Page:Japanese Physical Training (Hancock).djvu/125

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Extreme Leanness and Obesity
87

the breast and hips. The same training has produced the man and the woman. The only differences between the sexes are due to the requirements of sex.

In this country of ours it is not necessary for women—even those who attempt physical culture—to follow identically the same lines of training that are developed by men. In Japan the same tactics employed by the men are used by the women. There is no difference whatever between the physical training of one sex or of the other. A Japanese woman, well versed in jiu-jitsu, is able to encounter a burglar in a dark room, and to hold him powerless until help comes. The author's wife, while possessing probably not a third as much strength as he does, is able to seize him and throw him violently upon the floor—provided he allows her to secure the proper hold. If the author were uninitiated in jiu-jitsu he would be obliged, as against his wife's knowledge of the art, to take second place physically in his own household. No matter which is the stronger, Japanese men and women often contest. In this way both are benefited.