Kyusho Jitsu (Pressure Point Art)
急所術A system of strikes to sensitive points popularized by George Dillman. His claim of a contactless knockout failed a controlled test.
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About Kyusho Jitsu (Pressure Point Art)
Kyusho Jitsu is a modern system focused on strikes to sensitive points on the body. It was popularized by the American karateka George Dillman, born in 1942 in Philadelphia, who began training in 1961 and studied among others under Seiyu Oyata and Hohan Soken. The system developed gradually and we found no source that gives a date of founding. Dillman teaches what he himself calls Ryukyu Kempo tomari-te, and alongside kyusho jitsu also tuite jitsu, joint work. He traces both back to what he learned from Okinawan teachers. He was inducted into the Black Belt magazine hall of fame and in 1997 named instructor of the year. But here is where what is undisputed ends. Besides strikes to points, Dillman claims that a knockout can also be induced without contact, through work with chi (qi) energy. This claim was tested. For the documentary series Is It Real? on National Geographic, it was tested by Massimo Polidoro and Luigi Garlaschelli: when the practitioner stood behind a screen so that he could not see Dillman, nothing happened — he just stood there looking confused. The test's conclusion was that the phenomenon rests on suggestion. The distinction here matters. A strike to a sensitive point is a real thing and is commonly used in martial arts. A knockout at a distance is not documented.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.