WHATEVER HAPPENED TO KUATSU?

 By Phillip Starr

When I was a fledgling martial arts student, I recall my kung-fu instructor teaching me and my classmates forms of Chinese first-aid (called “jijiu” 急救) that were to be applied if any of us should inadvertently injure each other. Needless to say, these special techniques could also be of great value in daily life as well. And when I undertook the study of Japanese karate, I learned kuatsu (aka. “kappo”), which are emergency methods of “resuscitating” a training partner who had been struck too hard.

By the time I was in my late teens, most martial arts schools had discontinued this kind of training. The “first-aid” techniques that I witnessed in the tournaments of those days bordered on the brutal or just plain silly and ineffective. I took it upon myself to administer these ancient forms of first-aid to competitors who had been injured and many instructors would ask me where I'd learned these techniques.

I considered the importance of students learning these special forms of first-aid as well as more modern techniques in the training hall and began to require them on examinations. I still do. It's just one more item on a long list of things that have been brushed aside in the rush to acquire skill in punching and kicking. But I still recall my teacher's words; he told me that healing and hurting are two sides of the same coin. If you learn only one, you have but half an art...and he was absolutely right.