Excerpt from A Complete Course of Jiu-Jitsu and Physical Culture

WE know that you will find interest in reading and demonstrating to your own satisfaction the effectiveness of jiu-jitsu, in its mildest form, as a means of self-defense.

This is the first time that all the secrets of the Japanese national system of physical training and self-defense have been given to Western people. Less than a generation ago you could not have Obtained this knowledge at any price. SO religiously have the principles of jiu-jitsu been guarded that no foreigner has ever before received Official instruction from one who has taken the highest degree in the art.

Jiu-jitsu is the most wonderful system of physical train ing the world has ever known. It is a science. It is muscle dominated and directed in every detail by brain. The Japanese are the hardiest race of people in the world today, and we attribute their wonderful strength and power of eu durance solely to the persistent practice of their national system Of physical development. Jiu Jitsu develops every muscle and strengthens every organ in the human body. It does not produce knotted muscles, but develops the body harmoniously and uni formly. It affects those minute muscles which are not reached by any other system. It strengthens the heart action, scientifically renews and invigorates every tissue, and helps every organ to perform its functions. The man or woman who devotes ten minutes daily to the practice Of jiu-jitsu will enjoy a degree of health and strength that will make him or her thoroughly alive and fully conscious Of the possession of perfect manhood or womanhood. (the improvement of the average American pupil in from thirty to sixty days is as follows: Development Of the chest, three to four inches; chest expansion, three to five inches; upper arm, one to two inches; forearm, one-half to one inch; thigh, two to three inches; and the entire body in proportion.) jiu-jitsu is also a natural and positive cure for constipa [i]tion, indigestion, and all forms of dyspepsia, insomnia, pulmonary troubles, and lack of vitality. Its practice improves the appetite, accelerates circulation, and aids assimilation. And to the increased vigor and tone of the system the brain responds, and the mental capacity as well as the physical is improved. The Japanese enjoy better health than any other nationality. With them consumption is very rare, dyspepsia has no meaning, and physical weak ness is an affliction with which only the aged are beset. Extreme leanness is regarded in much the same manner as Americans regard physical deformity, and extreme corpu leney is unknown. There is a reason for all this and it is found in jiu-jitsu.

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