Kyusho-Jitsu- Pressure Points ( Ryukyu Kempo)  

This is not a new style of martial art it was a part of karate before the second world war after the war a lot of soldiers stayed in Japan to learn the martial arts namely karate, the Japanese having just lost the war did not want to teach these westerners their precious arts and felt disgruntled at their presence but due to economics they came up with away of teaching them but not giving away all the good stuff so they taught them the children’s art, which was basic karate that was introduced into the Japanese school curriculum by  Gichin Funakoshi from the 1920’s.

A lot of the movements were interpreted as blocks by the westerners due to the language barrier and the way it was taught, the monkey see monkey do way. The word block does not exist in Japanese it was interpreted as that by the westerners, all the techniques were strikes to pressure points and vital points, these were hidden in the kata’s of Karate and only taught to close family members or trusted Japanese students who would continue to safe guard this knowledge.

Kyusho-Jitsu (Ryukyu Kempo) is the art of striking pressure points, nerves. They need to be activated by striking, pressing, rubbing or vibrating some nerves can be respond in a few ways others will only respond to pressing or just rubbing.   

 Pressure points for self-defence is using the nerves to our advantage in simple terms it’s the body’s way of monitoring the body’s condition, Pain , hot , cold and or if an organ is in good condition with the use of Pressure Points we can stimulate the the nerves to utilize these messages sent to the brain to get the desired response  e.g. a lowering of the blood pressure, pain, dizziness and or a knock out.  

We must not forget that we can use these same nerves or pressure points for healing it is responsible for an instructor to teach the healing methods there must always be yin and yang the body must always be in total balance.  Why the martial art forms or katas are so important to study is they contain all the nerve strikes and pressure points a little like a map giving the correct angle and direction, all arts that practice forms or katas have this information its just  a question of looking at them in a different way and not think of them as blocking techniques.

Nerve/Pressure points are not magic they require time to study and practice like any thing in life if it was that easy everyone could do them with no effort! They are now gaining popularity and being taught by many groups in a realistic manner, The benefits in helping police / prison officers or stopping that school bully are endless, but please don’t just learn a few nerve points and think you will be protected , you still need to learn your art, keep in shape and practice them on a moving target.