Fig. 2. By continuing the twist in Fig. 1 and locking the arm, the victim can be brought to the ground

If Fig. I be looked into, it will be seen that the right-hand performer has grasped her opponent's open hand, palm to palm, her fingers having closed over the thumb, pressing it inwards, and her own thumb has gone round to the back of the captured hand. The grip is a purely natural one.

The hold taken, the captured hand is merely twisted outwards so as to bring the back of it uppermost. The victim's arm is to be kept quite straight. The twist locks the elbow-joint, and the victim is quite incapable of releasing herself.

This twist employed on any genuine assailant would hold him entirely helpless, and this without any great exertion on the lady's part. He would find it impossible to keep his foothold, and would be beyond all power of retaliation with his right hand. If the need existed, he could be brought to the ground simply by continuing the twist, and a lock employed to his arm that would effectually prevent him from either getting up or giving any further trouble (as in Fig. 2, which explains itself).

Fig. 3. The first movement in a most valuable combat trick, cap-fciring the wrist and bending the arm at the elbow back upon itself

The hold must always be taken as shown, right hand against left, or left against right - never a cross-hand grip. The opposite hand is always the point of attack. Although a slow twist is all that is necessary in practice, when this trick is used in earnest, a sharp jerky motion would be more effective.

and outward

Fig. 4. The second movement, forcing the captured wrist over

Never "push the captured hand towards its owner, for that is giving opportunity for the bending of the elbow and the releasing of the pressure. If required, the left hand, by gripping the captured wrist, may be made to assist in forcing the victim to the ground.

In Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are depicted the successive stages of one of the most valuable of all jiu-jitsu combat tricks. Faced by her adversary, the defender catches hold at the wrist of the outstretched and threatening arm. An opposite, never a cross-arm, hold is taken (left against right, and vice versa). The grip should be such that the thumb is upon the front of the wrist - the kind of hold that one would naturally assume. This, however, is not absolutely essential, and some learners may prefer the grip shown in the photograph. The captured wrist is then thrust slightly upward and backward, thus bending the arm at the elbow back upon itself. To facilitate this, the defender steps in and places her right hand underneath, just above the elbow. Without hesitation, the wrist is then forced over and outward, so that the back of the hand is turned towards the ground, and at the same time the elbow is drawn by the right hand slightly forward.

Fig. 5. The final movement, stepping forward with the right foot and pressing on the captured arm so that a fall for the victim is inevitable

The pressure must not be relaxed. The result of the exertion of this double and contrary pressure is that a strain is placed upon the elbow- joint that it is not designed to bear; and as the defender forces her assailant's arm further backward and downward, the latter's whole body is compelled to follow the movement.

With the hold properly obtained and the strain rightly applied, the victim has no choice but to submit. And her other arm is powerless for all offensive purposes. All the wriggling and straining in the world will be unable to effect release if the defender will take care to bend her victim's arm in such fashion as to allow of no possibility of it being straightened.

Should she wish to throw her assailant to the ground (and the fall will be a very severe one if she choose to make it so), nothing is more easy. For the assailant to stand with the right foot advanced, as in the illustration, is most usual, and of this the defender takes full advantage. Having secured the wrist and elbow hold, she steps forward with her right foot, across and outside her opponent's right foot, and somewhat behind it, her own heel just at the back of the other's, for choice. Then, as she presses on the captured arm, she will lean forward slightly. and her assailant will be thrown violently backwards across her leg to the ground, without hope of avoiding a heavy fall.

If preferred, when the right foot is thus brought behind, a sharp hook or jerk may be given, cutting away the assailants foot .

This renders the fall more severe.

Fig. 6 represents the tod of a very clean and effective trick that changes swiftly position of a would-be assailant into absolute helplessness and inability to do harm.

Assailant and defender have been squarely facing each other, and the defender has taken what is no more or less than an ordinary hand-clasp, as in shaking hands. She has then thrown up the arm, and swung round to her left, bringing her left side to her opponent's right side, and at the same time extending her own left arm under the captured limb.

The assailant's arm is now fixed. The inside of the wrist is uppermost, and the defender's rigid left arm, crossing the limb just above the elbow (this is important), supplies the fulcrum for a levering movement, rendering the limb powerless, as will be appreciated when her hand is forced down and her shoulder raised. She can be pushed or moved wherever her captor pleases, and is incapable of retaliation.

It is well for the defender's (the one showing the trick) left arm to be held so that the outer edge, and not the front, of the wrist is uppermost. The hand may grip the coat.

An experienced jiu-jitsuist never attacks; she waits always for an assailant to make some offensive movement, and out of that very movement snatches her opportunity for effective defence - a defence which produces utter helplessness in the assailant.

Fig. 6. An effective and simple combat trick which will at once render helpless a would-be assailant