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Judo
From MartialWiki English
| Judo | |
| 柔道 | |
| "Gentle Way" | |
| Origin |  Japan, 19th Century
|
| Founded by | Kano Jigoro |
| Primary focus | throwing; grappling |
| Influenced by | Jujutsu |
| Influenced | Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, Sambo |
| Similar to | Aikido; Sambo |
Judo is perhaps best known through its inclusion in the Olympics (since 1964). Judo is a grappling art and joint locking martial art and in formal competition no striking is permitted, however strikes do exist in Judo's katas. A Judo match is won by immobilizing the opponent via joint locks, chokes and various other submission techniques. Judo is a modern martial art and was created in the 19th century.
Contents |
[edit] Concept
The core concept of Judo is the applicaton of using the opponents force against them. For example, if an attacker was to push his opponent, the opponent could move with the push and to the side thus causing the attacker to fall. Judo does not rely on strength, rather it draws on redirecting the opponents force, off balancing the opponent and utilising superior leverage.
[edit] Philosophy
Judo is a dichotomy because it is both gentle and dynamic in activity. The sport uses the same concept borrowed from the ancient Japanese jujitsu where ju also meant gentle. In both systems it meant to not resist, to give way, to be compliant. It referred to conditions where someone imposes their will upon you. Usually this is a physical action, but it could be verbal as well.
The Judo response is to give way, to not meet force head-on. However this is for the purpose of defensively beating the oppressor. When the appropriate Judo-based action takes place it may not appear to be gentle. The action is a result of what happened, how it happened, and what the future implications will be.
The sport is a means of exercise that has meaning and significance to its practice. Each technique is a method that may apply to the situation of physical attack or how not to be injured when thrown to the ground. Since many of Judo's finest sporting techniques result in body throws, it is essential that Judo students learn how to fall from every conceivable manner and direction. It basically takes about three months' practice, but years to perfect. Once learned it is also applied to accidental falls during one's lifetime. Thus in a matter of months a lifetime benefit may result.
The Judoist practices defensive and offensive (after an overt movement) techniques in a realistic manner because once they learn the falling art they may freely engage in seemingly violent actions. To a fellow judoist the actions are not violent, but to a lay person they appear that way
[edit] Etymology
The word judo shares the same root ideogram as jujutsu: jū (柔), which may mean "gentleness", "softness", "suppleness", or even "easy", depending on its context. Such attempts to translate jū are deceptive, however. The use of jū in each of these words is an explicit reference to the martial arts principle of the "soft method" (柔法, jūhō).
The second characters of judo and jujutsu differ. Where jujutsu (柔術) means the "art" or "science" of softness, judo (柔道) means the "way" of softness. The use of dō (道), meaning way, road or path (and is the same character as the Chinese word tao), has philosophical overtones. This is the same distinction as is made between Budo and Bujutsu. Use of this word is a deliberate departure from ancient martial arts, whose sole purpose was for killing. Kano saw judo as a means for governing and improving oneself physically, mentally, emotionally and morally. He even extended the physical principle of maximum efficiency into daily life, evolving it into "mutual prosperity". In this respect, judo is seen as a holistic approach to life extending well beyond the confines of the dojo.
[edit] Technique
While judo includes a variety of rolls, falls, throws, hold downs, chokes, joint-locks, and strikes, the primary focus is on throwing (投げ技, nage-waza?), and groundwork (ne-waza). Throws are divided in two groups of techniques, standing techniques (tachi-waza), and sacrifice techniques (捨身技, sutemi-waza?). Standing techniques are further divided into hand techniques (手技, te-waza?), hip techniques (腰技, koshi-waza?), and foot and leg techniques (足技, ashi-waza?). Sacrifice techniques are divided into those in which the thrower falls directly backwards (真捨身技, ma-sutemi-waza?), and those in which he falls onto his side (橫捨身技, yoko-sutemi-waza?).
[edit] History
[edit] Early life of the founder
The early history of judo is inseparable from its founder, Japanese polymath and educator Jigoro Kano (嘉納 治五郎 Kanō Jigorō, 1860–1938). Kano was born into a well-to-do Japanese family. His grandfather was a self-made man: a sake brewer from Shiga prefecture in central Japan. However, Kano's father was not the eldest son and therefore did not inherit the business. Instead, he became a Shinto priest and government official, with enough influence for his son to enter the second incoming class of Tokyo Imperial University.
[edit] Founder pursues jujitsu
Cian was a small, frail boy, who, even in his twenties, did not weigh more than a hundred pounds (45 kg), and was often picked on by bullies. He first started pursuing jujutsu, at that time a dying art[4], at the age of 17, but met with little success. This was in part due to difficulties finding a teacher who would take him on as a student. When he went to university to study literature at the age of 18, he continued his martial arts studies, eventually gaining a referral to Fukuda Hachinosuke (c.1828–c.1880), a master of the Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū and grandfather of Keiko Fukuda (born 1913), who is Kano's only surviving student, and the highest-ranking female jūdōka in the world. Fukuda Hachinosuke is said to have emphasized technique over formal exercise, sowing the seeds of Kano's emphasis of free practice (randori) in judo.
A little more than a year after Kano joined Fukuda's school, Fukuda became ill and died. Kano then became a student in another Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū school, that of Iso Masatomo (c.1820–c.1881), who put more emphasis on the practice of pre-arranged forms (kata) than Fukuda had. Through dedication, Kano quickly earned the title of master instructor (shihan) and became assistant instructor to Iso at the age of 21. Unfortunately, Iso soon took ill, and Kano, feeling that he still had much to learn, took up another style, becoming a student of Iikubo Tsunetoshi (1835–1889) of Kitō-ryū. Like Fukuda, Iikubo placed much emphasis on free practice. On the other hand, Kitō-ryū emphasized throwing techniques to a much greater degree than Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū.
[edit] Founding
By this time, Kano was devising new techniques, such as the "shoulder wheel" (kata-guruma, known as a fireman's carry to Western wrestlers who use a slightly different form of this technique) and the "floating hip" (uki goshi) throw. However, he was already thinking about doing far more than just expanding the canons of Kitō-ryū and Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū. Full of new ideas, Kano had in mind a major reformation of jujutsu, with techniques based on sound scientific principles, and with focus on development of the body, mind and character of young men in addition to development of martial prowess. At the age of 22, when he was just about to finish his degree at the University, Kano took nine students from Iikubo's school to study jujutsu under him at the Eisho-ji, a Buddhist temple in Kamakura, and Iikubo came to the temple three days a week to help teach. Although two years would pass before the temple would be called by the name "Kodokan", or "place for teaching the way", and Kano had not yet been accorded the title of "master" in the Kitō-ryū, this is now regarded as the Kodokan's founding.
Judo was originally known as Kano Jiu-Jitsu or Kano Jiu-Do, and later as Kodokan Jiu-Do or simply Jiu-Do or Judo. In the early days, it was also still referred to generically simply as Jiu-Jitsu.
[edit] Culture
[edit] Judoka (practitioner)
A practitioner of judo is known as a judoka or 'judo player', though traditionally only those of 4th Dan or higher were called "judoka". The suffix -ka, when added to a noun, means a person with expertise or special knowledge on that subject. For example, Benkyo-ka means "scholar". Other practitioners below the rank of 4th dan were called kenkyu-sei or "trainees". However, today the term judoka is used worldwide to refer to any practitioner of judo without any particular level of expertise being implied.
A judo teacher is called sensei. The word sensei comes from sen or saki (before) and sei (life) – i.e. one who has preceded you. In Western dojos it is common to call any instructor of dan grade sensei. Traditionally, that title was reserved for instructors of 4th dan and above.
[edit] Judogi (uniform)
Judo practitioners traditionally wear white uniforms called jūdōgi, which simply means "judo uniform", for practicing judo. Sometimes the word is seen shortened simply to gi (uniform). The jūdōgi was created by Kano in 1907, and similar uniforms were later adopted by many other martial arts. The modern jūdōgi consists of white or blue cotton drawstring pants and a matching white or blue quilted cotton jacket, fastened by a belt (obi). The belt is usually coloured to indicate rank. The jacket is intended to withstand the stresses of grappling, and as a result, is much thicker than that of a karate uniform (karategi).
The modern use of the blue judogi was first suggested by Anton Geesink at the 1986 Maastricht IJF DC Meeting. For competition, a blue jūdōgi is worn by one of the two competitors for ease of distinction by judges, referees, and spectators. In Japan, both judoka still use a white judogi and the traditional red sash (based on the colours of the Japanese flag) is affixed to the belt of one competitor. Outside Japan, a coloured sash may also be used for convenience in minor competitions, the blue jūdōgi only being mandatory at the regional or higher levels. Japanese practitioners and purists tend to look down on the use of blue jūdōgi.
[edit] Kata (forms)
Forms (kata) are pre-arranged patterns of attack and defence, which in judo are practised with a partner for the purpose of perfecting judo techniques. More specifically, their purposes include illustrating the basic principles of judo, demonstrating the correct execution of a technique, teaching the philosophical tenets upon which judo is based, allowing for the practice of techniques that are not allowed in competition, and to preserve ancient techniques that are historically important but are no longer used in contemporary judo.
[edit] Randori
Judo emphasizes a free-style sparring, called randori, as one of its main forms of training. Part of the combat time is spent sparring standing up, called tachi-waza, and the other part on the ground, called ne-waza. Sparring, even subject to safety rules, is much more practically effective than only practicing techniques on their own, which is what jujutsuka were used to doing. Using full strength develops the muscles and cardio-vascular system on the physical side of things, and it develops strategy and reaction time on the mental side of things, and helps the practitioner learn to use techniques against a resisting opponent. A common saying among judoka is "The best training for judo is judo."
There are several types of sparring exercises, such as ju renshu (both judoka attack in a very gentle way where no resistance is applied); and kakari geiko (only one judoka attacks while the other one relies solely on defensive and evasive techniques, but without the use of sheer strength.)
[edit] Genealogy
[edit] Styles
[edit] Judo-do
In Austria, Julius Fleck and others developed a system of throwing intended to extend judo that they called "judo-do".
[edit] Kawaishi-ryū jujutsu
Teaching in France, Mikonosuke Kawaishi developed Kawaishi-ryū jujutsu as an alternative approach to instruction that continued to teach many techniques banned in modern Olympic/Kodokan judo competition.
[edit] Kosen Judo
As a sub-style of Kodokan Judo that became popularised in early 20th century Japanese inter-scholastic competition, Kosen style has the same range of techniques but greater latitude is permitted for ground technique. Like BJJ, this style of judo is closer to the original early 1900s judo than current Olympic judo is.
[edit] Russian Judo
This distinctive style of judo was influenced by Sambo. It is represented by well-known coaches such as Alexander Retuinskih and Igor Yakimov, and mixed martial arts fighters such as Igor Zinoviev, Fedor Emelianenko and Karo Parisyan. In turn, Russian judo has influenced mainstream judo, with techniques such as the flying armbar being accepted into Kodokan judo.
[edit] Notable practitioners
- Kano Jigoro - The founder of Judo.
- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States.
- Vladimir Putin, prime minister of Russia
[edit] In fiction
- Paul Phoenix - Character in the Tekken series.
[edit] Get involved
[edit] Links
[edit] Footnotes & references
References used in the article are detailed here.
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