Jiu Jitsu - The Japanese System of Physical Culture

[Taiji Rebel]

 

[Taiji Rebel]

Learning Jiu Jitsu was fashionable in the early 20th century. The Physical Culture movement was a big thing back then and it is interesting to see how Jiu Jitsu was marketed to the American public. The following book by Wendy L. Rouse is full of great information on why and how these movements came about:

 

[Xue Sheng]

I was doing Jiu Jitsu in the early 70s, does that count

 

[Buka]

Learning Jiu Jitsu was fashionable in the early 20th century. The Physical Culture movement was a big thing back then and it is interesting to see how Jiu Jitsu was marketed to the American public. The following book by Wendy L. Rouse is full of great information on why and how these movements came about:

Somewhat similar - I got totally hooked on Martial Arts as a kid, on February 25, 1963.

Ed Parker appeared on The Lucy Show (Lucille Ball). The title of the episode was Lucy and Ethel Learn Judo.
I imagine they used the word "Judo" because was more recognizable to the American viewing audience.

I was toast after that day. I knew it was what I was going to do for a long time. You know, watch TV.

 

[isshinryuronin]

Somewhat similar - I got totally hooked on Martial Arts as a kid, on February 25, 1963.

Ed Parker appeared on The Lucy Show (Lucille Ball). The title of the episode was Lucy and Ethel Learn Judo.
I imagine they used the word "Judo" because was more recognizable to the American viewing audience.

I was toast after that day. I knew it was what I was going to do for a long time. You know, watch TV.

In the early 60's to mid 70's most schools advertised "Karate, Judo, Kung Fu" since the public didn't know the difference. Parker joked with me that most people thought they were some kind of sushi. But then again, most people didn't know what sushi was either.

Talking about sushi, I remember going to the first sushi bar in the US, Something Fishy, on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu Beach. Green tea, miso soup and side dish - all complimentary! Sometimes a free chef's special too. Even a hot wet towel before service (Hard to impossible to find this kind of atmosphere anymore). It was common to share with the strangers next to you. It was like a sushi brotherhood. After a good workout, head over for the bliss of raw fish and great service. Then after that and a bottle of warm sake, take treacherous Malibu Canyon Road over the Santa Monica Mtns back into the Valley - an exciting experience all around.

 

[Buka]

In the early 60's to mid 70's most schools advertised "Karate, Judo, Kung Fu" since the public didn't know o the difference. Parker joked with me that most people thought they were some kind of sushi. But then again, most people didn't know what sushi was either.

Talking about sushi, I remember going to the first sushi bar in the US, Something Fishy, on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu Beach. Green tea, miso soup and side dish - all complimentary! Sometimes a free chef's special too. Even a hot wet towel before service (Hard to impossible to find this kind of atmosphere anymore). It was common to share with the strangers next to you. It was like a sushi brotherhood. After a good workout, head over for the bliss of raw fish and great service. Then after that and a bottle of warm sake, take treacherous Malibu Canyon Road over the Santa Monica Mtns back into the Valley - an exciting experience all around.

There were some Japanese Steak Houses around Boston back in the day. Just like you described, hot towels, Miso soup, great service, etc.

Hard not to miss those days. Especially now.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Somewhat similar - I got totally hooked on Martial Arts as a kid, on February 25, 1963.

Ed Parker appeared on The Lucy Show (Lucille Ball). The title of the episode was Lucy and Ethel Learn Judo.
I imagine they used the word "Judo" because was more recognizable to the American viewing audience.

I was toast after that day. I knew it was what I was going to do for a long time. You know, watch TV.

Ironically it was a combination of Kwai Chang Cain and seeing a friend in a Jiu Jitsu demo at Liberty Tree Mall that got me started in 72

 

[Taiji Rebel]

I was doing Jiu Jitsu in the early 70s, does that count

It sure does!

The Physical Culture movement was big in the early 1900s. A lot of books on Jiu Jitsu were published in America around 1904. At the same time Boxing was being promoted as the 'Manly Art' whereas Jiu Jitsu seems to have marketed more towards women. It is interesting to note that a number of books were published on Yoga around the turn of the century too.

A lot of us think of the martial arts arriving in the West due to servicemen bringing the arts back after the war. They certainly became more popular in the 60s & 70s - David Carradine's Kung-Fu series was a big influence on a great number of people back then. Yoga also started to become more popular around this time, but it appears the seeds of these movements were really planted much earlier, at the turn of the 20th century.

Life goes in cycles, what goes around comes around, it is just a case of waiting for somebody to put a new spin on things!

 

[frank raud]

The Physical Culture movement was big in the early 1900s. A lot of books on Jiu Jitsu were published in America around 1904. At the same time Boxing was being promoted as the 'Manly Art' whereas Jiu Jitsu seems to have marketed more towards women.

What are you basing this statement on? I can only think of a few jiu jitsu books published in that era that focused on women, such as Irving Hancock's Physical Fitness for Women by Japanese Methods, or Mrs. Roger Watts The Fine Art of Jiu Jitsu. Most books that I know of from that era don't show women demonstrating techniques. Even just using Hancock as an example, he wrote at least 5 books on jiu jitsu or Physical fitness(based on Japanese methods), only one for women.

 

[Oily Dragon]

What are you basing this statement on? I can only think of a few jiu jitsu books published in that era that focused on women, such as Irving Hancock's Physical Fitness for Women by Japanese Methods, or Mrs. Roger Watts The Fine Art of Jiu Jitsu. Most books that I know of from that era don't show women demonstrating techniques. Even just using Hancock as an example, he wrote at least 5 books on jiu jitsu or Physical fitness(based on Japanese methods), only one for women.

It's the Fine Art of Jujutsu. 1906, dude. There was no Jiu Jitsu then.

 

[Taiji Rebel]

This article is a good one

Every Woman Her Own Bodyguard - Longreads

Before women got the right to vote, they learned jiu-jitsu and boxing to defend themselves on the streets

longreads.com

 

[frank raud]

It's the Fine Art of Jujutsu. 1906, dude. There was no Jiu Jitsu then.
View attachment 29932

 

[frank raud]

It's the Fine Art of Jujutsu. 1906, dude. There was no Jiu Jitsu then.
View attachment 29932

Hmm, HH Skinner's book for 1904, Hancock's Jiu Jitsu Combat tricks also from 1904, Hancock's Complete Kano Jiu Jitsu from the same era. Jiu Jitsu, Ju Jitsu, Ju Jutsu, Jui Jitsu and several more were common spellings back then. And yes, those are my books in the picture.

 

[frank raud]

This article is a good one

Every Woman Her Own Bodyguard - Longreads

Before women got the right to vote, they learned jiu-jitsu and boxing to defend themselves on the streets

longreads.com

There is no doubt there were numerous newspaper articles about women taking self defense courses, and suffragettes training to be bodyguards. But there were also tons of articles about men training and testing out the "new" style of Jiu jitsu/Ju Jutsu against wrestlers, boxers and all comers. The basis of martial arts in Britain rests largely on men like Yukio Tani, Taro Miyake and Raku Uyenishi having open challenges in music halls across the country. You had the equivalent in the USA. Edith Garrud is famous for training the suffragettes, yet in her husband William Garrud's book, The Complete Jujitsuan, there is no women's self defense section.
You shouldn't base history off of one author's openly feminist point of view. I believe Ms. Rouse's intention was to bring attention to a forgotten component of martial arts history, and the history of female empowerment in general.

 

[Oily Dragon]

Hmm, HH Skinner's book for 1904, Hancock's Jiu Jitsu Combat tricks also from 1904, Hancock's Complete Kano Jiu Jitsu from the same era. Jiu Jitsu, Ju Jitsu, Ju Jutsu, Jui Jitsu and several more were common spellings back then. And yes, those are my books in the picture.

Well played, Trebek.

It's still a Portuguese-English bastardization of Japanese.

 

[Taiji Rebel]

You shouldn't base history off of one author's openly feminist point of view. I believe Ms. Rouse's intention was to bring attention to a forgotten component of martial arts history, and the history of female empowerment in general.

Yes, I 100% agree with your viewpoints.

In an earlier post I said it 'seemed' as though a lot Jujutsu was marketed toward women back in those days. I posted the article to share another viewpoint on the historical development of the martial arts. It was not intended to be used a blanket generalization of women or jujutsu in the early 1900s.

The Physical Culture movement was big back then. Urban folk were being encouraged toward all kinds of physical fitness practices, especially in areas affected, and altered by the industrial revolution. As a result, both women and men took up all kinds of exercise routines, fads and diets back then - it appears nothing much changes in the history of the human race

Jujutsu and Judo certainly benefit the weaker members of society. Our gyms were full of office workers trying to become stronger and offset the sedentary conditions of their workplace and the ill-effect it was having on their overall health and wellbeing - nowadays, yoga, aikido and taijiquan appeal to women a lot more than jujutsu does, but I would imagine this is due to the increase in media coverage of BJJ and MMA.

Again, it is enlightening to hear the feminine perspective as it gives us a more balanced, and healthier overview of the martial arts as a whole 👍