The following are examples of why someone trained in Jujutsu has many different skills or methods of fighting.
Evading (Tai Sabaki) is one of the main concepts that make up the core of most jujutsu methods or systems (styles) of jujutsu being taught today all over the world. There are many ways to evade the attack. You can move your feet to move your body out of harm’s way (ashi sabaki). ASHI = means foot / SABAKI = meaning movement.
You can sway your body left or right to slip on coming head shots just by leaning. You can bob and weave to evade angular attacks. You can pull your hips way back to evade a belly slash from a knife attack. You can turn your right shoulder backwards to go with your opponents shove or push to your right shoulder by twisting your waist. You can also step up invading your opponents space (get right in his face) to evade a baseball bat swing or a roundhouse kick to your head. You can fall to the ground to evade a sword attack or you can dive roll over a wall or high fence to avoid being shot.
Ate Waza / or Atemi Waza = striking can be like Karate. How to punch properly. How to use open handed strikes. How use knee and elbow strikes. How to kick with your ball of foot or heel, ankle, shin etc. How to hip check, head butt, strike with your shoulders, your back, and your belly jujutsu kaisen characters with your neck. Forearm smashing & hitting with your biceps and tricep muscles. How to body slam into some one using your entire body like a battering ram which was very popular thing to do back then with your armor on after getting out of the way from a spear attack or sword attack.
Atemi Jutsu is the ability to use ate waza along with strategy and science of anatomy and pressure points. Also to use your strikes in combination with everything else. ATEMI = means to strike.
Note: Atemi waza only means striking techniques and the study of anatomical pressure points on the human anatomy, but Atemi Jutsu is the science of all these striking techniques coupled together with fighting strategy of life and death. It is the science of how it all fits together during violent encounters.
Joint Locking techniques (Kansetsu Waza) is how to control an opponent that does not want to be taken alive. Back in the day when everyone was wearing body armor, punching and kicking did not do so well. Joint locks, however, worked great with someone wearing armor. The armor didn’t stop their joints from being twisted but it did protect them against punching and kicking attacks. So today this is what most Police personnel use all over the world today.
Throwing techniques (Nage-Waza) is one way of ending a fight fast and using your opponent weight against themselves. Throws and foot sweeps along with reaps work really well when practiced properly. You can throw a person double your weight and size. This can be a major plus when defending against more than one opponent or an opponent wearing body armor or a winter jackets. A throw can and will end a fight quick or give you that added advantage over stronger people. With little practice any one can learn good throws and foot-sweeps or reaps.
Escapes (Fusegi) is a very effective set of skills to have. This is where others grab you and place you in a head-lock or bear hug or even place you into a painful joint lock. You can get out of just about any lock or hold. This knowledge is a great confident builder. Escape choke holds, arm bars and more. Fusegi also means defense.
Rolling & Falling (Ukemi) I cannot believe how many people have thanked me already for teaching them how to roll and fall. This past winter there were a lot of people who automatically tucked their head when they slipped out on the ice. No injury. Rolling and falling also helps you get out of joint locks and grabs. They are ways to counter different joint locks. If someone picks you up and throws you to the ground (SLAM!), you can fall without injury and then counter them. Rolls are also used in Jujutsu ground fighting to actually fight. By rolling into your opponent, you can break his lower limbs or even take down multiple opponents by rolling around and slamming into your attackers. Remember you were wearing armor and movement on the ground was limited. Log rolls, triangle rolls, forward and backwards rolls are all great for fighting with.
Bone Breaking (Kopo Jutsu) in Jujutsu, is when we learn how to strike and break bones. A broken bone is no joke. Some time fights were ended with just a broken collar bone or tail bone etc. How about a broken rib? Ouch! Breathing would then become very difficult. In Jujutsu we have but are not limited to, bone breaking and bone shattering.
Disarming is being able to take your opponents weapon away from them and then use their own weapon on them. Again this is great for Law Enforcement.