Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/109

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REFINEMENTS AND PASTIMES

disabled, whether by his own devices or by certain other kinds of accident. It may appear curious that moral training should form part of the course, but the students of ju-jutsu, or ju-dō (the path of pliancy), claim a great deal for it in the latter respect. Mr. T. Shidachi, in a paper read before the Japan Society in London in 1892, has this to say about the moral side of the art: "Respect and kindness, fidelity and sincerity are essential points which ju-dō students should particularly observe. We come by daily training to know that irritability is one of our weakest points, and that we have to try to avoid it in our life, as it facilitates our opponents' efforts to overcome us. Not to be irritated by any emergency, but to be always calm and composed is one of the first principles of ju-dō. Prudence, precaution, temperance, perseverance, presence of mind, quick discernment, decision after deliberation, animation, self-respect, and self-control,—all these are moral qualities inculcated by the study of ju-dō. Greatness of mind, obedience to duty, and abhorrence of extravagance should be cultivated with no less attention. The influence which ju-dō exerts on intellectual power is no less important. The strict attention we have to give to daily duties is acknowledged. . . . I take the liberty of saying that I have received conscious benefit to my faculties of concentration and observation by the study of ju-dō." A measure of enthusiasm certainly presided at the compila-

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