es ist ja nun nicht sonderlich schwer, im netz etwas über higashi zu finden (auch wenn die eigentlich interessanten fragen, die man zu dieser person hat, eher nicht benatwortet werden) ...
hier ein interview mit higashi, in dem higashi mal wieder ziemlich viel unsinn über judo erzählt ...
http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_leonard_0802.htm
Zitat:
This article originally appeared in the May 1905 issue of The Cosmopolitan. All spellings and name orders appear as published in the original text. Richard Bowen, Jan de Jong, Graham Noble, Robert W. Smith, and the New York University Archives contributed information that was used in the notes, which were prepared by Joseph R. Svinth.
"I say with emphasis and without qualification that I have been unable to find anything in jujitsu which is not known to Western wrestling. So far as I can see, jujitsu is nothing more than an Oriental form of wrestling. It is a boast of the exploiters of jujitsu that through it any weakling could render helpless even a well-trained athlete, and that, too, without inflicting any injury whatever upon the victim. It would be an entertaining day in my life indeed were I to see such a feat accomplished." – Statement by Mr. Leonard after exhibition by Mr. Higashi.
"American wrestlers are strong – much stronger than any of us pretend to be in muscular strength. After all, however, wrestling is wrestling. Against jujitsu it is mere child’s-play. I have met a number of Western wrestlers, and they are as helpless as babes against the art of jujitsu. And no one versed in the art of jujitsu is mad enough to expect anything else." – Statement by Mr. Higashi after exhibition by Mr. Leonard.
:D
Zitat:
"And what is jujitsu?"
Mr. Higashi – "What we always keep in view as the end and aim of the art of jujitsu is quite distinct from wrestling. To be sure, all that has just been mentioned is the goal toward which one aspect of jujitsu training also strives. But there are three stages in jujitsu. [EN1] Between the first and wrestling there is not much difference. Wrestling, both in Nippon and in the West, has the distinct ends in view that you have just described: it forms a distinct program of gymnastics in itself; it is not a part of something else – a means to an end. With jujitsu, the holds and tricks of wrestling are an elementary step to lead a man to something else. Naturally you have developed to a greater extant than we have done in the first and elementary stage of jujitsu, and to a higher state of perfection, those holds and tricks which are confined to wrestling. Whoever would understand the true meaning of the art of jujitsu must always keep this in mind – that the end of jujitsu is self defense. The science and practice of jujitsu both end in discovering and attaining as effective and relatively perfect a means of self-defense as possible under all manners of attacks.
"In jujitsu training many conditions are imposed upon us which are out of place with any other athletic sports. When you are attacked on the street, for instance, you would rarely find yourself or the assailant stripped to the skin, and so we require the students of jujitsu to go through their exercises in their street costume, and those of us who can hardly afford to spoil a suit every time we come upon the training mat wear these jackets and girdles, which would take the place, to all practical purposes, of the street costumes of Tokyo. This also is the reason why in jujitsu we do not put a fence about the style of tricks and attacks and call any of them foul. When you are abroad at night – and on such occasions it is that a training in jujitsu is most likely to serve you – you can hardly dictate the manner of attack to a thug. If effective as a method of self-defense at all, jujitsu must train persons to be prepared for all imaginable methods of attack and assault.
"There are one hundred and sixty ‘hands,’ or tricks, in the three departments of jujitsu. Besides these, and outranking them all, there are ten tricks which are so secret that they are almost sacred to the devotees of jujitsu. They are usually handed down from one master to another, much after the manner of family secrets. Now, a large majority of all these are considered foul in wrestling."
Zitat:
Mr. Leonard – "But the dangerous tricks and holds which you speak of as being ruled out in our wrestling are, I am certain, thoroughly well known to all wrestlers worth the name in this country. And as for the claim of jujitsu in regard to its secret tricks, I have never seen them demonstrated against a thoroughly trained wrestler. [EN2] I am not afraid of spooks, nor of the miracles attributed to the masters of jujitsu. And I am happy to say that I am in a position to afford my statement something a little more solid than mere words."
(EN2. While Higashi appeared in many public exhibitions during late 1904 and early 1905, his opponents included a university athletic director, a football player, and a weightlifting bicycle cop. Thus Leonard’s cynicism.)
;)
... und was higashi NUN erklärt, ist einfach bullshit:
Zitat:
Mr. Higashi – "First, let me continue. Jujitsu is neither a sport nor a pastime; instead of on a mat, or in a sanded circle, as with wrestling, its arena is wherever an attack awaits you. As a matter of fact, the purely gymnastic feature of jujitsu is of a late development. Some two hundred years ago in the city of Kyoto, there lived a master of jujitsu called Suzuki. There he opened a training hall; and history points to that as the beginning of scientific jujitsu in Nippon. [EN3] In his days, he taught and practiced only those tricks, or hands, which are now called serious tricks. He and his school confined themselves to the first or the final stage of the three divisions of jujitsu known at the present day. Samurai went abroad with their two swords at their belts, in those days, and the Kyoto master used to train his men with the two swords at their belts. When you were seized from behind and a pair of powerful arms held your weapons against your body so that you could not draw them, he taught a trick which would set them at liberty.
"Judo – as jujitsu is oftener called at home – spread all over the country; at Kumamoto was Hoshino, and at Kagoshima, Tsutsumi was the acknowledged master. And Tsutsumi, the Kagoshima master, was the first who extended the sphere of judo and included therein many gymnastic exercises. And those holds and tricks which he taught have been from his day called the simple tricks. Mr. Kano, who is at the head of the Kano school of Tokyo to-day, took up judo where Tsutsumi left off, and added a number of exercises. These largely form the simple tricks of the third department of judo.
"As you see, then, judo as it exists in Nippon to-day has three stages of development. It starts with the third, or the elementary stage, with simple gymnastic exercises. Between these simple tricks and the holds in wrestling there is a good deal of resemblance. Only, these simple tricks are a means to an end; they are modified to serve the specific end of self-defense, and under somewhat different circumstances than those of wrestling. Moreover, these simple tricks are always arranged with an eye to their serving as preliminary steps to the serious tricks. When meeting a wrestler on a mat, a jujitsu-shi always employs all these simple tricks, and also some of the simple tricks belonging to the second division of judo. And in this department, there are only fifty tricks, whereas you have in Western wrestling some two hundred different holds. To sum up, the end and aim of judo is, as I have tried to emphasize, self-defense. With the simple tricks of the third division, it is practically impossible to overcome an American wrestler, as he is usually much superior in strength."
(EN3. This describes the history of Higashi’s own system rather than the history of jujutsu.)
klingt das, als wüßte higashi tatsächlich etwas über koryu oder kanos judo?
nein.
Zitat:
Mr. Leonard – "As I understand it, then, the purely athletic, or gymnastic, holds which jujitsu teaches are in no wise different, in general, from the holds known to an ordinary wrestler, and it is only by its mysterious ‘secret tricks’ that jujitsu claims to be able to work its wonders. But if the aim and end of jujitsu is wholly self-defense, and no means are held to be too unfair to be employed, why should jujitsu concern itself with athletics at all? I should very much like to see an exhibition of these mysterious powers. Can you not illustrate to me how these tricks are done?
Mr. Higashi – "That would be impossible without incurring danger, which I am unwilling to do. A friend of mine once broke the arm of a student at an American college, and was in much danger of arrest. I do not care to run a similar risk. But I may explain that the most essential element in the make-up of a good jujitsu master is the mind. Will-power is the faculty of the mind that plays the most prominent part in the art of judo. Then, nerves the center of equilibrium of which, so to speak, can hardly be shaken. Then, a pretty good knowledge of anatomy. After that, all is practice. Unlike wrestling, weight does not count in judo. In fact, in a number of cases it would be easier to train a weak man to master judo than a strong one. A man naturally strong in muscular powers will, consciously or unconsciously, rely much upon his mere strength. In judo, it is essential that one learn to utilize the strength of his opponent against himself. The first thing which we try to teach is to attain as perfect a state of bodily passivity as possible. And this is the reason why in so many cases women are better candidates for the mastery of judo than men. [EN4] Another thing we try to teach is how to fall upon hard ground or a floor without hurting oneself. A drunkard who falls from a height is rarely seriously injured; you know the reason of course; the degree of hurt is in proportion to the resistance offered by the system. If one could learn to make oneself perfectly passive, one would seldom get hurt. A number of masters of judo can break a pretty thick piece of marble tablet with a blow dealt by the edge of their open hands. It is not the strength that breaks the tablet; it is the rapidity of the motion. A judo master ought to be able – I do not say every time, but nine times out of ten – to break the wrist of a boxer, for example, with the edge of his open hand when the fist flies toward him. [EN5]
"As I have said, the number of tricks is comparatively small; it is not so hard to learn them. It is not quite so simple, however, to train your eye and muscle to the proper speed. The rest is largely psychical."
(EN5. Higashi’s arm-breaking statistic sounds exaggerated. Bare-knuckle boxers were more likely to break their own thumbs than opponents’ forearms, and the famous karateka Shigeru Egami reported breaking only one forearm during forty-odd years of trying.)
also genau das, was wir heute auch kennen ...
"tödliche tricks", die man weder im randori noch im wettkampf noch im rahmen einer demonstration vorführen kann, weil sie zu gefährlich sind.
und dann kommen beispiele von namentlich ungenannt bleibenden "meistern", die mit diesen "tödlichen techniken" aber schon oft ... und früher mal ... aber heute wäre das ja unverantwortlich ...
ich glaube, higashi hat sich mit diesen äußerungen keinen gefallen getan.
(damit der beitrag nicht zu lang wird, zitiere ich das interview im nächsten beitrag weiter)
:)