In practice, stop the blow three or four inches from his nose.
Make the effort from the Stahara to ensure efficient coordination between arms and legs, and keep your balance.


SECOND DEFENSE TO THROAT ATTACK
Assailant seizes your throat.
Clasp your hands together as in fig. 50.
Swing forearms upward against the side of Assailant's arms, thus breaking his hold.
Then strike him on the side below his ribs with your double clenched fists.


THREE METHODS OF DEFENSE FOR THROAT ATTACK
There are three methods of defense against throat attack taught in this lesson. The third one is by far the best. After this course is completed you will discard the first and second -- they are merely preliminary training.
A person who uses arm strength alone would not find the third method much better than the others, and would not be able to say why it was better, but you, who are working on the Stahara principle, will soon notice that the third method enables you to discount Assailant's strength to a greater extent, and to deal a more deadly return blow.
If you were taught only one method, you would know so little about the principles of the art that anyone who could do another trick efficiently -- perhaps by sheer superiority of physical strength -- would be able to prevail upon you to discard your former method.
The first and second methods have their place in this scheme of training as they give you experience in using your body in different positions, and give you greater resources of tactics to draw on -- for instance, when the chance presents itself, you would be able to use the knee smash on nose.
When this course is completed, however, your reflex action will make you automatically use the third method and scrap the others.


THE WRIST TWIST AND OTHER COMPLICATED DEFENSES
The wrist twists in Book 6 are also excellent defenses but if you are outmatched by Assailant's strength, use the third method given here, it is your best bet.


THE KNEE KICK
Bear in mind during your practice that in certain circumstances you would be justified in using the knee kick, and when matters come to that pass, kick swiftly, and then follow up with the third method, or take him prisoner with the wrist twist.
In other words, while you faithfully practice these other methods, look upon them as a means to an end, as a training in the effective use to an end, as a training in the effective use of the body, but where it is a case of life or death, use the knee kick, before your Assailant has time to get in his dirty work.


THIRD DEFENSE AGAINST THROAT ATTACK
Assailant takes the throat hold.
Swing your right elbow up over Assailant's left arm, knocking his hands away from your throat and throwing him off balance.
Make the swing, not with the arm, but with the whole body (the Stahara).
Swing your elbow back full into Assailant's neck or jaw. They are both equally vital points and a fair blow will lay him out.
In practice stop the blow three or four inches from your partner's neck.
As you swing in fig. 53, step forward and inward with your right foot and step backward and to the right with your left foot. Compare your position carefully with fig. 53.
Do not knock his arm away with your arm, but bring your armpit in contact with his arm. The swing of the body knocks his arm away and also twists your neck out of his grasp.
Practice this until you get the knack of playing the strength of your body against the strength of his arm. Until this knack is acquired, speed should not be attempted.
After mastering this trick -- the third defense, discard the other two -- the first and second defenses.


THE BLOW WITH THE EDGE OF THE HAND
When standing with your right side towards your opponent, strike him with the little finger edge of your right hand on the right side of the neck.
In practice deliver the blow with full force stopping short three or four inches from your training partner's neck.
When standing with your left side towards your opponent, strike him with the little finger side of your left hand on the left side of his neck.
On the preceding pages you have been taught how to defend yourself against an attack on the throat.
If you wish to attack anyone by the throat you will find the blow with the edge of the hand a much more speedy and efficacious method than the attempted choke with the thumbs.
This is always a backhanded blow, and will drop a man like a log.


THE BLOW WITH THE EDGE OF THE HAND
People sometimes ask whether the blow with the edge of the hand on the throat is more effective than a blow with the fist.
It is, one reason being that you cannot reach the throat with the fist so effectively as you can with the edge of the hand.
But that is not the point. The blow with the edge of the hand is given when you are in a position to deliver it and when you are not in a position to strike with the fist.
Conversely, if you are in a position to deliver an effective blow with the fist, as to the jaw, you would use the fist for you are then not in a position to deliver a blow with the edge of the hand.
In the combination trick of wrist escape and neck blow, Book 3, you can twist your wrist free and deliver the cut with the edge of the hand much more quickly than you could hit with the fist.
Furthermore the edge of the hand blow is not expected and consequently not guarded against, whereas the blow with the fist is more likely to be expected and so guarded against.
It is unnecessary to harden the edge of your hand by constant practice to acquire a hard hitting edge. When you deliver the blow, the hand is held straight and rigid and the point impact is the third joint of the little finger.
A woman of ordinary strength can learn to deliver a blow that will knock out the strongest man whereas a blow from her fist on his chin would only annoy him and cut her knuckles.
You may experiment once or twice on friend husband. Tell him to tense his neck, just give him a little tap, and see how he likes it.


EDITOR'S NOTES
EN1. In more precise terms, this point is located immediately below the septum, which is the fleshy piece separating the nostrils. The targets include a bone joint known as the intermaxillary suture and a major facial nerve known as the nasopalatine nerve. The acupressure point is Governing Vessel 26.
EN2. Thumbing is very common in professional boxing, and is a leading cause of retinal injuries. During self-defense training, in his book On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (Boston: Little, Brown, 1995), Lt. Col. Dave Grossman suggests taping an orange over the Assailant's eye and then having the defender practice pushing hard enough to make the orange squirt.
The Secrets of Jujitsu, A Complete Course in Self Defense, Book III
By Captain Allan Corstorphin Smith, U.S.A.
Winner of the Black Belt, Japan, 1916. Instructor of Hand-to-Hand Fighting, THE INFANTRY SCHOOL, Camp Benning, Columbus, Georgia and at United States Training Camps and Cantonments, 1917 and 1918.
In Seven Books.
BOOK THREE.
STAHARA PUBLISHING COMPANY
Columbus, Georgia, 1920.
***
This electronic version is copyright EJMAS © 2000. All rights reserved.
Contributed by Thomas J. Militello, a 15-year member of Astoria, New York's non-profit Horangi Taekwondo Dojang, which is headed by James Robison.
Readers interested in seeing film images should note the following film held by the National Archives and Record Administration:
NWDNM(m)-111-H-1180.
Title: Physical and Bayonet Training, 1918.
Scope and Content: Recruits at Camp Gordon, Georgia receive detailed instruction in boxing and jiu-jitsu. Wrestling and jiu-jitsu holds are used against a foe with a bayonet. Troops do calisthenics and play rough games calculated to make them physically fit.
35mm film, 15 minutes
Judging from responses from the US Army historians at Forts Myer and Benning, little biographical information is available concerning Captain Smith. Therefore readers with additional information are requested to contact the editor at jrsvinth@juno.com .


LESSON 9
This lesson teaches you --
1. First preliminary wrist exercise.
2. Second preliminary wrist exercise.
3. First wrist escape.
4. Second wrist escape (Book I).
5. Wrist escape and edge of hand blow.
Name of Partner Date Practice Commenced No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 No. 5
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Make a check mark against each trick each day you practice it.


PRELIMINARY WRIST EXERCISE
Assailant seizes your right wrist with his left hand, as in fig. 58, his thumbs above and his fingers below.
Turn your forearm so that the thin edge of your wrist (the thumb edge) faces the opening between his thumb and first finger.
This opening is the weakest point in his grip.
Whip your wrist straight out of this opening.
Practice first with a pause between turning your wrist and whipping it out. Then practice it as one movement.
(In the "FIRST WRIST ESCAPE," if you find yourself trying to force the broad part of your wrist out of his grip, you should return and practice this first exercise until the proper twist of the wrist comes automatically.)


SECOND PRELIMINARY EXERCISE
Lever your wrist out of his hand by pushing your elbow round to his elbow using the edge of his hand as a fulcrum.
Swing the right side of your body towards him, pivoting on the ball of the right foot, making the effort from the Stahara.
The weakest man's Stahara is stronger than the strongest man's wrist.
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