[5] Because striking against an armored opponent proved ineffective, practitioners learned that the most efficient methods for neutralizing an enemy took the form of pins, joint locks, and throws.

Jujutsu schools (ryū) may utilize all forms of grappling techniques to some degree (e.g., throwing, takedowns, leg sweeps, trapping, pins, joint locks, holds, chokeholds, strangulation, gouging, biting, hair pulling, disengagements, and striking).

Basic methods of attack include hitting or striking, thrusting or punching, kicking, throwing, pinning or immobilizing, strangling, and joint locking.

Great pains were also taken by the bushi (classic warriors) to develop effective methods of defense, including parrying or blocking strikes, thrusts and kicks, receiving throws or joint locking techniques (i.e., falling safely and knowing how to "blend" to neutralize a technique's effect), releasing oneself from an enemy's grasp, and changing or shifting one's position to evade or neutralize an attack.

From a broader point of view, based on the curricula of many of the classical Japanese arts themselves, however, these arts may perhaps be more accurately defined as unarmed methods of dealing with an enemy who was armed, together with methods of using minor weapons such as the jutte (truncheon; also called jitter), tantō (knife), or kakushi buki (hidden weapons), such as the ryofundo kusari (weighted chain) or the bankokuchoki (a type of knuckle-duster), to defeat both armed or unarmed opponents.

Furthermore, the term jujutsu was also sometimes used to refer to tactics for infighting used with the warrior's major weapons: katana or tachi (sword), yari (spear), naginata (glaive), jō (short staff), and bō (quarterstaff).

The written history of jujutsu first began during the Nara period (c. 710 – c. 794) combining early forms of Sumo and various Japanese martial arts which were used on the battlefield for close combat.

The oldest known styles of Jujutsu are, Shinden Fudo-ryū (c. 1130), Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū (c. 1447), and Takenouchi-ryū, which was founded in the Sengoku period (c. 1530s).

In contrast to the neighbouring nations of China and Okinawa whose martial arts made greater use of striking techniques, Japanese hand-to-hand combat forms focused heavily upon throwing (including joint-locking throws), immobilizing, joint locks, choking, strangulation, and to lesser extent ground fighting.

In the early 17th century during the Edo period, jujutsu continued to evolve due to the strict laws which were imposed by the Tokugawa shogunate to reduce war as influenced by the Chinese social philosophy of Neo-Confucianism which was obtained during Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea and spread throughout Japan via scholars such as Fujiwara Seika.

[7] During this new ideology, weapons and armor became unused decorative items, so hand-to-hand combat flourished as a form of self-defense and new techniques were created to adapt to the changing situation of unarmored opponents.

During the same period the numerous jujutsu schools challenged each other to duels which became a popular pastime for warriors under a peaceful unified government.

From these challenges, randori was created to practice without risk of breaking the law and the various styles of each school evolved from combating each other without intention to kill.

[4] Today, the systems of unarmed combat that were developed and practiced during the Muromachi period (1333–1573) are referred to collectively as Japanese old-style jujutsu (日本古流柔術, Nihon koryū jūjutsu).

These techniques have for the most part faded from use in modern times, but Tokyo police units still train in their use and continue to carry a hojo cord in addition to handcuffs.

Since the establishment of the Meiji period with the abolishment of the Samurai and the wearing of swords, the ancient tradition of Yagyū Shingan-ryū (Sendai and Edo lines) has focused much towards the Jujutsu (Yawara) contained in its syllabus.

Their curriculum reflects an obvious bias towards techniques from judo and Edo jūjutsu systems, and sometimes have little to no emphasis on standing armlocks and joint-locking throws that were common in Koryu styles.

Over time, Gendai jujutsu has been embraced by law enforcement officials worldwide and continues to be the foundation for many specialized systems used by police.

Schools of jujutsu with long lineages include: Aikido is a modern martial art developed primarily during the late 1920s through the 1930s by Morihei Ueshiba from the system of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu.

Ueshiba was an accomplished student of Takeda Sokaku with aikido being a systemic refinement of defensive techniques from Aiki-Jujutsu in ways that are intended to prevent harm to either the attacker or the defender.

When Ōtsuka first registered his school with the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai in 1938, the style was called "Shinshu Wadō-ryū Karate-Jūjutsu", a name that reflects its hybrid character.

Jujutsu was first introduced to Europe in 1898 by Edward William Barton-Wright, who had studied Tenjin Shinyō-ryū and Shinden Fudo-ryū in Yokohama and Kobe.

Upon returning to England he folded the basics of all of these styles, as well as boxing, savate, and forms of stick fighting, into an eclectic self-defense system called Bartitsu.

Techniques like hair-pulling, eye-poking, and groin attacks were and are not considered acceptable in sport, thus, they are excluded from judo competitions or randori.

Kanō viewed the safe "contest" aspect of judo as an important part of learning how to control an opponent's body in a real fight.

Carlos and Hélio developed the style by promoting challenge fights against practitioners of other martial arts, competitions, and experimenting throughout decades of training.

Sambo (an acronym from samozashchita bez oruzhia, Russian for "self-defense without a weapon") was an early Soviet martial art, a direct descendant of judo, developed in the 1920s by Viktor Spiridonov, the Dynamo Sports Society jujutsu instructor, and Russo-Japanese War veteran.

It was, in essence, a standing arm-wrestling, armlock mastery-type of martial art, which utilized a variety of different types of armlocks, knots and compression holds (and counters to protect oneself from them) applied to the opponent's fingers, thumbs, wrist, forearm, elbow, biceps, shoulder, and neck, coupled with finger pressure on various trigger points of the human body, particularly sensitive to painful pressure, as well as manipulating the opponent's sleeve and collar to immobilize his upper body, extremities, and subdue him.

Later, in the late 1930s it was methodized by Spiridonov's trainee Vladislav Volkov to be taught at military and police academies, and eventually combined with the judo-based wrestling technique developed by Vasili Oshchepkov, who was the third foreigner to learn judo in Japan and earned a second-degree black belt awarded by Kanō Jigorō himself, encompassing traditional Central Asian styles of folk wrestling researched by Oshchepkov's disciple Anatoly Kharlampiyev to create sambo.

As Spiridonov and Oshchepkov disliked each other very much, and both opposed vehemently to unify their effort, it took their disciples to settle the differences and produce a combined system.