# Japanese Physical Training/1

JAPANESE PHYSICAL
TRAINING
CHAPTER I
THE HISTORY OF "JIU-JITSU," WITH A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FIRST PRINCIPLES
There are in vogue to-day many systems of physical training—most of them excellent. At first thought there would seem to be no need of a new volume on the subject.
But the author wishes to present the system that from personal experience he believes to be the most wonderful of all in building up the perfect, healthy body—a body that is capable of undergoing a strain that would seem incredible to a Caucasian. Certainly there is no hardier race in the world than the Japanese. Throughout the campaign of the Allies in ​China, in 1900, the Japanese repeatedly proved their ability to outmarch our troops by fifty per cent.—and this despite the fact that our American soldiers ranked second in point of endurance.
What enabled the little men from Dai Nippon to outstrip so easily the big, sturdy fellows of the American regiments? Even newly appointed graduates of West Point—where the physical training is so superb—marvelled enviously at the endurance of the little brown men.
The Japanese call their system of physical training jiu-jitsu. Literally interpreted, this means "muscle-breaking." The term is not wholly an apt one, as the reader will discover farther on.
THE OLD-STYLE JAPANESE WRESTLER.
The commoner. Height, 6ft. 3in. Weight, 280lbs.
Trained for the work from infancy.
Samurai rank went by heredity. Every son of a samurai, unless he disgraced himself, kept his caste and took up the profession of arms. The comparatively few weaklings among these people retained their caste but did not marry.
In battle the samurai carried no weight other than their swords and the clothing they wore. The commoners, who went along as camp-followers, bore all the baggage. It was considered utterly undignified for a samurai to perform any toil outside of that connected with fighting, or with learning and preparing to fight. As a sequence it came about that the samurai spent much of their otherwise idle time in athletic exercises.
Of course sword-play came first of all — scientific combat with long and short bamboo swords. Running, leaping, and wrestling also ​took up much of the time of the Japanese knights. Of course the active outdoor life, combined with frugal, sensible diet, made these samurai powerful men.
But there was yet vastly more to come in the physical development of these little men. One bright fellow discovered that by pressing thumb or fingers against certain muscles or nerves momentary paralysis could be produced. He also discovered that by employing the hardened edge of his hand to strike a piece of bamboo at a certain angle of impact he could break the stick. If he could paralyse his own nerves and muscles, why not another's? If he could break a stick by a sharp blow with the edge of his hand, why could he not train himself in the same way to break the arm of a dangerous antagonist? And that was the beginning of the creation of the science of jiu-jitsu.
If it were possible to verify the guess, it would be interesting to speculate as to how the originator of jiu-jitsu made his first discovery. It is as likely as not that he started from an accidental bumping of his ​"funny-bone"—a mishap so familiar to children. That may have set him to wondering if there were not in the body other nerves and muscles that could be attacked. Probably one of the first additional discoveries was that very severe pain may be inflicted upon the upper arm. Take a point about midway between the elbow and the shoulder, of some one else's arm. Employ the grip in such a way that the fingers dig into the muscles behind the middle of the bone. The thumb's tip should press into the muscles over the front of the bone. Without in any way relaxing the grip, both fingers and thumb should be vigorously pressed over the parallel lines of muscles and nerves. Any experimenter can readily find on his own arm the exact locations of these muscles and nerves, and a little practice with a friend will teach him rapidly how to seize an antagonist's arm and to render that arm momentarily helpless.
This is the starting-point of a study of jiu-jitsu. Any one, with a little investigation, may find points in the arms and legs at which very similar grips may be taken. Many of these will be described later on. Once the ​student has thoroughly caught the idea he may teach himself much. Both for purposes of self-defence and of increasing muscular strength it is necessary for the beginner to seek, at every possible opportunity, for parts of the body that are vulnerable to pain and paralysis when a proper grip is taken. The essential idea in this work may be gained from the arm trick just described. The student should familiarise himself so thoroughly with every vulnerable locality that he can seize it rapidly and unerringly.
THE ARM-PINCH.
Employed in paralysing an adversary's arm.
Of late years there has been much discussion as to the relative values, for defensive purposes, of jiu-jitsu as compared with English or American boxing. Very likely a Japanese who entered the ring with a skilled American pugilist would be defeated—that is, if the little brown man donned the gloves and were compelled to fight according to ring rules. The American boxer would be much more easily vanquished if he were compelled to enter the arena and fight in accordance with jiu-jitsu rules. The samurai method is not adapted to combat with clenched fists encased in padded gloves. The Japanese work must be done with the bare, and, usually, open hand. If a six-foot American boxer were to don gloves and enter into combat with a Japanese descendant ​of the samurai several inches shorter and of much less weight, and if each were to fight according to his own tactics, there could be but one result. If each were equally skilled in his own kind of work the "undersized" Japanese would be the victor.
As soon as the principle of the arm pinch is understood and has been applied, through investigation, to all parts of the body it is well for the student to take up the next important step in the system. Press the extended fingers of either hand together. Whether the thumb is raised or is pressed against the forefinger is a matter of no importance. Strike the lower edge of the hand against the knee, giving the outer side of the little finger as much of the work as the edge of the palm receives. It is important not to forget the exercise of the little finger, as, in a blow improperly struck with the edge of the hand, the little finger might be broken if it shared in the impact of a strenuous blow.
This work of toughening the hand may be carried on at all times, and the importance of doing it should never be forgotten. One may ​do the work as well by repeatedly striking the edge of the hand against the wooden arm of a chair, or upon the surface of a desk. At the outset this work should be done with the lightest blows possible, and the force of the blow should be but very gradually increased as the weeks go by. Whenever the edge of the hand becomes lame it is a sure sign that this exercise is being too severely done. A fairly hard edge of the hand should not be expected within six months. A student who devotes a few minutes at a time to this hand work, on three or four occasions through the day, will find that a year's persistence will enable him to duplicate the Japanese performance of breaking a stick with the edge of the hand. Few of the feats of self-defence can be excellently performed until the hand has been thoroughly toughened by this and other exercises that will be described in a later chapter.
In Japan every soldier, sailor, and policeman is compelled to take a government course in jiu-jitsu. Now that the samurai have been abolished as the distinctive fighting class, and strenuous life is open to all of the Emperor's ​subjects, the science of jiu-jitsu has been thrown open to all comers—even to foreign visitors.
It is a mistake made by many Caucasians to confound jiu-jitsu with Japanese wrestling. There is little or no resemblance between the two. The former was once the art of the aristocrat, the latter the substitute studied by the commoner. Japanese wrestlers begin their careers at the age of two or three years. The most likely looking baby boys are secured and are developed along lines of training that make them giants by the time they reach manhood. It is usual for the fully grown Japanese wrestler to attain a height of from two to four inches over six feet. In other words, he stands about a foot taller than the average of his countrymen.
When jiu-jitsu came out of the obscurity of oath-bound secrecy the wrestlers became jealous of their laurels. The wrestlers had been always looked upon with awe by their smaller fellow commoners. Some years ago a contest of the greatest interest took place in Tokio. The wrestlers brought forward their best man. The descendants of the samurai selected a man ​whom they considered a worthy representative of their art. The wrestler was to employ his own tactics, the man of the samurai to enjoy equal privileges along his own lines. Thousands of spectators assembled to witness the affair. At the signal the two men rushed at each other. In fifteen seconds, by the stopwatch, the wrestler lay on his back and admitted defeat. In a point of height there was something like a foot in favour of the commoner. He weighed twice as much as did his little opponent.
From that memorable day the old style of wrestling has been on the decline in Japan. The wrestler still attracts some attention, but he has fallen to the level of the side-show performer. Some years ago a Japanese visited the United States and vanquished all comers among our champions. He was supposed to be a first-class Japanese wrestler. As a matter of fact, he was no more than valet to a Japanese wrestler of the second class. Had his employer come over in his servant's stead, our American wrestlers would have been much more surprised. Yet in Japan it is now admitted that ​a master of jiu-jitsu is the physical superior of a first-class wrestler who has many more inches of height and a great deal more of weight.
That there may be no misconception that jiu-jitsu is nothing but a system of gymnastics and pugnacious tricks, it is well to state that this ancient science includes a thorough knowledge of anatomy, of diet, of the value of both external and internal hydropathy, of proper outdoor and indoor life and of all the other vital principles of right living. The whole really may be summed up in the last two words of the preceding sentence.
All strength rests on the foundation of proper diet. In this important branch of living the Japanese are still far in advance of us. The Japanese soldiers, who were able to march cheerfully fifteen miles to every ten covered by our own Americans on the way to Peking, were supplied with nothing like the commissary stores given to our troops. The Japanese are frugal, sensible eaters.