Jujitsu is an art of weaponless fighting employing holds, throws and paralyzing blows to subdue or disable an opponent. Jujitsu's history has been lost in Japan's prehistory. Jujitsu-like combat was being developed and used even before the Samurai of ancient Japan.
Combative grappling goes back to around 750 AD or so. Classic Jujitsu actually had a balance of weapon and weaponless methods with a large amount of overlap and blending. Therefore, jujitsu was developed originally as an auxiliary skill used to be used in conjunction with weapons arts, not as a replacement.
The term jujitsu did not become a generic term until the Edo period (1603-1868). Or more often referred to as the "golden age" of jujitsu, when jujitsu technique was brought to its highest level.
Some define jujutsu and similar arts rather narrowly as "unarmed" close combat systems used to defeat or control an enemy who is similarly unarmed. 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 jitte (truncheon; also called jutte), tanto (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), and jo (short staff), bo (quaterstaff). These closed combat methods were an important part of the different martial systems that were developed for use on the battlefield. They can be generally characterized as either Sengoku Jidai (Sengoku Period, 1467-1603) katchu bujutsu or yoroi kumiuchi (fighting with weapons or grappling while clad in armor), or Edo Jidai (Edo Period, 1603-1867) suhada bujutsu (fighting while dressed in the normal street clothing of the period, kimono and hakama.
