary Latin phrases around. Overall it's a smooth and interesting read without grammar/spelling mistakes or illogical jumps in topics.

One thing that I was very happy to see was a non-arrogant tone. There is a division nowadays between standup and grappling arts that sometimes gets snippy for no reason, and to be honest it's pretty annoying (since pure grapplers and pure standup fighters BOTH consistently lose to complete fighters). This book's tone is very objective and when it states an opinion that might raise some ire, like pure standup fighters are flawed, it points to either direct evidence, strong logic, or both.