Blue Belt Essay: Why is Jiu Jitsu called the "Gentle Art?"

This topic has shown up in my jiu jitsu training at an interesting
time.  If the topic had been on an earlier rank's essay, I think I
would have had much less to write about.  The idea of jiu jitsu being
a "gentle art" has featured in the last couple months of my training
more than any other time during my training.  Is there something about
the techniques on the blue/blue-black lists that encourages this line
of thought?  Or was the essay topic carefully placed here because this
is a good point to spend some time considering the concept in relation
to blue belt techniques?

Regardless of the causality, the idea of gentleness has become
important to the way I view techniques.  My interpretation of "gentle
art" relates to the way techniques feel when you perform them
correctly -- I believe they should feel effortless.  They should feel
as though you are performing gentle moves on your uke.  This
"gentleness" applies most obviously to techniques like kote-gaeshi,
but in a way it also applies to the techniques in which we punch
someone in the face and ribs five times.  There's a lot more force
exerted by the tori, but when your body is aligned behind your punch
(your mind and body working as one, the 4 aspects of ki, all that
stuff I wrote about on previous essays), throwing a devastating punch
shouldn't be hard.  Whether the technique be mainly locks and pins or
mainly strikes, I think that if you apply the idea of jitsu as a
"gentle art," all techniques should feel as though you are cheating --
your opponent should be affected more than seems "fair" given the
modest amount of force you put into the technique.

If I had been assigned this essay topic two years ago, I probably
would have said something about how jiu jitsu is gentle enough that
people of any age or body type should be able to perform the
techniques.  While this is also likely true, I do not think that the
idea of "gentle art" applies as well to the way your body gets treated
during training.  Sure, all body types can perform the techniques once
they learn them, but I'm not convinced that all body types should
train the way I have.  I don't think many of the senseis would dispute
the fact that you occasionally get injured in training.  I almost quit
jitsu after a particular day of escrima training, when my knuckle got
hit so hard that it was still hurting three months later.  For this
reason, I tend away from the idea of "gentle art" meaning "even an old
person could do it."  I cannot imagine what it would feel like to get
your knuckle smashed when you're arthritic and your body doesn't heal
quickly anymore.  I prefer the idea of "gentle art" referring to the
feeling of executing a technique correctly.

In the last couple of months, I've started using the concept of
gentleness as a criterion for technique finesse.  When executing a
technique, my uke falling over or tapping out is not enough if the
technique did not feel "effortless."  Maybe I bowled over my uke
through brute strength, which wouldn't work on bigger and stronger
ukes.  Maybe I only succeeded in the armbar because the uke had stiff
elbows, and the armbar wouldn't work on someone more flexible.  If I
perform the technique and it feels effortless, only then do I feel
that the technique was truly executed well.  Currently, a few of my
techniques feel less "gentle" and "effortless" than the others, and
those are the ones that need more work.  I won't list which ones,
though... then you'll look for them on the test!