GENTLE SPIRIT OF JUJITSU
MYTHICAL ORIGIN OF JU-SHIN …
During the early part of the Tokugawa era (1603-1868), there lived in Japan’s Saikaido province a respected samurai named Sai kouhou Matsuyama. He had a beautiful daughter called Ju Shin, which means “gentle spirit.” At that time in history, women weren’t allowed to train in the martial arts. However, because Saikouhou was a doting father, he’d let his daughter sit on the edge of the tatami while he practiced his jujitsu.
Ju Shin would study his every movement from afar. Each day after he left, she’d slowly go through the motions of the techniques. Eventually, Saikouhou caught on, but because she’d translated his fighting moves into a flowing form that looked like a dance and because she kept her knowledge to herself, he allowed her to continue.
One day, as she’d done many times before, Ju Shin walked to a meadow to pick wildflowers. Two spied the girl and decided to take advantage of
