Judo

“The Gentle Way”

Jigoro Kano

Judo or “the way of gentleness” is a Japanese Martial Art which was founded by Jigoro Kano in 1882.  Kano, was a small boy who had an interest in the Martial Arts, but could not find a teacher who would take him as a student.  After entering university, he was referred to Fukuda Hachinosuke who taught Tenjin Shin’yo-ryu.  Fukuda stressed the importance of being able to perform the exercise (randori), over that of the Kata, or pre-arranged forms.

After Fuduka’s death, Kano became a student of Iso Masatomo.  Masatomo believed in the importance of studying the Kata which had a great influence on Kano.  When Masatomo became sick, Kano switched teachers again, studying Kito-ryu with Iikubo Tsunetoshi.  Tsunetoshi stressed the importance of free practice and the art of Kito-ryu was emphasized stand up skills through throws.

Kano took the skills that he learned through all three instructors and began to combine them and come up with his own, new techniques creating a system known today as Judo.

When Kano was first coming up with his techniques, Judo and Jiu-Jitsu were interchangeable terms.  Today, Judo has become an exclusive martial art, which is the basis for many other modern martial arts such as Sambo, Bartitsu, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

The general object of Judo is to throw an opponent to the ground, immobilize them with a grappling maneuver, or force their submission by joint locks or choke holds.  The primary focuses of Judo are throws and groundwork.  There are two throw techniques, Standing and Sacrifice. Standing techniques are divided into three groups. These are hand, hip and foot and leg techniques. The Sacrifice Techniques are named as such because they involve moves in which the Judoka falls either to the side or directly backwards. The ground fighting techniques are also divided into three categories, which are attacks of joints and joint locks, strangle holds/ chokeholds, and holding or pinning. Sparring known as Randori, or “free practice” is also a part of Judo.

When studying Judo, the student is know as the Judoka and the teacher is known as the Sensei. The uniform used is Judo is called a Judogi, or Gi for short. It was created in 1907 by Dr. Kano. Commonly, it consists of white or blue drawstring pants made of cotton, with a cotton jacket that is secured by a cloth belt. The color of the belt depicts the level of mastery that particular Judoka has completed.

There are two divisions of rank in Judo, the below black belt grades and the above black belt degrees. There are six below black belt grades sixth being a beginner and first being the last grade before promotion to Shodan. There really isn’t any limit to the amount of ranks that can be achieved in the above black belt degrees, but in the history of Judo only 15 dans have been promoted to the 10th dan level. Belt colors for the below black belt grades vary country to country. Most often you will see a beginning student with a white or grey belt, and intermediate with a green one. The dan belt colors are the same all around the world, with the first through fifth dan level belts being black, the sixth, seventh and eight are alternating red and white panels, and the ninth and tenth solid red.

Being trained, even a little bit, in Judo can be a great asset when it comes to self defense. Practicing Judo can build speed, strength, stamina and endurance. Judo teaches the user to retain his or her balance while using the speed and force of an opponents attack to alter their balance. It also teaches how to used choke holds and joint locks, which can be a very valuable in a self defense situation.  In MMA, Judo has shown to be used effectively by fighters such as Karo Parisyan and Hidehiko Yoshida.  Additionally, many fighters that have mastered throws and sweeps are using Judo moves to effectively take down their opponents.

Although Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has been successfully marketed to the world as the supreme dominant force in the mixed martial arts world, it is important to emphasize (as stated above) that many martial arts have roots that tie back to Judo, and that many of the moves that these arts use, were originally created by Judo Masters.

For the martial arts enthusiast, Judo is a skill that can greatly increase their skill and ability both on and off the mat.