CHAPTER VIII
EXTREME LEANNESS AND OBESITY—THEIR CURES
Either under-weight or over-weight is undesirable. The man or woman who is too stout loses much of the enjoyment of life that otherwise would be possible. He who is too lean shows only too plainly that he has not attained the full physical development that he needs. For any man or woman who seeks the exact condition of perfect health there is a weight to be attained that is to be gauged by age and height. Tables showing these figures may be obtained at any well-conducted gymnasium, or may be had through the agent of any life insurance company. It is not worth while to offer these statistics here.
A study of Japanese anatomy, among both sexes, has convinced the author that these people are prone neither to leanness nor to obesity. Of course the author's studies of the nude form were made in the jiu-jitsu schools and in the public baths. It may be that some of the Japanese possess badly formed bodies. The author did not see any while examining these people in the nude.
Once in a while an obese woman is to be encountered in Japan. If she is young, she will be the object of mild derision among her neighbours. The Japanese are ever polite, but the obese woman is likely to be told that her "honorable proportions" are excellent. The recipient of this information knows exactly what is meant. Nor can a Japanese woman who is too lean be considered as possessing a figure that is attractive. She is placed in the class with her over-stout sister. Both are repulsive.
Among the white races the men are likely to be angular, while the women are equally likely to be well-rounded. With the Japanese of either sex there is little difference in contour. A Japanese man, nude, exhibits about the same lines of grace in trunk, arms, and legs, as does the Japanese woman. The only real differences to be especially noted are found at 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.
While extreme leanness is not common among the Mikado's people, there is a course of work that is used to correct the physical defects of under-weight. First of all comes absolute rest—rest that is persevered in as much as is possible. While the amount of rest that one should take depends much upon his own constitution he who seeks increased weight must remain abed at least ten hours in every twenty-four. This amount of rest may be decreased at discretion when the seeker after weight finds that he is attaining his object.
While resting, the seeker after weight is instructed to lie upon the floor, or upon his couch, without clothing. Such warmth as he may need is to be secured from the use of bed-clothing. There must be plenty of fresh outdoor air in the room, admitted through an open window, and arms and feet should be kept as much as the weather permits outside of the bed-coverings. If the one who seeks weight finds himself unable to sleep during the full period of ten hours he is required to lie down and to be as calm as is possible. Rest, even without sleep, will bring with it increase of weight. The cultivation of phlegmatic tendencies through all of the twenty-four hours of the day brings with it increase of weight.
There is no need of changes in exercise when added weight is sought, except that gymnastics should not be too strenuously followed. Walking is required by the Japanese instructors to be kept up as usual, with the exception that the gait be strolling instead of brisk. When seeking increase of weight the student must bear in mind that every exertion, however necessary, must conform to the requirements of repose—healthful laziness!
Deep breathing and bathing do not interfere in any way with the accumulation of flesh; neither does the external nor the internal use of water. Beer, ale, and wine will increase weight, but not with beneficial results. The Japanese have exploded the old fallacy that the free use of water increases weight through bloating.
Nuts and oils are much used by the samurai of to-day who wish to gain a few pounds in weight. Nuts are rich in oil, while any form of oil that is not too laxative in its properties may be used with the same fattening value. Nuts are eaten, with thorough mastication, as the appetite of the user directs. If oil alone is employed a quantity of something like an ounce of American cotton-seed oil three or four times a day is swallowed—one of these doses with each of the two daily meals that are advised. Inouye San, former instructor of jiu-jitsu in the Nagasaki police school, advised that both nuts and oil be used, with the condition that oil be given some preference over nuts. Real olive oil may be used, but the American cotton-seed oil is equally valuable from the dietetic standpoint.
The habit of sleeping out of doors is also advised by Inouye San for the months when the weather is clement enough. At such times the body is not to be clothed, and the bedcoverings are to be as light in weight as comfort will permit. One who lives on a farm is able to find a secluded, tree-surrounded spot where he can sleep in this manner without shocking neighbourhood proprieties. The city dweller is compelled to place his cot at a point so far distant from a wire screen that the dread of prying eyes will not annoy him.
Eggs are much used by the Japanese who wish to increase in weight. Meat in no form is used for this purpose. Milk is much used by the few of the Mikado's subjects who are able to secure some of the limited supply of this fluid food. A descendant of the samurai assured the author that he had been able to gain an increase of six pounds in three and one-half weeks on a diet of nothing but milk. Butter and all other oily substances are employed with the same end in view.
In cases of obesity the system that brings about reduction in weight is mainly opposite to that which increases it. Water is used, both externally and internally, just as it is employed in the cases of the over-lean. There is no change in the use of fresh air, or in the amount of clothing. Reduction of weight becomes, in the case of the Japanese, a matter of less food and more exercise. All oily foods are abandoned—or at least are used with a good deal of caution. Exercise is used to a greater extent than is needful for the man or woman of normal weight.
Fasting has been used in this country with seemingly beneficial results. The Japanese are such believers in moderation that when a lessening of diet is advised the immediate beginning of a fast is not recommended. The amount of food consumed daily is very gradually diminished, and the seeker after reduction of weight is allowed to use his own discretion as to the amount of food to be used each day—always provided that the amount of edibles consumed is decreased every day, or else every two or three days. It is not believed that entire abstinence from food is desirable. The stomach requires exercise just as much as does any other portion of the human system. When any other part of the body is over-exercised the remedy is to be found in gradually lessening the amount of that exercise. The Japanese believe that this principle should be applied to the use of the stomach. While the true followers of jiu-jitsu are never prone to overeating, those who do commit this sin find their remedy in gradual diminution of food.
The fast is never employed except in cases of severe distress of the stomach. He who finds that he cannot eat any food with relish sensibly abstains from the attempt. He who craves a little food eats it, but is careful to eat only that food that appeals to his temporarily degenerate appetite. It is rarely necessary for the Japanese fast to last longer than twentyfour or thirty-six hours. By that time the stomach is in condition for resumption of its normal work. A seven days'—or a forty days'—fast would be looked upon in Japan as merely a dietetic feat, and not as anything that could be expected to promote health.
Exercise, in all the forms that are taught in jiu-jitsu, plays naturally an important part in the reduction of obesity. Yet, as has been discovered by seekers after reduction in weight in this country, exercise alone will not bring the desired result. Exercise followed by immediate bathing—and the cooler the bath the better—has been found to be trebly more valuable than exercise without bathing. The samurai claim that exercise is of very little value unless it is followed by that immediate cleansing of the skin which carries away the waste matter that is exuded through the good offices of exercise.
There appear to be many reasons for the beneficence of the bath. This is especially true when the bath is as cool as the user can take it. All of the body receives benefit, but the skin is especially stimulated. While the Japanese incline much to hot baths, this is always followed, when possible, by a cold shock. The hot bath opens the pores more readily than does the cold bath; but the hot bath, unless followed by a cold shock, tends to enervate. The cold shock, so the samurai claim, stimulates and restores circulation.
In winter, when possible, he who wishes to reduce his weight is often advised to seek brief baths where he is obliged to break ice before entering. Severe as this treatment seems, the Japanese are not much addicted to pulmonary troubles. Their inferior prototypes, the Filipinos, who take little exercise, and who are unable to take the ice-cold bath, are subject to all sorts of pulmonary troubles.
When a samurai finds himself over-stout he knows that it is useless to seek reduction of weight unless he is prepared to decrease gradually the amount of food that he has been using. No violent changes in diet are expected, but, first of all, the amount of nutriment is diminished, and then all of the oily and starchy elements of food are left out—by degrees. Dried fish, fruits, and vegetables are used in the quantities that the appetite appears to indicate. Rice, peas, and all forms of starchy foods are passed by. Eggs, too, are rather in disrepute with the one who seeks to reduce his weight. Meat, of course, is out of the question. Alcoholic beverages of all kinds are left severely alone.
It can be understood without difficulty that an excess of sleep is not conducive to slimness. The Chinese, who sleep during more of the twenty-four hours than do the Japanese, are much more obese. The average Japanese sleeps seven or eight hours in the twenty-four. The Chinese who have the time to spare are more inclined to remain nine hours in bed. The Chinese coolies, who have so much work to do in a day that they cannot spend nine hours in rest, are much more likely to show the leaner lines of the Japanese.
For the Japanese who wishes to reduce his weight not more than five or six hours of sleep are advised. It is claimed that when one is over-stout the fact is a sign that he is sleeping too much. It requires as much will power to reduce the amount of sleep as it does to cut down the quantity of food consumed—but these are sacrifices that must be made by the man or woman who wishes to lose weight. When the body of the samurai is over-stout he lessens both the amount of his food and of his sleep. The too-fat samurai has found that he can do both without more than ordinary discomfort. The discomfort is proof of his need for the sacrifice. If he is not prepared to make this offering to health he admits that he is not entitled to the results for which he seeks. The Japanese are nothing when not sensible.