Japan (Sumo, Jujitsu/Judo, Ninjutsu)

Japanese Martial Arts are wide and varied but can be traced back to Ancient times. Sumo, Jujitsu and Ninjutsu are just a few but are some of the more popular ones that are still practiced today.

Sumo

Sumo is one of Japan's most ancient arts and is suspected to have originated around 2000 years ago, somewhere in the 8th century AD. Sumo matches were exceedingly popular and are thought to have influenced other nations such as Mongolian, Chinese and Korean wrestling. Sumo started off as a religious ritual in the Shinto religion and some rites such as salt purification are still in practice today. In the Edo period, Sumos were prized for their strength and professional sumo wrestlers and matches started to be established.

Jujitsu

Unlike Chinese and Okinawan arts, Jujitsu focused not on striking but on throwing and joint-locks to incapacitate an armoured opponent as quickly as possible. These Jujitsu techniques were used commonly by the samurai against each other, especially if they happened to be disarmed and were considered just as important as the katana. The origins of Jujitsu are unknown but have been mentioned as far as 2500 years ago in mythical legend, where two gods were rumoured to have punished an eastern province using Jujitsu techniques. An early wrestling sport appeared in Japan in 230 BC and contained many Jujitsu-like techniques and is considered to be a predecessor to the martial art which was established in the samurai training regime about 784 AD. Jujitsu was not made to replace weapons arts but to complement it, and even now Jujitsu complements the majority of striking arts.

Judo

However, Jujitsu began rapidly losing popularity after the age of the samurais and Japan started becoming more interested in the Western world. Jujitsu was saved only by the creation of Judo, when a man by the name of Kano Jigoro creatively reinvented Jujitsu to a more sport-like practice and competitive art in 1884. New techniques and training methods re-popularised Jujitsu, now known as Judo and resulted in more competitive  matches and  was even established as an Olympic sport as of 1964. Judo also had influence on a later Brazilian martial art called Brazilian Jujitsu (which was only named so because Judo was still being called Jujitsu).

Ninjutsu

Ninjutsu is quickly fading in practice however remains as one of the most popular martial arts in the entertainment business. More than one film or cartoon has focused on the mysterious Japanese Ninja, infamous for stealth, secrecy and deadly martial arts. Ninjutsu was developed as a means of survival in feudal Japan where skills in espionage and assassination were necessary in surviving the warring factions. The exact origin of Ninjutsu is difficult to trace as the rise of Ninjas occurred much later in the 14th century, however Ninjutsu could have existed as early as the first century AD. Unlike other arts, Ninjutsu not only taught unarmed combat but armed combat, concealment, free running and medicene, all of which created a very deadly assassin.

http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/virtual/sumo/sumo03.html
http://www.sumotalk.com/history.htm
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/10/13/2481689/jiu-jitsu-history-birth-on-the-battlefield
http://www.reddragonjujitsu.com/history.htm
http://www.akayamaryu.com/history.htm
http://www.csub.edu/judo/history.html
http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/virtual/judo/judo01.html
http://www.ninjutsu.org.uk/history.htm
http://www.ninpo.org/ninpohistory/ninpohistory.html
http://www.igaryu.com/history_IgaRyu.html