A modern bout at ju-jutsu usually begins by the combatants taking hold with both hands upon the collars of each other's jack ets or kimonos, after which, upon the word to start being given, the manoeuvring for an advantageous grip begins by pushes, pulls, jerks, falls, grips, or other movements. Once the wrist, ankle, neck, arm or leg of an assailant is firmly grasped so that added force will dislocate it, there is nothing for the seized man to do, in case he is still on his feet, but go to the floor, often being thrown clean over his opponent's head. A fall of this kind does not necessarily mean defeat, for the struggle proceeds upon the floor, where indeed most of the combat takes place, and the ju jutsu expert receives a long training in the art of falling without injury. Blows are delivered, not with the fist, but with the open hand, the exterior edge of which is hardened by exercises.
The physical training necessary to produce expertness is the most valuable feature of ju-jutsu. The system includes a light and nourishing diet, plenty of sleep, deep-breathing exercises, an abun dance of fresh air and general moderation in habits, in addition to the actual gymnastic exercises for the purpose of muscle-building and the cultivation of agility of eye and mind as well as of body.
It is practised by both sexes in Japan.
Many attempts have been made in England and America to match ju-jutsu experts against wrestlers, mostly of the "catch-as catch-can" school, but these trials have, almost without excep tion, proved unsatisfactory, since many of the most efficacious tricks of ju-jutsu, such as the strangle holds and twists of wrists and ankles, are accounted foul in wrestling. Nevertheless, the Japanese athletes, even when obliged to forgo these, have proved more than a match for European wrestlers of their own weight.
See H. Irving Hancock's Japanese Physical Training (1904) ; Physi cal training for Women by Japanese Methods (1904) ; The Complete Kano Jiu-jitsu (Jiudo) (1905): M. Ohashi, Japanese Physical Cul ture (1904) ; K. Saito, Jiu-Jitsu Tricks (1905) ; J. Murdoch, History of Japan, vol. iii. (1926).