order to increase the total body of knowl-
edge on the subject.
When Wally Jay observed this, he was
impressed that everyone was sharing every-
thing. “Most people, they don’t show any-
body,” Jay said. “That’s wrong. If you want to
be a teacher, why be that way? If you share,
he gains something, you gain something,
too. And you advance more quickly. You
don’t have to go through the same experi-
ment he did.”
Now some people might be tempted to say
that this has resulted in a “new” or “modern”
kyusho-jitsu and that Dillman is a “pressure-
point innovator.” But that is not the case.
Dillman and his students are curators of
historical knowledge. Everything they do is
consistent with the principles of acupunc-
ture and mapped into the movements of the
traditional forms.
5
LEARNING FROM ALL SOURCES
Throughout his career, Dillman sought
insights that would help him improve. This
is why he trained with so many great mas-
ters of the 20th century. He never cared about
the differences between systems, never
turned his back on something and said,
“That’s not my style.” All he wanted were the
insights that would help him become a bet-
ter practitioner.
Early in his study of pressure-point fight-
ing when he was struggling to get his
techniques to work, he had Wally Jay teach
a seminar at his school. As Jay explained
a small-circle jujitsu technique, Dillman
wondered if the concept would translate to
kyusho-jitsu. Grabbing a student, Dillman
stepped into his office, tried his idea and
achieved his first pressure-point knockout.
For Dillman, this experience demonstrated
that sound principles apply equally to all
styles. And out of this came the “Big Three”
training camps, a series of seminars featuring
George Dillman, Wally Jay and Remy Presas.
Dillman likes to tell his own students, “You
need the small-circle jujitsu to get the right
torque on the points, and you need the mod-
ern arnis to get the right flow to stick to the
points so you can transfer the energy.”
As a result, kyusho-jitsu cannot be consid-
ered an art or a style. Rather, it is a meta-art,
a principled practice that knows no borders
and excludes no system. The community of
kyusho-jitsu practitioners is incredibly diverse
in terms of styles represented. It includes
every conceivable type of karate, jujitsu, kung
fu, arnis, silat, kempo, systema and more. And
within that community is a rich appreciation
for the insights each style brings. In this atmo-
sphere of openness, no style is diluted; each
one is deepened. And often, they’re restored
to a former level of effectiveness, with lost
information reintroduced to a modern genera-
tion of practitioners.6
RESEARCHING THE
NO-TOUCH KNOCKOUT
The literature of the martial arts occasion-
ally ascribes almost supernatural powers to
master practitioners. Among them are his-
torical accounts of methods of affecting an
opponent without any physical contact.
E.J. Harrison, in his book The Fighting
Spirit of Japan (1955), recounted a story
about this ability: “[Matajuro] saw a few
sparrows perched on a branch of a tall pine
tree, and fixing a steadfast gaze on the birds,
gave utterance to the kiai shout, whereupon
the sparrows fell to the ground insensible.
When he relaxed the kiai, the birds regained
consciousness and flew away. This particu-
lar feat is known in the Japanese fencing
schools as toate-no-jutsu, or ‘the art of strik-
ing at a distance.’”
Practitioners of aikido are familiar with the
accounts of Morihei Ueshiba that have himTaika Oyata
knocks out
George
Dillman with a
pressure-point
strike.PhotobyKimberly^Dillman,^ CourtesyofGeorgeDillman48 BLACKBELTMAG.COM OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019