Omaha daily bee., 1907-03-23
SMASHED A JAP MYTH
one of New YOrlZ's "FInest" TuFns n
Trick on a Jiu Jitsu
Expert.

one venerable weakness Of cultured peo-
pie is that Of standing in awe before any
thing hailing from east of Suez ana adorned
with a joblot Of consonants and yowels.
Not long ago IL was somebody like Swami
yiviconundrum that terrified the "brainy.'
Then It was a Buddhist priest from Japan.
The awe soon spread beyond the narrow
confines Of the intellectual world and crept
insidiousy into the hearts of men-that To-
ordinary citizens-so that jiu-jitsu found
the western world prepared to receive II
with the servility and RIGHTEOUSNESS de-
manded by oriental pOtentates, real and
fgurative.
Jiu-jitsu came. 1t stood In the same re-
la ton. TO Anglo-Saxon fsticuffs and catch
as-catch-can as the Grand Lama Of Thibet
does, or did, to an African Methodist ex-
horter. II was held to be as superior TO
wrestling and ang-bagging as a Japanese
clolsonne vase is 10 a Jersey City Imitation.
Strong men went down before It in para
lytic terror of its misty origin and name
Babes and cripples pitched giants pros
trate upon the mat with its rules. And
then the fear OF japanese invasion smote
the Pacific coast and sent the land stagger-
ing into the throes Of an earthquake.
There was only one way by which the
spell could be broken; some innocent must
be lured into the game, somebody who had
never rtied TO spell Yokohama" or pro-
nounce "Banshai." II you ever want to
lose money on four aces at poker, sit down
with somebody who doesn't know spade
from diamond II you ever want TO have
your variation OF the Ruy Lopez opening
In chess sent scurrying OF the board In a
panic find an opponent to whom you have
TO teach the names OF the pieces. So, too,
I Il ~, full ~
the argument against the solar plexus
, blow put on the boxing gloves with some
greenhorn who thinks that John L. Sullivan
is the man who writes those catchy operas
Now since the agitation for pure food
laws has been started several unprecedented
innocents have been experimenting with
/ u-jitsu and have found 1t to be nearly as
harmless as boiled rise. Annapolis, after
| trying It for awhile, cast II on quite ir-
reverently and several jiu-jitsu dens in
New York City have closed up because OF
the alarming decline OF enthusiasm. But
| with the experiments made upon Patrol
| man Mead OF the East Fifty-first street
| police station, jiu-jitsu may now be def
nitely classified as innocuous. Mr. Mead
was tested recently by one Motto Ishiyania
| or thereabout-a Japanese with jiu-isf
! blood in his veins. Mr., Mead having re-
/ CNlNGu MS euuChNluu IN lIcldlu anu man
haitian exclusively, proved immune to the
| hypnotic virus OF the oriental name and
| did accordingly flop the vassal OF the
4 mikado upon the damp. firm pavement OF
| Forty-third street with much vigor This
Topping process was kept up until the Japa
| nese scientist was thoroughly convinced
that there are more things west Of Suel
than were dreamed OF In his philosophy.
May we be pardoned for remarlSing tina
| We have always expected this outcome
| We could never convince ourselves tina
! CeIts and Yankees. who for centuries hav'
been lighting amicably and otherwise a
| Dounybrook and county fairs and behind
! the barn on Sunday afternoons, could have
| overlooked any effective method Of "dOinl
( up the other fellow. Jiu-jitsu feared oui
belligerent cOuntrymen for awhile simply
because Il was rougher than polite wrest
ling. more polite than rough-and-tumbl
fighting and had been imported With
strange label from a wonderful country
New York Tribune.