What's in a Name?

Jujutsu, jujitsu, jiu jitsu - there are a wide range of spellings used in English for this Japanese martial art. In the native Japanese, jujutsu is written in kanji (Chinese ideograms), but the romanisation of the Japanese word into the English language has been performed several times using several different systems since Japan was forced out of isolation in 1854 by the United States.

Jujutsu, the current standard, is derived using the Hepburn romanisation system. Before the first half of the 20th century, however, jiu-jitsu and then jujitsu were preferred. Since this corresponded to a period of time when Japanese martial arts first became widely known of in the West, these earlier spellings are still common in many places, though the romanisation of the second kanji as jitsu is unfaithful to the Japanese pronunciation, especially since jujitsu means "military preparedness".