Evening star., 1902-02-12
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THE "soFT ABT'TOF JAPAN.
.lLx-u-
Peculiar and Mystifying System OF
Self-Defense.

From the Chicago Tribune.
Japan. the land of many quaint and curl
Gus arts that have baff1ed the ingenuity
and skill Of the western nations for CEN
turies. is also the cradle Of q system Of self
defense as uecuiiar and mystifying as it is
effective. It ID. called the ju'jutsu. which.
literally translated. means the soft art.
What tu'jutsu really means is not an
easy matter to explain. Lafcadio Hearn.
who probably has better acquaintance
with the inner life and customs of the Jap
anese, is one Of the few foreigners who
have made at all an intimate acquaintance
with the aims and methods of Jul 'jutsu. He
calls it .'the art Of yielding" and in one
of his books speaks OF 1t as typical ex-
preston of the peculiar philosophy Of yield
ing which has made Japan powerful in the
east
The principle upon which the ju'jutsu is
based seems to be not to resist by main
force in case of an attack, but to yield in
such a way that not only the attack is
made harmless for the attacked. but that
the force used by the aggressor Is turned
against him and leads to his undoing. The
adept in ju'jutsu need not be match IN
need more than ordinary strength to de-
fend himself against the strongest oppo-
nent. Strange as 1t may sound, 1t Is never
theless fact that the greater the strength
of the Ju'1utsu adept to defend himself.
To become an expert in the soft art" re-
quires long and patient training. Hundreds
Of tricks must be learned and practiced
before the student Of ju'Jutsu becomes pro-
f1cent in the art. Many or them are go
subtle that they battle the most careful
watcher. An expert In ju'tutsu can dislo-
cate or break the strongest mans arm or
leg or disable his back, neck or shoulders
without any apparent enort. using for his
purpose almost exclusively the force ex-
erted by his opponent
At the exhibition given at the "Bartitsu''
School of Arms in London recently some
remarkable feats We're performed by the
Japanese experts. In wrestling with an
English wrestler the Japanese caught his
opponents wrist, and. by turning around
SO that his opponents arm rested upon his
shoulder, he threw the Englishman over
his head, using his opponents arm as a
lever.
Although in ju'jutsu proper no weapons
of any kind are used, the methods of the
art may be applied to the use Of different
weapons. including cudgels. swords. dag
ton in London the Japanese experts not
only showed their wonderful skill in
wrestling but also in defense against at
tacks with walking sticks and clubs.
A surprising feature Of the exhibition
was that one of the Japanese experts, who
In some mysterious manner taught by his
art resisted strong pressure on his throat.
A rod was pla ced across the throat Of one
Of the men. who was lying upon the floor.
and each end of the rod was pressed down
by the combined weight OF two men. How
the Japanese managed to escape being
strangled is a puzzle. but he actually re-
sisted or evaded the pressure in some way
and was not injured.
The exhibition in London was the first OF
its kind ever given outside OF Japan.