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What is judo?
Judo is a highly dynamic Olympic sport that will
increase strength stamina and agility. Judo also
combines the discipline of ancient martial arts with the
flare of modern fast paced sports.
Although the term had been in limited use during the
Tokugawa era, Judo in its modern form was founded by
Professor Jigoro Kano in 1882, during the Meiji period.
Both an art of self-defense and a sport which has
enjoyed Olympic recognition since 1964, judo is
practiced in almost every country in the world. Judo,
which derives from jujutsu, rests upon the principal of
turning an opponent's strength to one's own advantage
and overcoming by skill rather than by strength alone.
Although not the only strategic element, a primary
principal of judo is that of taking of advantage of
aggressive force by giving way rather than resisting
it--hence the terminology "soft" or "yielding" way.
In
developing the judo curriculum, Professor Kano sought to
achieve several goals. First, he sought to preserve both
the technical and philosophical lessons he had learned
from his life-long study of jujutsu at a time when
traditions associated with the samurai were deeply
unpopular. Second, he wished to create a synthesis
between this tradition and two elements he admired in
Western culture: rational/scientific analysis on the one
hand and the ideal of sport as moral education on the
other. Finally, he wished to use his Judo as a vehicle
for the widespread cultivation of moral excellence and
social responsibility within the Japanese educational
system.
One of the prominent features of judo was the structure
of its curriculum. Since this curriculum is a major
influence in the structure of the Yoseikan system, it is
perhaps worth reviewing briefly. Judo techniques are
divided broadly into three categories: tachi-waza
(standing techniques), ne-waza (ground techniques) and
atemi waza (striking techniques).
The standing techniques (tachi-waza), also referred to
as nage-waza (throwing techniques) are further divided
into te waza (hand techniques), koshi-waza (hip
techniques), ashi-waza (foot techniques), ma sutemi waza
(rear fall "sacrifice" techniques) and yoko sutemi waza
(side fall "sacrifice techniques). The ground techniques
are divided into osaekomi waza (pinning techniques),
shime waza (strangling techniques) and kansetsu waza
(joint locking techniques). The striking techniques (atemi
waza), which are prohibited in competition, include
various methods of hitting or kicking vital anatomical
targets.
Practice time is distributed among four major
activities: uchikomi (repetitive drills), kata (formal
exercises), randori (free practice in the application of
techniques) and shiai (contest).
Another interesting contribution of Kano's judo to the
martial arts is the introduction of color ed
belts as a means of recognizing advancement in skill, a
system which has been widely adopted by other styles.
There are two categories of judo ra nk, kyu and
dan. The judo novice starts at 6th kyu, wearing
a white belt, and gradually
advances to 1st kyu, where s/he wears a brown belt. From
there, the student may advance to 1st dan, or 1st degree
black belt. There are 10 degrees of black belt, although
6th through 8th degree have the option of wearing a
red-and-white belt and 9th and 10th dan may wear a red
belt.
Judo training has, in recent years, moved increasingly
to focus on organized competition. A judo match is won
by earning an ippon or "one point" by executing
a clean, powerful throw, pinning an opponent on the
ground for 30 seconds, or obtaining a submission in
response to a strangulation technique or joint lock.
Various partial scores are awarded for more marginal
techniques. Critics of the direction taken by modern
judo argue that excessive emphasis on contest has led to
a focus on strategies which win under a set of fixed
rules against opponents in the same weight class,
weakening, in the long run, the strength of the system
as self-defense. It has also been argued that an
overemphasis on judo as sport can weaken its usefulness
as an overall vehicle for individual development.
A
discussion of Kano's Kodokan Judo would not be complete
without citing the two mottos or fundamental axioms of
Judo:
1.Maximum efficiency with minimum effort.
2.
Mutual benefit.
Practice which follows these principles is good judo;
practice which neglects either is not.
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