Page:Japanese Physical Training (Hancock).djvu/155

Rh. When the fall is being made the leg that is employed against the adversary's thigh should be quickly and rigidly straightened out at the same moment that the throw is made. In this way the leg will be made to act as a lever and the throw cannot be resisted. City dwellers may practise this throw upon mattresses; livers in the country will find the hay-mow in the barn a convenient place for practising this feat.

It is not to be understood that the trick just described is intended to be used merely for purposes of self-defence. It is most valuable for the strengthening of nearly every muscle in the body. It is not to be recommended as an exercise for those who have serious heart trouble. The Japanese, on account of their mode of living, develop but little heart trouble. Persons who are afflicted with cardiac diseases may employ this exercise once in a while, but the results are to be noted carefully, and if the fall causes the least discomfort around the heart the exercise must be given up, or else its use must be greatly lessened.

It must not be inferred that this exercise will