Page:Japanese Physical Training (Hancock).djvu/40

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
12
Japanese Physical Training

a master of jiu-jitsu is the physical superior of a first-class wrestler who has many more inches of height and a great deal more of weight.

That there may be no misconception that jiu-jitsu is nothing but a system of gymnastics and pugnacious tricks, it is well to state that this ancient science includes a thorough knowledge of anatomy, of diet, of the value of both external and internal hydropathy, of proper outdoor and indoor life and of all the other vital principles of right living. The whole really may be summed up in the last two words of the preceding sentence.

All strength rests on the foundation of proper diet. In this important branch of living the Japanese are still far in advance of us. The Japanese soldiers, who were able to march cheerfully fifteen miles to every ten covered by our own Americans on the way to Peking, were supplied with nothing like the commissary stores given to our troops. The Japanese are frugal, sensible eaters.