by Devon McNeely
Here are 13 interesting facts about the art of Kyusho Jutsu:
1. Kyusho Jutsu is not a Martial Art on its own but is a system of targeting and philosophy that can be added to a person’s existing martial arts training.
2. Kyusho is a system of attacking the pressure points of the body to disrupt the body’s function. It uses concepts from traditional Chinese medical practices such as acupressure in a way to cause harm rather than heal.
3. The name Kyusho Jitsu was given by Hohan Soken. Kyusho means Vital or Key points in Japanese.
4. There are older Chinese styles teaching similar techniques under other names such as Dim Mak. Dim Mak means spotting blood and is often referred to as the Death Touch.
5. The goal of Kyusho training is to get more out of a technique by targeting the body’s weak points. A boxer for example could punch square to the opponent’s face and get one effect or strike to the jaw and be more apt to knock them out.
6. It is believed that the knowledge of pressure point applications is in all martial arts and is either hidden from all but the most skilled practitioners or lost through the years as styles are passed from one person to the next.
7. Modern Kyusho was brought to the west by George Dillman.
8. Pressure Points on the body may have the simple effect of hurting more or may have other effects on the body such as the solar plexus knocking the wind out of the opponent, or striking a knockout point on the head.
9. There are techniques in Kyusho that manipulate a person’s body energy (Chi), affect organs, and knock a person unconscious with a light touch.
10. These more esoteric techniques and the belief in Chinese medical practices are not needed to be able to improve your martial arts using Kyusho.
11. There are 670+ pressure points on the body but less than half of them are useful for combat applications.
12. Though no one doubts the effectiveness of many commonly used pressure points there is controversy over some claims of instructors using ‘No touch’ Knockouts or defeating an opponent with Chi control alone.
13. The largest Kyusho organization is Kyusho International headed by Evan Pantazi.