SOME NICE PROBLEMS IN ATTACK AND DEFENCE

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 jiu-jitsu 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 ad­vance that he is to win in an encounter he can afford to be patient.

It is time, now, for the student to practise with some one who is familiar with Anglo-Saxon methods of attack. The student should learn all of the ways in which he is likely to be attacked. The most popular form of attack with an Anglo-Saxon is to let his fist fly straight out from the shoulder. This the student knows how to stop by catching the fist and "breaking" the assailant's arm over his own shoulder. Probably this is the most im­portant single feat for use in encountering a boxer. The student must take pains to get well past the theoretical stage in this performance. He should render himself, through constant practice, letter-perfect in the use of the trick. Never be satisfied with the speed that has been gained; always strive for better and better speed. It is well, though, to bear in mind that it is a cardinal rule in boxing that a counter can be employed, if it be a good one, in slightly less time than is required for the assault.

But, in practising this trick of catching the opponent's fist, do not overlook the importance of the fendings that may be made with the edge of the hand against an assailant's arm.

Do not neglect practice in this style of defence, which is of great value in stopping a blow when there is not time to get the hands up for catch­ing a fist. The edge-of-the-hand blows are useful also in a variety of cases where the con­testants are at close bodily quarters.

Then, when the opponent ducks as he strikes, one must always be prepared to catch the head in the jiu-jitsu of chancery that has been ex­plained. This chancery is highly effective, and is far safer than the back-of-the-neck blow that would naturally suggest itself to the novice in jiu-jitsu. And with the enemy's head in chancery the hand not employed otherwise can be made to do a finishing piece of work in the form of a kidney blow.

A method of attacking a man that is em­ployed much in this country consists of rushing at him, securing him by both shoulders, or by the upper arms, giving him the back heel of wrestling, and throwing him to the ground. This can be met promptly, and stopped effec­tively by the jiu-jitsian j for the latter has one of his hands at the assailant's back. Here there are two ways in which the jiu-jitsian can defend himself. One is to employ his elbow in a jab at the short ribs of his assailant. Usually this blow can be delivered with great severity, and it can be landed at the instant that the aggressor has taken hold. The other method is for the jiu-jitsian to use the hand that is at his enemy's back in a kidney blow. Very often an alert man on the defensive can use both blows at the very instant that the aggressor takes the clinch. In that case it is certain that the assailant will not make a throw. It is a favourite trick with some rough and ready fighters to rush forward, duck and seize the intended victim with one arm thrust under the crotch, then rising with the victim and throwing him. Sometimes this can be met by the agile jiu-jitsian with the Japanese form of chancery hold. It can always be countered, if the man on the defensive is as agile as he should be, by dropping both hands on the back of the aggressor's head as he ducks, thus making it impossible for him to rise. And one hand can be swiftly released by the man on the defensive and applied to the assailant's kidney on the nearer side.

It is well, too, for the jiu-jitsian to remember that he should never be satisfied with one de­fensive blow when two or three can be used in rapid succession. Study out how many blows may be used in swift sequence and with dis­concerting effect on the antagonist. Suppose, for example, that the two antagonists are in a clinch with their nearer sides close together, The jiu-jitsian is able to inflict an elbow jab in the enemy's short ribs; this may be followed, like a flash with three other moves—a finger­tip jab in the solar plexus, an edge-of-the-hand blow under the point of the chin, and a slanting edge-of-the-hand blow on the forehead. The enemy who receives all of these styles of attack in the space of some three seconds will not feel like fighting any more that day. It is well worth the student's while to practise this se­quence, and to devise as many more as he can by intelligent practice of what he has learned in other feats. In especial the student should remember to follow the solar-plexus jab always, when practicable, with an edge-of-the-hand blow under the point of the chin. In this case it is always the thumb side of the hand that is used, the thumb being folded across the palm.

In rough-and-tumble clinches it is a favourite trick to use the knee against the crotch or the abdomen, and if the jiu-jitsian permits himself to be caught unawares in this fashion he is all but sure to be defeated. When a clinch is to be made, always swing one side of the body toward the assailant, keeping the nearer leg in such position that the aggressor cannot land with his knee either in the crotch or in the abdomen. This knack can be acquired with a little practice. This position has the added advantage of enabling the jiu-jitsian to use his own knee where his enemy has not taken a similar precaution.

In some parts of Europe it is a favourite trick, in beginning an impromptu fight, for the aggressor to lift one arm in a defensive position and to try to drive the steel ferrule of his um­brella or cane into his antagonist's abdomen. This nasty trick is not by any means unknown in this country. Yet the defence against this form of attack is an easy one, calling mainly for well-developed agility. Take a side step swiftly to that side of the opponent's body that is farther from the cane or umbrella. At the instant of taking the step land an edge-of-the-hand blow on the enemy's jugular, en­deavouring to make this blow forcible enough and sharp enough to send him to the ground. At the instant of landing, or trying to land, the blow take a second side step.

The idea of this second step is that, in case the blow fails to land properly, you have carried yourself out of reach of your opponent.

Then there is the assailant who comes up behind and who wraps his arms around his intended victim, pinning them at the latter's sides. In one of the earlier chapters of this volume the student has been told how to free himself from this hold, following it with an elbow jab in the abdomen. But it is possible, also, to throw the assailant, if he seizes you in this fashion. First of all, free yourself parti­ally from his hold, after the manner advised when the elbow jab is used. Follow the free­ing by seizing one of his legs and straightening up, just as the policeman has been advised to do when employing the counter to the club trick. And, in general, the policeman's method of ridding himself of his tormentor is applicable in every case of being seized from behind, except in the case of the hold that is illustrated in photograph No. 22. Where the jiu-jitsian is himself the assailant from behind he is advised to employ this latter form of hold in every instance where it can be used.

When attacked with a straight-out kick, of course the method of defence should be to catch the coming foot just back of the heel, jerk the foot upward, and send the aggressor over on his back. But this style of kick is so easily met and countered that it is seldom at­tempted in real combat.

It will repay the student well who has gone thus far to study out all possible forms of attack that are outside of jiu-jitsu, and to study next what the most effective kind of jiujitsu counter would be. With the groundwork of Japanese tricks that has been given the student who does the most thinking and practising will be the most formidable opponent, for the student has reached a point now where he can and should become his own instructor—ever watchful and alert in practice, and ever remembering that through practice the performance of every feat should be as second nature.

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