Judo

“ He had taught many of the boys some of the simpler tricks of judo, as the art is often called, and now Dick remembered these.
Snapping back with his foot, the heel of his heavy shoe-pack caught the man standing in back of him square on the shin.
Then when the other had come near him, he used one of the holds taught him by the son of Nippon, and sent the other flying.
The beauty of the art of jiu jitsu is that weight and size of the opponent are never taken into consideration. Knowing the proper method, a girl of sixteen can throw a full-grown man several feet. ”

“ The great Judo expert is president of a normal school, and he arranged a special exhibition by experts for my benefit, he explaining the theory of each part of it in advance. It took place Sunday morning in a big Judo hall, and there were lots of couples doing “free” work, too; they are too quick for my eye in that to see anything but persons suddenly thrown over somebody’s back and flopped down on the ground. It is really an art. ”

“ The feat was seemingly performed effortless—such is the outstanding wonder of that Judo, or Higher Jiu-jitsu, whereof Shashu Myuku of Nagasaki is the Grand Master. There are not six Europeans, O’Hagan will tell you, who have been initiated into the occultry of the Japanese super-force. ”

“ The moment you attempt to throw me down, I'll kick you to death!' Terrified out of his wits by this awful threat, the fat man, still holding the judo-ka above his head, rushed out into the street, shouting loudly for help. ”

“ Judo's to train for the opera in New York. She leaves love behind her and meets love more ardent but not more sincere in her new environment. How she works, how she studies, how she suffers, are vividly portrayed. ”

“ In the second place, Japanese wrestling has for its object the development of strength in excess of that of an adversary, whereas ju-jutsu seeks primarily to divert an adversary's force into directions fatal to his own equilibrium. So essential is the difference between the two arts that while success in wrestling depends theoretically on preponderance of force on the side of the victor, success in ju-jutsu is promoted by preponderance of force on the side of the vanquished. A skilled wrestler of great thews fares worse than a feeble tyro at the hands of a ju-jutsu expert. ”

“ A wrestler who can lift up a big stone, or catch hold of a bull by its horns, would be easily beaten by a youth of fourteen scarcely able to lift a small cannon ball, provided the boy were well trained in jiujitsu. In wrestling, therefore, all jiujitsu tricks are forbidden. This will explain why no Occidental, even a champion wrestler, has ever succeeded in defeating a Japanese jiujitsu man. Perhaps you remember one of our jiujitsu men, who is in England, won the Gold Championship Cup last year, and yet in Japan he is not considered a first-class man in [Pg 100] the art. ”

“ It will be seen that a victory in ju-jutsu does not mean that the opponent shall be placed in some particular position, as in wrestling, but in any position in which his judgment or knowledge tells him that, unless he yields, he will suffer a disabling injury. This difference existed between the wrestling and the pancratium of the Olympic games. In the pancratium the fight went on until one combatant acknowledged defeat, but, although many a man allowed himself to be beaten into insensibility rather than suffer this humiliation, it was nevertheless held to be a disgrace to kill an opponent. ”

“ Of course the combatants in both exercises strive to get the upper hand of each other, but the great difference is that the wrestling relies chiefly on strength, whilst jiujitsu depends on all sorts of tricks, based upon a careful study of physical organism, and therefore physical strength may be said to be of little value, nay, in truth, it uses the strength of the opponent against himself. We, in Japan, have also a method of competition resembling the wrestling of the West, and we apply to that the Western name "wrestling." ”

“ What is termed Jūjutsu is a separate art, and ranks higher in aristocratic esteem than the ordinary wrestling (Sumō) practised by the fat wrestlers. The police are officially instructed in Jūjutsu, and the Nobles' School and other academies have classes in it. Its principles, like those of so many Japanese arts, were formerly handed down as an esoteric secret from teacher to teacher; but the leading idea has always been clear enough,—not to match strength with strength, but to win by yielding to strength, in other words, by pliancy. ”

“ Since Sunday we have not been able to ride. I still box with Grant, who has now become the champion middleweight wrestler of the United States. Yesterday afternoon we had Professor Yamashita up here to wrestle with Grant. It was very interesting, but of course jiu jitsu and our wrestling are so far apart that it is difficult to make any comparison between them. Wrestling is simply a sport with rules almost as conventional as those of tennis, while jiu jitsu is really meant for practice in killing or disabling our adversary. ”

“ Jiujutsu is the old samurai art of fighting without weapons. To the uninitiated it looks like wrestling. Should you happen to enter the Zuihōkwan while jiujutsu is being practiced, you would see a crowd of students watching ten or twelve lithe young comrades, barefooted and barelimbed, throwing each other about on the matting. The dead silence might seem to you very strange. No word is spoken, no sign of approbation or of amusement is given, no face even smiles. Absolute impassiveness is rigidly exacted by the rules of the school of jiujutsu. ”

“ Many writers translate the term ju-jutsu “to conquer by yielding” (Jap. ju, pliant) , and this phrase well expresses a salient characteristic of the art, since the weight and strength of the opponent are employed to his own undoing. When, for example, a big man rushes at a smaller opponent, the smaller man, instead of seeking to oppose strength to strength, falls backwards or sidewise, pulling his heavy adversary after him and taking advantage of his loss of balance to gain some lock or hold known to the science. ”

“ When our jiujitsu is called "wrestling," it hurts our feelings a little.'
—'Why, how is that?' demanded the duchess.
—'Well, nothing very serious, but the reason is this: jiujitsu has always been regarded in Japan as an art chiefly practised by men of the higher classes. It has never been a profession, still less a public show, and the reason why now and then the art is made an object of [Pg 97] exhibition in a public hall of the Western towns, is only an outcome of the altered conditions of the time. ”

“ It is to the persistent practice of Jiu-Jitsu that the Japanese owe their courage and success in battle, their almost superhuman strength and power of endurance, their low death rate and their material progress. Surely a system of physical training which has done so much for the Island Nation will interest you. Jiu-Jitsu not only embodies the ideal principles of attaining perfect health and perfect physical development, but as a means of self-defense it is as potent at short range as the deadliest weapon. ”

“ Sometimes Western wrestlers come to Japan and challenge our wrestlers, but they are no match for ours. It is not [Pg 98] worth boasting about, I merely state the fact. Of course, there is also much wrestling in country parts, and young people often perform, but they are, after all, only amateurs. As to jiujitsu, the art has been studied by the Samurai in a similar manner to fencing, with no professional performance or public show. Hence a great difference in the social position of jiujitsu experts and wrestlers. ”

“ The wrestlers at the Olympic Games, in the Circus, in Nineveh and in Egypt, stood facing each other from the first, and while they resorted to various tactics of pulling, pushing, twisting the body, interlocking the limbs, and even hitting, their ultimate aim was to obtain the mastery over one another's legs and thus secure a fall. But in the Japanese science of wrestling, as practised since the eighth century, the fall is always a subordinate incident, the principal object being to force the adversary out of a circular ring fifteen feet in diameter. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It may be supposed, on superficial reflection, that to set up a distinction between such an art and wrestling is pedantic. In a sense that is true. If by "wrestling" is understood every possible device for overthrowing an opponent, then ju-jutsu is wrestling. But it is not Japanese wrestling. In the first place, Japanese wrestling absolutely forbids every dangerous resolution of force into components acting in opposite directions, whereas ju-jutsu puts such resolution in the forefront of its methods. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Once the wrist, ankle, neck, arm or leg of an assailant is firmly grasped so that added force will dislocate it, there is nothing for the seized man to do, in case he is still on his feet, but go to the floor, often being thrown clean over his opponent’s head. A fall of this kind does not necessarily mean defeat, for the struggle proceeds upon the floor, where indeed most of the combat takes place, and the ju-jutsu expert receives a long training in the art of falling without injury. ”

“ Jiujutsu may be briefly defined as an application of anatomical knowledge to the purpose of offense or defense. It differs from wrestling, in that it does not depend upon muscular strength. It differs from other forms of attack in that it uses no weapon. Its feat consists in clutching or striking such part of the enemy’s body as will make him numb and incapable of resistance. Its object is not to kill, but to incapacitate one for action for the time being. ”

“ Yet, while the Japanese have adapted from Western civilisation everything that they consider to be necessary to their national development, they have retained jiu-jitsu and all its underlying principles as the means by which the nation is to work for its physical well-being. They have done more, for, whereas jiu-jitsu was taught at one time to the aristocratic classes only, it is taught now to all of the people of Dai Nippon who wish to acquire it. The value of jiu-jitsu is proven by the fact that the Japanese, while a diminutive race, possess the greatest endurance of any people on earth. ”

“ After the finish of the three-legged race I dropped into a chair up forward by the saloon door, and this chap Madatoya came and sat down beside me. He congratulated me on winning one of the prizes, and our talk ran to athletics in Japan. He told me about the training the schoolboys get and how all candidates for the police force are put through a jujutsu course. I asked him some questions about how a jujutsu wrestler could stand up before an expert boxer, and he, laughing, offered to demonstrate a defense against fists. ”

“ The object of the player is to damage his adversary’s top or to make it cease spinning. The whipping top is also known and used. Besides the athletic sports of leaping, running, wrestling, slinging, the Japanese boys play at blind-man’s buff, hiding-whoop, and with stilts, pop-guns, and blow-guns. On stilts they play various games and run races. In the northern and western coast provinces, where the snow falls to the depth of many feet and remains long on the ground, it forms the material of the children’s playings, and the theatre of many of their sports. ”

“ Wrestling, as most people know, is a favourite amusement of the Japanese, and wrestling matches excite quite as much interest as boxing used to do in this country. Of late years English people have taken much interest in Ju Jitsu. ”

“ This use of the ankle hold is well known in Japanese wrestling. Arrhichion, we are told, forced his opponent to succumb by twisting his foot out of its socket.
Another throw in which the thrower throws himself on his back is the “stomach throw.” A wrestler seizes his opponent by the shoulders or arms and throws himself backward, at the same time planting his foot in the other’s stomach and thus throwing him heavily clean over his head, while he himself falls lightly. This favourite throw of the Japanese is depicted on the tombs of Beni-Hassan. ”

“ It is a pity you don’t have any belt on your dress, and so play the sport. It is very convenient to us. Apart from its use in sport, when we meet a robber, we throw him down by jiu-jitsu, and, untying our belt, bind him up hand and foot! But to return. I was ready with the imp in front and with my “little ones” behind, like the body of a centipede. The imp could not touch me; he could only seize any one behind. I stretched my arms, ran to and fro to prevent the imp from getting round to my flanks. The line swayed, rolled, jerked like a serpent in a rapid flight. ”