Art or Style: Hojo Jutsu - The Japanese art of Roping

and Binding

Fig 1
Samurai
in battle
binding a
prisoner

Among the ropes and belts carried as part of the

Samurai armour, are Koshi Nawa of the Chinese
type (Kara Uchi No Himo) which the Samurai
fastened to his belt. Figure 1 shows a Samurai in
battle tying his prisoner using Tori
Nawa techniques.

The rope or cord was multi-functional and was

used for e.g.Securing a saddle (Kura Gatame),
Tethering a horse (Shiba Tsunagi) and Binding
prisoners (Tori Nawa)

Other ropes used by the Samurai came complete

Fig 2. Goso Nawa from Takenouchi
with hoops, spikes or grappling irons attached to Ryu
the end and they would also be used for a variety
of reasons such as

 Climbing a wall
 Securing a boat
 Hanging up armour etc.

In this section we will be looking at the skills

relating to binding a prisoner or securing a
person. It was the Takenouchi Ryu that first
formalised the art. Later in its development the
17th century classical bujutsu of the Itatsu
Ryu formed the basics of the system used by
Japans modern Police Force. This took the form
Fig 3 The Lobster
of:

 5 Kihon techniques.
 3 techniques of Tote Nawa (Hoshu
Nawa) or tying to the front
 4 Techniques of Inchi Nawa (Goso Fig. 4 - A bound prisoner hung from a
Nawa) or tying to the rear. beam

Of significant note was the rule that the operator

must keep his prisoner under control at all times
particularly while tying him. Practice will no doubt
heighten manual dexterity and speed is of the
essence.

There are a variety of methods to secure a

prisoner and they offer various degrees of control.
These include restricting the use of the arms but
allowing use of the arms for eating etc. Restricting
the use of the legs, whether that be to allow
walking but not running etc while other methods
Some of the patterns can be physically very
severe, while others very effective restraint. A
very famous pattern of roping is the Lobster (see
fig. 3) and undoubtedly this required a great
degree of flexibility in the prisoner or indeed
excessive brutality to secure someone in this
positions. It has been known of the Japanese to
torture their prisoners by binding their hands and
arms and hanging them by the arms from a
branch of a tree or a beam (see fig. 4)
Hojo in Modern Times Fig 5 - Roping prionsers together

It may appear strange to some that the almost

primitive art of roping a prisoner has a practical
use in modern days. Simple cord tying is
considered to be a more efficient and economical
system than metal handcuffs, particularly when
dealing with multiple prisoners.

In 1927 a Police Technical Commission examined

the techniques of Hojojutsu and during this
exercise Shimizu Takaji demonstrated the
techniques of restraining and immobilising an
aggressor through the use of tying a cord.

There was great interest in these techniques and

Shimizu recommended the adoption of several
techniques into the Police system for controlling
Fig. 6 Japanese Police in training
prisoners. The formal training of these techniques
continued until 1931 when Shimizu became
the Jojustu teacher to the Tokyo Police. He then
organised formal instruction in Hojojutsu for all
patrolmen and they remained in use until after the
defeat of Japan in World War 2. (see figs. 6 & 7).
The subsequent ban on all classical martial arts
did not included Hojo Jutsu as this art was
considered an essential and integral part of
training Japanese policemen. Between 1949 and
1968 Shimizu modified the original methods to
make them more suited to the situations that are
more likely to arise today.

Though the classical art is distinguishable as a

separate formal system of combat, it is in reality
only the final stage of action in the classical art
of Torite – the art of seizing and restraining an
aggressor. The aggressor must be first brought
under control before he can be rendered helpless
by binding his limbs etc. This makes for a happy
marriage of Jujitsu and Hojojutsu techniques
without impingement, dilution or loss of any of the
two systems technical effectiveness. They are
complementary just as the art of Kuzushi is
within Jujitsu.