Page:Japanese Physical Training (Hancock).djvu/164

112 systematic attack upon his comrade's abdomen and also upon the solar plexus. Pressure, rather than the blow, is employed upon the abdomen. At first this is the rule in assailing the solar plexus, but this part of the body will stand a sharper blow than will the stomach. In time the abdomen itself will withstand a very heavy blow. The stomach muscles of a Japanese master of jiu-jitsu appear to be almost as hard as iron. His solar plexus becomes practically an invulnerable spot. He does not dread the attack against either abdomen or solar plexus, and this condition of physique is brought about gradually by constant practice in the blows that are delivered with the clasped hands.

At the sides the blows with the clasped hands are practised, at first, with a good deal of moderation and caution. By degrees the student finds himself so hardened in muscle at these points that he can endure more and more forceful blows. There is a wicked blow that is not to be recommended unless the student finds himself in a position where he must defend himself at any hazard. When he can succeed