JUDO
WHAT IS JUDO?
By Steve Scott Judo is one of the best forms of physical education ever devised. It's also an Olympic sport, an excellent method of self-defense and a great recreation activity. But is judo for everyone? Maybe not. It's a grappling activity where there is a lot of physical contact with other people. It can be a rough activity and an even rougher sport. If you're looking for something that gets you up close and personal with other people, then judo might be for you.
In 1882, Prof. Jigoro Kano developed Kodokan Judo in Tokyo, Japan. Prof. kano initially had only nine students but Prof. Kano's adaptation of jujutsu quicly became popular. Today, millions of people all over the world practice judo.
Judo consists of throws, pins, chokes and armlocks. Over the years, there have been many influences on the original Kodokan Judo Prof. Kano founded and it has become a modern Olympic sport. Judo was included as a demonstration sport for men in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan and became a regular part of the Olympic Games in 1972 in Munich, Germany. In 1988, women's judo was included as a demonstration sport in the Seoul, Korea Olympic Games and was included as a full sport in 1992 in the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. But judo is more than a sport. It's one of the best forms of physical education ever invented and can be used for personal growth and development.
WELCOME MAT JUDO JUJITSU SAMBO
Jigoro Kano, Founder of Kodokan Judo
Jigoro Kano’s influence in the development of the martial arts makes him one of the most significant leaders in history, not only in Japan, but anywhere.
Jigoro Kano founded Kodokan Judo and in 1882 opened the first Kodokan at the Eisho temple in Tokyo, Japan. From this humble start, judo has grown to an activity practiced by millions all over the world.
Jigoro Kano was born on October 28, 1860 in Mikage, Japan and died while on a ship during a world tour on May 4, 1938. He was an influential figure in Japanese sport, education and politics. Prof. Kano was one of the founders of the Japanese Olympic Committee and lobbied to get judo accepted as an Olympic sport. He was also influential in Japanese education and through his work, judo became part of the public school physical education program.
Kano worked hard and reorganized the leading jujutsu schools of Japan, eventually reorganizing them into his Kodokan Judo and prevented them from becoming just an historical footnote in Japanese history. He initiated a structured and educational approach to the study of jujutsu, which had not bee done previously.
Jigoro Kano was the innovator of many things we do today in many martial arts. He developed the system of ukemi (breakfalls) so that students could practice safely and with confidence. He developed the first modern judogi (judo training uniform). Before Kano standardized the judogi in about 1906, there was no standard garment worn by participants. He renames and reclassified many techniques and skills so that the names made sense and described the movement being done. Up to that time, there was no standard terminology used and each ryuha (system) used its own creating much confusion. It was Prof. Kano who developed the belt rank system, which is still used today. These are some of the innovations Jigoro Kano made.
It was through Kano’s work that Japan became part of the International Olympic committee. Eventually, judo was added to the list of sports in the Olympic Games as a demonstration in 1964 and as a fully-accepted sport in 1972. Kano was also an innovator in the concept of physical education, as there had been little work or research done in this area before, especially in Japan. Through his efforts, judo and kendo were made part of the middle-school curriculum in Japanese public schools in 1908.
Jigoro Kano’s influence was to such an extent that he assisted both Morihei Uyeshiba in his fledgling aikido and Gichen Funakoshi in his new karate by giving them training accommodations at the Kodokan Institute. It was Kano’s influence that helped these martial arts gain credibility in Japan during the early part of the 20th century.
Jigoro Kano is one of the most significant and influential people in the history of martial arts and his influence continues today.
This statue of Jigoro Kano is located at the entrance of the Kodokan Judo Institute in Tokyo, Japan.
While judo has evolved into a modern Olympic sport practiced by millions of people all around the globe, it's still considered to be one of the best forms of physical education ever devised.
A FLAWED PREMISE
By Steve Scott
(This article has appeared in several places including www.JudoInfo.com.)
A few comments made recently by different people in different situations prompted me to write this article. The subject is "proper technique" and what that implies. I may get kind of opinionated on all of this, but keep in mind that I'm not really a bad guy, just one with an opinion based on objective criteria and a fair amount of experience.
One of my black belts who lives in another state recently e-mailed me and told me about a conversation he had with a judo instructor. This instructor told my guy that he "would rather lose and place fourth in a tournament using proper technique than have to use competition-style judo."
I recently met another fellow who is a black belt in judo here locally and he told me judo in particular and the martial arts in general are in a sorry state of affairs and that his instructor "taught proper technique," and "not the stuff that it takes to win." Like the first guy I mentioned, this gentleman told me he would rather lose and use "authentic judo" than have to resort to "this new stuff they use these days." (Now here's a fellow, who by his own admission, has never trained outside of a few clubs in the Kansas City area, told me he hasn't put on a judogi in 10 years, but has the inside scoop on what is "authentic.")
Another example. Some of you old-timers (like me) may remember this one. Back in the late 1960s or early 1970s, a gentleman who was the U.S. World Team Coach one year for judo was lamenting about the poor technique used by many of the European judo teams. He said something like (and I paraphrase from memory) "I would rather have my athletes lose and do correct judo than win and use flawed technique." It was also reported that he said he preferred "the U.S. team to do properly done breakfalls than improperly done throws."
It's a flawed premise (hence, the name of this article) to assume that the only way to win at sport judo (or any other combat sport) is to not use "proper technique." Does that imply only "improper technique" wins? Does that imply that "proper technique" is not good enough to win in a sport (or realistic) situation?
What is "proper technique" and who is the final arbiter of deciding what is? Jigoro Kano, the founder of Kodokan Judo, shook the jujutsu world in the 1880's and was criticized often for his approach to teaching jujutsu. It's my estimation that while Prof. Kano did his best to retain ties to the traditions of the older jujutsu schools, he wanted to develop a system of jujutsu (his Kodokan Judo) that would be utilitarian, functional and adaptable to every situation so it would work, and work with a high ratio of success.
I would agree that poorly performed techniques or skills are not to be encouraged, and we've all seen some situations where one guy was "less bad" than his opponent and won the match. But if we assume that all matches are won in this way, then we are making a false assumption. But, good judo is good judo. It doesn't have to come out of a mold or mimic a Japanese master. There’s nothing wrong with the Japanese masters. I respect them. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a firm believer in giving credit to where it is due and the Japanese gave us a wonderful gift in judo, jujitsu and the other martial arts. If for nothing else, this deserves our respect and thanks. I'm not a fan of those who dismiss anything that is "old-fashioned" as ineffective. We see that a lot these days in the martial arts and it's not a good thing.
Fortunately, there are enough people who respect what has been taught and try to add to the body of knowledge that exists. Not dismissing it as old or ineffective, but not going to the other extreme and insisting that anything the deviates from exactly what someone taught you is not "proper." When someone does a hip throw ehn he's been asked to do a foot sweep, that's obviously not "proper" or "correct." he didn't do the right throw. When that same someone does a foot sweep, but does it so poorly that it doesn't work, even with a non-resisting partner, then that is also not "proper." The bottom line here is that the technique has to work. To make it work, the person doing it must perform the physical and mechanical skills of the throw to make it have the desired effect on his opponent or partner. To make that happen, the person doing the move must adapt all movements in the technique to fit to his body and fit to the situation at hand. No one does the same technique in the exact same way as another human being. These things are like personalities. We all have one, but they are all unique.
But there is something definitely wrong when someone says that he would rather lose and do "proper technique." If his technique is "proper" then it should be good enough to win. Good skills will stand the test of time. That's why throws like uchi mata (the inner thigh throw), seoi nage (the "shoulder" throw) and o soto gari (major outer reap) work as well today as they did 50 years ago. It's simply common sense to acknowledge the fact that we study the basic skills of a move and if the technique suits our body type, strength level, attitude, style and other physical, mental and emotional factors, we mold it to fit our needs and make it work for us. That's simply human nature and that is very authentic. No one does a throw or hold the exact same way someone else did, especially in the realistic situations of competition or self-defense. I mentioned this a paragraph or two ago, but it's worth saying in a different way.
Back in the 1980s, I had an interesting conversation with a referee at the junior nationals. Kenney Brink, one of my athletes, won his age and weight class and won all of his matches by ippon. He had about 5 or 6 matches. I remember this so well because of my conversation with the referee I mentioned.
The referee told me he "hated to referee" Kenney's matches. I asked him why. The referee told me that Kenney had the potential to be a good judo man, but his technique was "so sloppy." I pondered that for a moment and quickly reviewed Kenney's performance that day. He won 2 matches with an uchi mata for an ippon, won another match with a seoi nage (shoulder throw) for an ippon, won another match with a juji gatame (cross-body armlock) and another with a kesa gatame (scarf lock) for an ippon. I listed all of this to the referee and he replied that sure, "Kenney is good, but he doesn't do judo like the Japanese." I asked exactly what did that that mean? The referee couldn't define it, but he insisted that Kenney didn't have "good technique." I mentioned that all of his opponents were other young black or brown belts, and Kenney didn't have an easy opponent all day, but it wasn't good enough for this referee. Now, granted, the referee had never competed in a national tournament himself and he readily admitted that to me.
Seems to me that it's a lot easier to be critical of someone when the critic has never tried doing what he's critical of to begin with. I have found that, for the most part, people who haven't trained to the limit of their abilities (whether it be in the arena of competition or self-defense) are quicker to criticize others than someone who has put it on the line. I'm not saying that you have to have been a world-class athlete to offer a critique or make a comment. But, one can't have empathy unless he or she has at least made an honest effort and participated to his or her best effort.
I sincerely believe that Prof. Kano stressed efficiency when he developed Kodokan Judo. Certainly, elements of older jujutsu schools were retained in his Kodokan syllabus, and any individual who wants to really understand Kodokan Judo should take the time and effort to study this phase of the art. An important part of the study of judo is the understanding of its "roots" and the concepts that form judo. "If we don't know where we came from, we don't know where we are" is an old mariner's saying that certainly applies here.
However, what we often see are people who use the excuse of "proper judo" for lazy judo or inefficient judo. This is what I am addressing in this article. For instance, when someone practices nage no kata, he should actually do the throws and perform the skills in such a way that uke doesn't have to "jump for tori to make the throw look good" (as I once heard a semi-famous American judo instructor tell a young black belt at a kata clinic who was having trouble with uchi mata).
Jumping for tori isn't what doing nage no kata is all about. It’s the same with doing any technique or skill. The technique has to actually work.
Judo has solid principles based on sound mechanics of human movement. This is why techniques like uchi mata, o soto gari, juji gatame and all the others continue to work. What happens is that each human being performing any of these skills will alter them in some slight (or significant) way to make the technique work for him. It won't work at all if there is no sound mechanical skill behind it. As John Taylor, one of my black belts, said, "Technique is the foundation, not the house."
And because Kodokan Judo is based on sound principles, it has the capacity to accept new techniques and skills. The only condition is that these new skills must be based on the same, solid core values that have already been established and have stood the test of time. These core values are the mechanics (kuzushi, tsukuri and kake, among others, for instance) that make judo a workable and effective system of physical education, sport, recreation and self-defense. This is because of the utilitarian concept and philosophy of "ju." This is a brilliant concept. We see "ju" in many things in life. This is why "ju" is so much more than "gentle".
Sure, there is lousy judo seen in tournaments. But, there is also excellent judo seen in tournaments. The flawed premise is that anytime we change a technique to make it work in a competitive situation, it is not "proper judo." Kodokan Judo is such that it can, and does, accept new innovations and stand the test of time as I said before. A good example is the great judo champion Toshihiko Koga and his unique way of doing seoi nage. He took a judo throw that novices learn, seoi nage, and clearly mastered the mechanics. He then took it a step further. He did what is natural to every human being who does judo...he made the technique work for him. He altered so that it fit his body and made it so that he could throw opponents with a high ratio of success.
Now, that is Kodokan Judo in action. Was Koga's seoi nage the standard textbook approach? No, but he applied all the concepts of Kodokan Judo when he altered it so that it works for him. And, believe it or not (this is why I use Koga as an example), I actually heard a person (of limited experience and understanding) say back in the early 1990s that Koga's seoi nage was "lousy technique." (Apparently because it wasn't the same cookie-cutter approach to seoi nage that this person had in his limited experience.) It's this type of thinking that prompted this article on the flawed premise.
I guess what the upshot of all this rambling is that there will always be those who view anything new as not "authentic" and there will always be those who view anything they consider "old-fashioned" as ineffective. Arrogance is a good companion for both those who lack knowledge and those who lack experience. To equate "proper technique" with something that doesn't work in a realistic situation is missing the point of why we train in judo, jujitsu and the martial arts. These things should be functional. Their function separates them from dancing, aerobics or other methods of physical education or recreation. If we're learning (or teaching) how to fight, then let's learn (or teach) how to fight effectively. Good technique is fundamental, but if it doesn't work, then it's not good technique.
These photos show the wide variety of throws, pins, chokes and armlocks seen in judo today. Judo is one of the most technically advanced sports ever seen and takes a lifetime to appreciate.
JUDO SKILLS ENCOMPASS A WIDE VARIETY OF MOVEMENT
Judo is more than simply throws as some people might believe. Through the long history of judo, it has been the leading innovative spark that has led to the devleopment of such diverse grappling activities and sports as Russian Sambo, Brazilian JiuJitsu, Shingitai Jujitsu, the many forms of submission grappling and wrestling practiced worldwide and a variety of other grappliong and combat sports. The one thing all of these combat sports and martial arts have in common is that Kodokan Judo was the root martial art of all of them. So when someone tells you "Judo is only throwing" it's incorrect. Judo encompasses a wide and innovative variety of technical skills.
JUDO: MORE IMPORTANT NOW THAN EVER
By Steve Scott
With the declining level of physical fitness among children in the United States, judo is more important now than ever before. You can name about any study or simply talk to most any physical education teacher or recreation professional and learn the extent of the poor levels of fitness and health among our nation’s youth. In many respects, the training we provide is about the only form of physical education a lot of kids will get.
A typical study done recently indicates the average third-grader in the Untied States spends an average of 900 hours a year in a classroom and 1,770 hours a year watching television. Another study showed that 25% of our nation’s children under the age of 14 are obese. Onset diabetes is becoming more common among kids. These statistics clearly show a sedentary lifestyle has taken root among our nation’s kids.
Less Physical Education in School
Many school districts are cutting back in physical education programs and in some cases, eliminating it entirely. What physical education remains had become more geared toward “game teaching” and “socialization through movement” and other similar curricula. Kids today are getting less of the big three in physical education; psychomotor, cognitive and affective domains. In other words, our kids are getting less real physical education in school and more playing games. Even with that, there are fewer kids even playing games. Too many kids, even if they have physical education classes, still don’t physically play the way previous generation did.
While playing games can, and does, teach the skills of physical education in ideal settings, not every kid gets included in the games. It’s also much easier for a school district to not have to hire a physical education teacher and have “recess” in place of an actual physical education class.
Fewer schools are requiring physical education tests such as the “President’s Physical Fitness Test” or the tests sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Union and other groups interested in our nation’s health.
Getting Physical Education in the Dojo
With a larger and growing percentage of our kids not receiving adequate physical education in schools, parents are finding alternatives in places like community centers, sports leagues, dance studios, gymnastics clubs, and yes, in martial arts clubs.
Judo, as well as the other martial arts, can serve as an almost perfect tool for kids who need good physical education.
Prof. Jigoro Kano devised Kodokan Judo as, among other things, a workable method of teaching physical education. Prof. Kano correctly figured that the throws, holds and all the physical skills required in his Kodokan Judo provided an excellent means of delivering physical education to school children, high school students and university students. As you probably already know, Prof. Kano was primarily responsible for the development of physical education in Japanese public education. He was also the first president of Japan’s Olympic Committee. Judo’s roots are deeply embedded in education. Judo is one of the most complete forms of physical education ever invented. All the martial arts have similar things to offer in terms of physical education. Kids are learning in many dojos today what they used to learn in public schools. Every coach, whether it be judo, jujitsu, karate or any other martial discipline, can tell stories of how the martial arts have helped children (and adults) develop into more mature, physically fit people.
Not Everybody is a Fighter
We coaches need to make sure we also have programs available that emphasize judo as a method of physical education. In many judo clubs, if a kid isn’t interested in competing in tournaments, he soon finds that judo is not for him. Let’s include the kids who might not want to compete and aim the emphasis of a beginning judo class toward teaching solid fundamentals, discipline and sportsmanship.
But then, when I’ve talked to many coaches, what actually takes place is that due to a lack of space or time (a volunteer coach can only get so much time in the local community center or YMCA), and the coach’s desire to develop champions as the primary motivation for teaching, the slow learner or backward kid may not fit in and become a judo drop-out.
Not everybody who does judo has to compete. How many people swim for recreation and health compared to the number of competitive swimmers? There are millions of people in health clubs and fitness gyms and only a fraction of them compete in competitive weight lifting.
If at all possible…and I know we all have limited time, facilities and resources, but if possible…try to offer more classes than just the practice for the competitors. Yes, keep coaching competitors. I love the sport of judo the same as most of you reading this. It’s probably the most exciting sport ever invented. But, when we offer a kids’ basic judo class, let’s make sure that we teach solid fundamentals and leave the tricks and techniques that work only in a tournament for the more advanced kids who’ve made a commitment to compete in judo. Don’t weed out the kids who might not be championship material. Teach judo as the great physical education it is from the start and you’ll see that you’ll retain more students and they’ll be better at judo in the long haul. Try to have at least a 50% retention rate with a goal of keeping 75% of the kids to stay in judo at least a full year.
Judo, as well as other martial arts, is needed more now than ever. We coaches know it’s a great method of physical education and we can make a difference in the lives of a lot of people.
