Shuai Jiao 摔跤, Chinese wrestling, is the grandfather of Japanese jujutsu (this would include judo) and thus the great grandfather of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and sambo etc. And it is believed that during the Qing Dynasty, that a man from China by the name of Chen Yuan-Yun had passed on some techniques of Shuai Jiao 摔跤 while travelling to Japan, which was then a precursor for the development of jujutsu.
Now they were martial arts in Japan before that of course and Japan had contact with China even before Chen Yuan-Yun. And may have been influenced already, however, it is just that Chen Yuan-Yun is documented during the time of doing so, passing down techniques on his travels to Japan.
Nonetheless, the Jiu or Ju in Jiu-jitsu/Jujutsu refers to softness, and this refers to a supple or flexible body that is not hard or tense. The state of “softness” allows the body to tense effectively, instead of being hard prior. And this concept of hardness and softness working in harmony or yin and yang is of Chinese origin.
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