When heaven and earth separated there were eight pairs of brother and sister gods that appeared. They stood over the earth, stirred the oceans with a jewelled spear and created the first land mass. Two of the Gods, Izanagi-no-mikoto and Izanami-no-mikoto, gave birth to the Japanese islands; their children became the deities of the various Japanese clans
In the act of giving birth to the fire god Kagutsuchi (or Homusubi), Izanami was fatally burned and went to Yomi, the land of darkness. In the land of darkness Izanami had eaten the food of that place and therefore could not return with Izanagi who had followed her there. Izanami became angry when her husband saw her rotting maggot covered body and the two were divorced. As Izanagi cleaned himself in the sea to purify himself from contact with the dead, a number of deities came into being. Amaterasu, the sun goddess, was born from her fathers left eye, her brothers, Tsukiyomi, the moon god was born from his right eye, and Susanoo, the storm god was born from his nose.
Amaterasu gave her grandson Ninigi three sacred treasures, a mirror, a sword, and jewels and sent him to rule earth. Ninigi decent to earth established the divine origins of the Yamato clan. He married a descendant of the storm god Susanoo and had a son Jimmu; he was the first Emperor of Japan. JIMMU TENNO, original name KOW-YAMATO-IWARE-HIKO NO MIKOTO, become Emperor around 600BC.The name TENNO was first used at the beginning of the Nara period (710-784) the name was a translation of the Chinese t'ien-huang, or heavenly emperor, and it replaced the older title of mikado, or imperial gate.
There is no early written history of Japan, the earliest records are in Chinese and written in the 700s’. Japan’s Emperors were revered as Gods and the name Shinto did not exist until the Chinese introduced Buddhism into the country. Shinto is based on folk law with the use of Shaman and has no written records like other major religions of the world, nor is there a fully developed theology to the religion.
Centuries ago various expeditions from the neighbouring Oriental countries visited the Japanese Islands bringing with them new cultures and ideas. Trying to piece together the series of events which can be credited to the formation of Ju-jitsu is a difficult task.
Some believe martial arts were introduced to China, and through China into
Japan, by the Indian monk Bodhidharma (Daruma as he was known in Japan).
Bodhidharma travelled to China in about 5th and 6th century.
However early history of a China shows a Chinese fighting systems dating back
to the Chou Dynasty, about 1122 to 255 BC, long before Bodhidharma arrived in
China. It will not be possible for the migration of this one monk to be
credited with the introduction of Martial Arts to China. Japanese history also
tells of unarmed fighting being practiced in Japan long before Bodhidharma
started his travels.
It is reputed that over 725 documented systems of Ju-jitsu were developed. By the 17th century there were over 9000 schools. The high number of schools in this period may be attributed to peasants as well as soldiers and monks taking up the art. The peasants may have been inspired into training for self defence purposes as the Emperor Tokugawa, who came to power in the early 1600's, band the carrying of swords by all except the samurai.
The early spelling for Jutsu was Jitsu coming from Kenjitsu and Jiujitsu. However the more current and popular romanji (Japanese system for spelling western words) uses Jujutsu.
The definition of Ju-jitsu; "ju" which is represented by the Japanese symbol for flexible, soft, compliant, yielding; and, "jitsu" is the symbol for fighting art. Ju-jitsu is therefore a complying or yielding fighting art. We are not talking about submission when we consider yielding we are looking at absorbing, redirecting or flowing with our assailants attack, subsequently controlling them by using their own energy.
The Nihon shoki gives 660 BC as the year in which Jimmu the first emperor of Japan ascended the throne; some consider this as the foundation of Japanese Empire.
The earliest surviving Japanese records of Japanese history are contained in two semi-mythical chronicles, the Koji-ki (records on ancient Japan mostly written in Chinese) and the Nihon shoki or Nihogi (the history book of ancient Japan mostly written in Chinese. The Koji-ki was compiled in 712 AD and the Nihon shoki was compiled in 720 AD. These chronicles claim to record events in Japanese history from about 7th century BC to the 7the century AD.
An incident in 24 BC records how Emperor Suinin ordered two men Sukune and Kuehaya, who were reputed to be giants, to fight in his presence. This fight consisted mainly of gouging, kicking, hitting and grappling. Sukune broke Kuehaya's ribs and then killed him by kicking and jumping on his back. There are records in 712 A.D. of Tatemi Kazuchi threw Tatemi Nokami as though he was a leaf. Other records also detail how Nomino Sukume killed a sumo wrestler with a kick. As Bodhidharma only arrived in China in the 5 to 6th century he could not have been the creator of Japanese martial arts.
Once Emperor Jimmu had established his rule in Kyushu he expanded his domain north to Yamato, a province in central Honshu, which gave its name to the imperial house and eventually to all of Japan. Various tribal units populated Japan; each unit having its own clan gods but all clans worshipped the sun goddess. The ruling Yamato adopted Shinto as the general religion for Japan. The most important clans were the Omi who claimed divine decent, and the Muraji who are said to be descendents of the nobles prior to the Yamato era.
Korea had a significant cultural influence in the early Yamato court. The strong ties between Japan and the kingdom of Peakche in Korea led to a significant number of Koreans immigrating to Japan. Korea's own culture was greatly influenced by China. It was the Koreans who introduced Chinese writing, scripts and philosophy to Japan and by the beginning of the5th century the Yamoto court started using Chinese scripts. It was not until 430 that the Yamato court appointed the first Japanese histographers. Around 552 the King of Peakche sent Buddhist priests to Japan and by the early 7th century Buddhism became the official religion of Japan.
Japan's first constitution was written in 604 AD. It introduced 12 hierarchical ranks within the courts; this was eventually reduced to 8. A great council, the Dajokan, which sent out governors' form the capitol, now ruled Japan. In 710 Nara in Yamato was established as the capitol. In 794 Kyoto was made the imperial residence and, with few exceptions, remained the capitol until 1868. By the 9th century Yamato ruled the main Japanese islands except Hokkaido.