Forget the “wax on, wax off” stuff you learned from Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid. According to former karate tournament champ and current instructional book and video guru George Dillman, it’s all wrong. “We as martial artists,” he says, “were caught up in lies.”

It was 83-year-old Okinawan tenth-degree black belt Hohan Soken who set Dillman straight by introducing him to kyusho-jitsu, or pressure-point karate, in 1972. “He told us that this was one of the secrets that was not taught outside of the Orient because of WWII,” Dillman paraphrases the master. “He said, ‘You won a war over our country and the people were over here acting rude and lewd…. Why would we teach them the real secrets of the martial arts?’ “

It seems the big secret was that karate’s traditional moves are relatively worthless, except as an ancient road map to the 361 quarter-sized pressure points all over the body. These points can be struck, rubbed or even just touched to cause numbness (Dillman likens the feeling to banging your funny bone), dizziness, pain and even death. “Four pressure points on the same organ … would stop the organ from functioning,” Dillman explains.

It is because of this “death touch” that such martial arts tournaments as the Ultimate Fighting Championships have outlawed the pressure-point technique in competition. “The funny part is I don’t think [the officials] know what to look for,” Dillman says with a laugh. So the fighters often sneak in some kyusho-jitsu “to numb an arm or a leg and then make like it was an accident.” But while tournaments are outlawing kyusho-jitsu, Dillman has created a cottage industry out of teaching it to everyone from cops to children.

Needless to say, Dillman is a controversial man. But to those who are overly concerned by the idea of schoolkids who can stop each other’s livers, Dillman says his self-defense seminars are humane — they teach only simple getaways that cause no permanent injury.

“Does it hurt?” I ask.
“No,” Dillman exclaims, but then reconsiders. “Well, a little bit.”

— Lauren Kern

Dillman’s seminar is Sat., Feb. 27, from noon to 4:30 p.m. at St. Edward’s Church, 2601 Spring-Stuebner. Call Chuck Bell at (281)353-6385 for information. $60.

This article appears in Feb 25 – Mar 3, 1999.