While the most popular translation of jujitsu remains "the gentle art", a more apt translation would be "the art of flexible adaptation". Jujitsu requires the ability to yield or flow with an attack or offer momentary resistance in order to break the attacker's balance and/or momentum and thereby control, disable, cripple, or kill the opponent. True jujitsu is achieving the maximum effect with the minimum effort.
        Jujitsu was the first Japanese martial art to be widely recognized in the West. Until the 1950s, jujitsu was the art of choice for law enforcement and military organizations worldwide. It is the confusion of combat systems with martial sports that allowed jujitsu to be superceded by karate, kung fu and tae kwon do in the public eye. Ironically, it is the perception of jujitsu as a sport today that has thrust it back into the public eye. While many jujitsu techniques are used in the cross-style tournaments so popular on pay-per-view TV, the chokes and joint locks seen in the UFC are just scratches on the surface of traditional jujitsu's wealth of knowledge.