From the Edo period, some ryuha (schools) of the martial arts began to call their own techniques jujutsu, judo, or yawara, partly because they wanted to say their techniques were not just forcible ones; the schools were, for example, Sekiguchi Shin Shin-ryu, Yoshin-ryu, and Kito-ryu (also called Ryoishinto-ryu).
江戸時代以降には自らの技術は単なる力技ではないという意味などを込めて、柔術、柔道、和、やわらと称する流派が現れ始める（関口新心流、楊心流、起倒流(良移心当流）など）。