INTRODUCTION

It is but a few years ago that jiu-jitsu was un­known to the Western world. To-day the name is understood very generally, in English-speaking countries, to refer to that mysterious art of self-defence by which the Japanese prove antagonists whom it is impossible to defeat in physical encounter. To some extent, too, a little knowledge of this strange art has come to us. Within the next few years it is to be ex­pected that jiu-jitsu will be as well understood by us as boxing is to-day.

A knowledge of the Japanese art reduces boxing from a science of defence to the status of an excellent exercise. The well-trained jiu-jitsian is able to meet and to defeat the fistic expert at all points. In this volume much at­tention has been paid to the methods by which the Japanese overcomes the exponent of ring work. comprise all that is essential in jiu-jitsu for purposes of personal encounter. Much that would be of interest only under Japanese con­ditions of life has been omitted. The tricks selected for analysis in this volume are those that are of the most value to the man of Anglo-Saxon heritage in matters of fighting.

Without doubt it will be urged that some of the Japanese feats explained in the following pages are, in the language of the ring, '' foul.'' But fighting is an ugly business from the nature of things, and the Japanese contend that any means that brings victory is justifiable. It may be added that few men defeated by a jiu-jitsian are disabled for a period longer than a few mo­ments following defeat. The lacerations and contusions that follow fisticuffs are unknown in Japan, where to disfigure an opponent would be considered a disgrace to the victor. Jiu-jitsu while stern work, is the essence of polite­ness; it is aimed to show a bully the folly of fighting.

The greatest charm of all about jiu-jitsu is that it does not call for the employment of great strength. The weaker man, if skilled, is able to vanquish his stronger but unversed opponent. The art has a history of more than twenty-five centuries, and, during its long course of evolution, jiu-jitsu has been perfected as the art of the smaller, weaker man.

Daily practice in this novel physical work makes rapidly for agility of body and of mind, and for great physical endurance. The Japan­ese soldier, sailor, and policeman take a com­pulsory government course in jiu-jitsu. The physical performances of the Japanese in their war with Russia should be sufficient to estab­lish even seemingly extravagant claims for the value of jiu-jitsu as the best system of bodily training known to the world.

H. Irving Hancock
New York, July 25, 1904

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