Sep

11

Judo, from Steve Leslie

September 11, 2006 |

The beauty of Judo is that it is a very subtle sport yet a very lethal one. In fact Judo means "gentle way" in Japanese. One soon finds out that there is not much gentle about it. It is still a martial art.

Judo is an isolated sport, often a lonely one. It is just you and your opponent and the battleground is the center of a mat in full view of the audience. There are no teammates, nobody blocking for you, and nobody hitting behind you. And no excuses. Plus, you are always in direct contact with your opponent. There is literally no let up and no time outs. It is combat at the highest level. Balance, strength and explosiveness are critical skills. And you have to be constantly aware of your opponent because one misstep one false move can instantly end a match.

Judo emphasizes fighting (randori) as its main form of training. Half the combat time is spent fighting on the ground, called ne-waza and the other half standing up, called tachi-waza. Actual fighting, albeit within safety rules, is considered to be much more effective than only practicing techniques, since fighting 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.

Judo's balance between both the standing and ground phases of combat gives judoka the ability to take down opponents who are standing up and then pin and submit them on the ground. A Judoka can also force an opponent to submit through a chokehold or a joint manipulation such as an arm bar. Thus multidimensional skills are essential to develop to becoming an accomplished judoka.

The skills in being a successful Judo champion and a successful speculator are very similar. Both require a great deal of discipline, awareness, and specific mastery of skills and techniques. Plus strategy and attention to detail are prime requisites for success. In addition accountability is paramount as there is none to blame for failure than oneself. In the end it is the combat, the battle, that determines the ultimate victor. There is no statistical bias no French judge who grades the combatant lower through political favoritism. The contest is decided on the mat. And the results are final. The vanquished accepts this and validates it through a final acknowledgment of bowing to an opponent who has bested him in the arena.

Bruno Ombreux offers some similarities between Judo and speculation:

Hard work. All the skills you mentioned can only be developed through hard work and practice. Provided weights and technical levels are not too far apart, the judoka who trains 4 times a week will beat hands-down the one who trains only twice.

Successful speculation is hard work.

Bruises. Pain in a full-contact martial art as judo, goes beyond muscle ache normally associated with sport practice. Shiai - the competitive form of randori - is very intense. First degree burns on the neck, resulting from judogi friction, are common. (judoki is the outfit worn by judoka). Passing out from strangulation happens too. Broken members also. My personal souvenirs from judo are a broken nose and a permanently paralyzed big toe.

Speculation is a source of bruises in the form of losses. One has to pay his dues.

Specialization. Every judoka has a "special". This is a throw that he excels at, often because his morphology is well suited to this particular move. For instance, morote-seoi-nage, a shoulder throw, is said to be favored by smaller players, because it is easier for them to get inside and under the opponent gravity center. The judoka trains his "special" more than any other move. He is going to use it a lot in competition. The idea is to excel at one thing rather than be average at many.

This analogy with speculation needs not be explained after Chair's post on Specialization and the Division of Labor.

Focus on the wrong the methods. For years, proponents of strikes-based martial arts like karate or kick boxing, proclaimed their superiority over wrestling styles, like judo, "a mere sport for schoolchildren". This changed with the introduction of "Mixed Martial Arts" fights. Evidence surfaced that in real-life, unlike in kung-fu movies, one-on-one fights with no limiting rules most often end on the ground after the exchange of a few blows, a grapple and a throw. The most efficient fighting style was Brazilian ju-jitsu, because of its emphasis on ground combat. But judoka and wrestlers also performed very satisfactorily.

In speculation, people focus on the wrong methods, as explained again, by the Chair in the first-half of Practical Speculation. Then reality kicks in.

Impossible mastery. It is impossible to master judo. It is an endless study. That is what the "do" in ju-do stands for. It is a "way". An endless voyage whose final destination is never reached.

This one is easy. Speculation too is a "do". An endless study in which perfection is unattainable, and the best one can hope for is improvement.

Principles and tradition. The other side of judo beside combat, kata, is a codified series of moves, almost like classical ballets. The first kata focus on basic throws, on mechanics. The last kata, which are learnt by very few people, focus on entirely different things.

Itsutsu no-kata, taught to 6th dan black belts, features only 5 throws which are supposed to contain the essence of judo. Those throws do not even have a name, yet they embody the principles of judo. They are simple, fluid, beautiful.

Koshiki no kata, taught to 7th dan, is an ancient kata from the Kito-ruy school of ju-jitsu, which was attended by Jigoro Kano. It is a throwback to medieval Japan's fields of battle, a series of throws designed for combat in samurai armor. Ideally, this kata should be performed in such armors.

Who knows what Jigoro Kano meant by the inclusion of these two final kata in his curriculum? It is perhaps that, in the end, one should focus on first principles and a study of tradition.

That is not too different from the site, focusing on principles is learning how to fish, reading old books is integrating ancient wisdom.

Education. I could go on and on drawing other parallels between the site and martial art education. Teaching by showing. Use of arcane yet limpid language, "when the yellow bird sings, the sun sets on the jade mountain, little Grasshopper". err…. Too many Hong-Kong movies. Haiku and people taking their shoes off before entering the dojo…

But that's not about judo anymore and I must trade the last half hour.


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