The Women of Fuji Ryu

When women join a Fuji Ryu Jujutsu class, they quickly learn that they actually have an advantage over their male counterparts. This advantage is the need to perform proper "Technique". Proper Technique is defined by performing the defensive move correctly such as appropriate hand placement on wrist locks or correct foot position when performing a throw.

Technique is a vital part of Women's self defense because in the majority of the cases, a womens attacker may be bigger and/ or stronger.

Unlike their male counterparts, female students usually do not have the weight or strength advantage in order to "muscle" a defense technique. "Muscleing" a move is when a student relies on their physical strength in order to perform the move such as a throwing technique. The student might engage back and arm muscles to drag and pull their opponent over their back to throw them. This, of course, only works if the student doing the throwing is able to lift the body weight (using just the power of their back and arms) of the student being thrown. By "muscleing" a technique in such a way, the chances of the move working are very low and there is an increased risk of injury.

In order for a women defending against a larger/ stronger opponent to execute a throw, she must step in properly and use her whole body to take the opponent off balance and use the opponents own weight and force against them. Proper technique will allow a student to throw an opponent who may even be twice her weight! This holds true for any student, male or female, when defending against a larger and or stronger attacker. The fact is Jujutsu DOES NOT rely on muscle, but on technique.

In most cases, when a women attempts to "muscle" a self defense move, it will result in failure, especially with a throwing technique. That is why proper technique is stressed to all begining students. In the begining stages, women tend to focus on technique much more thoroughly which helps build a strong base of knowledge to advance from.