jujitsu.pdf

The Secrets of Jujitsu

A Complete Course in Self Defense

Columbus, Georgia, 1920.

By Captain Allan Corstorphin Smith, U.S.A.

Winner of the Black Belt, Japan, 1916. Instructor of Hand-to-Hand Fighting, THE INFANTRY SCHOOL, Camp Benning,

Columbus, Georgia and at United States Training Camps and Cantonments, 1917 and 1918.

STAHARA PUBLISHING COMPANY

FOREWORD

Captain Smith, who has been employed as an instructor in Hand-to-Hand Fighting at The Infantry School, has

performed an important service in preparing his series of books, "The Secrets of Jujitsu."

It is, in my opinion, highly desirable that American Infantry be trained in all forms of personal combat that

might be used against them.

PAUL B. MALONE

Colonel, Infantry

Assistant Commandant

HEADQUARTERS

THE INFANTRY SCHOOL

CAMP BENNING, GEORGIA

JULY 30, 1920.

JUJITSU IS BOTH SELF-DEFENSE AND MENTAL TRAINING

Jujitsu as a means of self-defense will teach you to take care of yourself in dangerous situations whether

armed or unarmed.

It is a valuable study as it trains you to evade the impact of an opponent's strength and attack him at a

point where he can bring only 20 per cent of his strength to bear. It teaches you to unbalance your opponent.

Conversely it trains you to retain your own balance and to bring 100 percent of your strength to bear in every

effort you make. A man trained in jujitsu will instinctively act on this principle in everything he does

whether engaged in a physical contest or a mental one.

A course of jujitsu therefore will leave its permanent mark on your mentality. It teaches you to retain your

poise in the arena where the contests are physical, brawn against brawn, or in the public forum, where mind is

pitted against mind, intellect against intellect.

It has another and more immediate result in the resources of self-defense that will be at your immediate

disposal whenever you are attacked, or whenever you go to the rescue of someone else.

A strong man by its aid will be enabled to use his strength in a more workmanlike manner, and a weak man will

be able to discount the superior strength of his adversary.

A woman equipped with this science will no longer be at the mercy of a ruffian. She will furthermore retain

her presence of mind and keep cool, in an emergency.

THE COURSE CONSISTS OF: --

BOOK

1. An introductory course showing:

That the secret of jujitsu is in the Stahara.

How to use the Stahara.

How to train the Stahara. (22 photos.)

2. Defense when a man attacks you by seizing you around waist. There are five tricks in this series, and they

provide a splendid means of exercise. (18 photos.)

Defense when a man attacks your throat. After mastering this lesson, the weakest woman will be safe from

such an attack. (17 photos.)

3. Defense when opponent seizes your wrists. Teaching how to lever them out by the strength of your body. This

lesson trains you to use your body as a whole. (26 photos.)

4. Defense when attacked from behind. By having your practice partner attack from behind, you master a series

of tricks that will be useful in any situation of attack or defense. (34 photos.)

5. Defense when attacked by knife, club, pistol, kicks, etc. This lesson teaches you quick thinking and gives

you presence of mind in an emergency. (44 photos.)

6. Taking prisoners, hammerlocks, and a number of tricks whereby the weaker man can get the stronger. These

are intensely interesting tricks, most of them published for the first time. (49 photos.)

7. Three of the secret grips of Japan never yet published in any book, Japanese or otherwise.

These tricks give you the power of life or death. The method of instruction allows them to be practised as

an interesting pastime, and with absolute safety. (38 photos.)

(TOTAL 248 photos.)

LESSON 1.

This lesson illustrates the principle of putting the strength of your whole body into

everything you do instead of merely using the strength of the particular hand or arm

which is immediately concerned in the operation.

UPWARD WRIST ESCAPE

Assailant seizes both your wrists with his thumbs above and his fingers below.

(In practising this, at first, Assailant must "stay put." He knows what you are going

to do but must not take advantage of his knowledge to lower his body also and thus

prevent your escape. Afterwards you will be able to escape more quickly than he can

prevent you.)

Bring palms of your hands together. Step forward with one foot, lowering your body

until the elbows are well bent and below his hands.

Have your elbows in front of, and touching, your abdomen. With an upward and forward

movement of your abdomen force your wrists up and out of his grasp, keeping your

hands rigid. All this done in one motion and with great rapidity.

Practise slowly at first to get the movement right. Compare each position you take

with corresponding photograph.

NOTE: In Fig. 1, the strength of your arms alone would not suffice to pull your

wrists out of the grasp of a stronger man.

Instead of trying to free your wrists by the strength of your arms, you force them

out by the strength of the abdomen and the weight of the body.

We will train you to use this principle in everything you do. It is called the

principle of the Stahara.

WHAT THE STAHARA IS

The Stahara is the Abdominal Region. It includes the Diaphragm, the Abdominal

Muscles, the Solar Plexus and the Center of Gravity.

This course will train you not only to understand the Stahara principle but to act on

it instinctively . You can then use your own strength better; you can handle other men

better.

This principle properly applied will instantly give you increased physical power. It

will endow you with greater mental control and will give you a stronger personality.

THE WEAKEST MAN'S STAHARA IS STRONGER THAN THE STRONGEST MAN'S ARM

Always play the strength of your Stahara against the strength of your opponent's arm.

This is simply the strategy of Napoleon who attacked the enemy's weakest point with

all the force he could concentrate.

Instead of memorizing this as an abstract principle, visualize it in the concrete

instance of the simple trick exemplified on the preceding page.

This is a typical example of how the Stahara principle enters into the execution of

every trick in this course.

The leverage the Stahara gives you in the previous trick is obvious, and easily

applied. In other tricks it is not so obvious and the student may not see the

connection at first between the Stahara and the trick.

The connection is there, however, and it only requires to be discovered and applied.

The system of teaching you to use your Stahara in the most obvious instances, at

first, enables you to apply it in the less obvious cases.

An increased ability to use your body in this way will come with the progressive practice of this course.

The Stahara fully developed..

THE SECRET OF JUJITSU IS THE STAHARA

The throws of jujitsu are achieved by the mechanical force of your center of gravity playing against

opponent's center of gravity.

The center of gravity is contained in the lower abdomen, therefore the proper disposition of your lower

abdomen is the most important factor in any given trick.

Conversely the object of your exertions against an opponent is to out-think his center of gravity, by

maneuvering him into a position where his lower abdomen is off balance.

An old Japanese master, mentioned in the chapter on "A demonstration in Pain-bearing" (which will follow in

due course), told me once when I was very much discouraged at the progress was making, that

Hyaku ii-yasushi

Ichi ii-gatashi.

Which, being interpreted, means:

The hundred tricks are easy to learn

But the one principle is difficult to learn.

On asking him to be kind enough to impart this one principle to me, he informed me that that could only be

acquired after years of practice.

This elusive principle, which the Japanese professors make you search out for yourself, this course imparts

from the start by means of Stahara training.

HOW THE WORD "STAHARA" ORIGINATED

When I commenced to teach jujitsu in Yokohama, Japan, in every trick I showed how to use the lower abdomen,

and how to maneuver opponent's balance. My first pupils were Japanese friends, and lower abdomen to them was

shita hara .

Shita (pronounced sh'ta) and hara are two Japanese words meaning under or lower abdomen . The words shita hara

mean to a Japanese what the words lower abdomen mean to us -- and nothing more.

This word hara is the same word we meet in hara kiri -- abdomen cutting -- the Japanese method of suicide.

Gradually as I evolved the idea of balance-control and abdominal power, I adopted the word shita-hara as a

technical term for a new principle for which there was no name. When teaching the Doughboys, they called it

"Stahara" and that is how it was finally written. It is an American word for an American idea.

STA-HA-RA Sta -- pronounced as in star.

ha -- pronounced as in harp.

ra -- a has the same sound as in the first two syllables.

Japanese teachers of jujitsu do not mention the Stahara when explaining a throw or trick to their disciples.

They teach the use of the arms and legs, of the hips and shoulders, but do not show the principle of balance,

which is the basis of the whole system.

It is therefore an average of ten years before a student of jujitsu in Japan masters these throws. It takes

that length of time to acquire the scientific way, in common parlance, to "get the knack" of doing the trick.

Jujitsu is not done with strength of arm or leg and this inability to grasp the underlying principle is why it

takes so long to master it.

You must realize the importance of the Stahara. It is here the center of gravity lies. It is here the seat of

the emotions lies. It is the most important part of the human body, and the most neglected.

LESSON 2.

This lesson teaches you how to make an opponent quit without injuring him.

After mastering the principle of this lesson, two inexperienced men may proceed to

practise all the tricks in this course any number of times, without injury or pain.

The seven lessons taught in Book 1 are not meant to teach Fighting or Self-defence

tricks. They merely aim to train you:

How to use your body as a whole;

How to keep your balance;

How to practise effective holds with safety.

Book 1 tries to convey those fine points of personal instruction which are usually

lacking in a text book.

If you "catch on" to these points you will be able to study the following six books

just as effectively as if you had a teacher at your elbow all the time.

The practical application of the Wrist Twist is given in Books 5 and 6.

THE WRIST TWIST

ORDINARY GRIP

For the preliminary practice your opponent stands facing you holding up both hands with

the backs toward you.

Seize his right hand placing your thumbs on the back and your fingers on his palm.

The first photo shows the hold made with the strength of the fingers and thumb only

which is a weak method.

STRONG GRIP

Hold his hand not with finger and thumb only but with the palm and the third joint of

the thumb.

It is a sort of clinging grip, its power comes from the palm of the hand as well as the

ends of thumbs and fingers.

Experiment until you get it.

TWISTING RIGHT WRIST

Slowly pull his hand to your left twisting his wrist until you have him in this

position.

This will cause him considerable pain. Continue to twist his wrist, however, until the

pain causes him to quit.

When he is unable to bear it he will give the signal of defeat by tapping his left hand

twice on his chest and you will instantly release him.

TWISTING LEFT WRIST

Take the same grip on his left hand and twist in the same way to your right, slowly,

until he gives the signal of defeat.

As you release each hand he returns to position fig. 4 for you to continue the practice.

Repeat until you can seize either hand without hesitation and make him quit.

Allow opponent to practise it the same number of times on you.

MAKING AN OPPONENT QUIT

Jujitsu matches are won by making the other man quit. The holds employed for this purpose

are powerful enough to break a man's arm or leg, to choke him into unconsciousness, or

even to break his neck.

Strange as it may appear, however, jujitsu matches are absolutely free from injury to the

contestants. This is because of the very scientific and skillful method of the opponents.

An ordinary person who had not been shown the proper method of practising would apply

the hold roughly with injurious results.

Consequently he would never become expert because he could not get opponents to

practise with; once would probably be enough for them.

If on the other hand you simply apply them lightly and without using pressure you

cannot be sure that you have mastered the trick.

In this course the "Breaking Point" is always clearly demonstrated. You are shown the

exact position into which the opponent must be maneuvered. You are taught to take

opponent up to the "Breaking Point" without making him feel any pain. This is the Major

Operation .

Then apply pressure until he quits but so slowly that there is no danger of your going

too far and injuring him in the slightest. This is the Minor Operation .

You will start on the wrists and elbows and later on will graduate to his neck on which

you will be able to apply the most effective holds with perfect safety.

He must practise every grip on you that you may appreciate its effectiveness. It will

also teach you temperance in giving pain as you wish your opponent to practise

temperance towards you.

THE SIGNAL OF DEFEAT

The Signal of Defeat is given thus:

If both hands are free, clap them together twice.

If only one hand is free, clap some part of you opponent's body lightly twice so that he may feel it, or clap

your own body twice, loudly enough for him to hear it.

If both hands are imprisoned, stamp twice on the floor so that he may hear it.

The Japanese sometimes give the signal of defeat by saying " maita " (pronounced like the English words my tar ,

said quickly), which means, "I quit." You may use the same words, or say, " Enough ."

When a chokehold is applied you will not have the power of speech and will find it necessary to give the hand

signal.

Thru their ability to make opponents quit without hurting them Japanese are able to indulge indefinitely in

their otherwise dangerous practice.

No man gives in while there is a chance of escape and there are ways of wriggling out of apparently fatal

holds.

But these grips can be held so that they give no pain and yet the slightest pressure will cause you enough

pain to make you relinquish your struggles. In other words, you would know when opponent could break your arm,

etc., without any great effort, and without your being able to prevent him.

Having such holds repeatedly applied to the limit train you to an equanimity of temper. You feel no chagrin or

disappointment, just as you expect your opponent to feel none when you turn the tables on him.

In fact, in a five minutes bout in jujitsu each will have made the other quit several times and they will

always keep smiling.

THE LITTLE FINGER "COME-ALONG"

The order given was: "On the command 'Forward MARCH' the captured men will try to escape.

LESSON 3.

This lesson gives further instruction in how to take bone-breaking grips on the opponent and control him

without any danger of breaking his bones.

· The Little Finger "Come-along."

· Unbalance opponent the moment you grasp him, and keep him off balance until you have secured the grip.

· The fascinating game of -- "Tickle my nose, if you can."

· Growth of self-confidence.

· The Major Operation.

· The Minor Operation.

· The more haste the less speed.

· The escape from the Little Finger "Come-along."

LITTLE FINGER "COME-ALONG"

Standing on opponent's left side, seize him with your right hand just above his left

elbow with your thumb round the other side of his arm.

Step quickly behind him, unbalancing him towards you, thus preventing him striking

you with his other hand.

Slip your left hand, palm up , below his left hand, which is hanging palm down .

Grasp his fourth and fifth fingers.

Hold his wrist and his elbow pressed tightly against your Stahara.

Keep your legs well apart and be well balanced.

Bend his wrist at right-angles to his forearm, and his fingers at right angles to his

wrist.

Bring him onto his toes, off balance , by upward pressure on his fingers and march him

around the room.

Practise this hold with both hands.

UNBALANCE OPPONENT THE MOMENT YOU GRASP HIM AND KEEP HIM OFF BALANCE UNTIL YOU HAVE

SECURED THE GRIP

Grasp opponent with right hand only as in fig. 8. Tell him to tickle your nose, and

as he attempts to swing his right hand to your face, pull his left elbow towards you,

thus unbalancing him to his left back corner.

Notice in fig. 8 how, by unbalancing the opponent in this manner the threatening

movement of his right hand has been checked. Try this experiment a number of times.

Neither of you should move your feet at first.

THE FASCINATING GAME OF -- "TICKLE MY NOSE, IF YOU CAN"

You should play the game of "Tickle my nose" with each trick to make sure that you have

mastered it. If opponent cannot tickle your nose, he would be unable to strike you.

You can thus demonstrate to your own satisfaction that you have mastered each trick.

The moment he withdraws his hand, relax the pressure. When he again attempts to raise

it, apply fresh pressure. Do this with the minimum movement and the minimum pain and

you will be able to make him quit whenever you wish without hurting him.

GROWTH OF SELF-CONFIDENCE

After holding a man helpless with the Little Finger grip you will experience a sudden rise in your morale.

This is the psychological result of the discovery of physical powers you did not know you possessed.

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