Jiu-Jitsu Combat Tricks; Japanese Feats of Attack and Defence in Personal Encounter

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1904. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XV SOME NICE PROBLEMS IN ATTACK AND DEFENCE THAT THE STUDENT CAN SOLVE WITH THE AID OF WHAT HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AND THE HINTS THAT ARE NOW GIVEN THE student who has mastered all of the work that has been described in the foregoing chapters will have a good basic knowledge of the most important principles of jiu-jitsu. What more he has to learn will come mainly from practice and from a trained observation that will enable him to make the utmost use of what he has learned. One can rehearse the tricks given in this book, and he will have a good theoretical knowledge of the ancient Japanese art of protecting himself. But the practical knowledge is needed in its highest degree, and this can come only from keeping up the work, and from learning to use each trick with an agility that is ever increasing. At the base of all true jiu-jitsu are good nature and leniency. The adept in jiujitsu must never be a bully; he must not go about with the proverbial chip on his shoulder. He must not seek trouble, but should do all that he sensibly can to avoid encounters that are anything more than friendly. Cultivate patience and good nature. If a dispute threatens to lead to personal encounter do not make the first move of attack until it becomes unavoidable. A Japanese who is versed in the snares of jiu-jitsu is better equipped for fighting than any man can be who is not so equipped. Yet the Japanese are proverbially polite and they are patient to an extreme. The Japanese who is threatened by a bully does not immediately set himself in aggressive action. Instead, he smiles, and does his best to smooth the difficulty over. Back of his smile lurks the consciousness that no man but a jiu-jitsian of greater skill than his own can by any possibility defeat him. When one knows in ...