Judo

Judo
Japanese Name
Japanese	柔道
Kana spelling	じゅうどう
Modified Hepburn	Jūdō
Kunrei-shiki	Zyûdô
Nihon-shiki	Zyûdô

Judo (Template:Ll: 柔道 Jūdō; "gentle way") is a martial art, sport, and philosophy originated in Japan. Judo was developed from Jujutsu, and was founded by Dr. Jigoro Kano (嘉納治五郎) in 1882. The sport became the model of the modern Japanese martial arts, gendai budo, developed from old koryu schools. Practitioners of Judo are called judokas.

History and philosophy

The early history of Judo and that of its founder, Japanese polymath and educator Kano Jigoro (surname first in Japanese) (1860-1938), are inseparable. 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 did not inherit the business, but instead became a Shinto priest and government official, with enough influence for his son to enter the second incoming class of Tokyo Imperial University.

Kano was a small, frail boy, who, even in his twenties, did not weigh more than a hundred pounds, was often picked on by bullies. He first started pursuing jujitsu (柔術), at that time a flourishing art, at the age of 17, but met with little success---in part due to difficulties finding a teacher who would take him on as a serious student. When he went off to the University to study literature at the age of 18, he continued his martial efforts, eventually gaining a referral to Hachinosuke Fukuda, a master of the Tenjin Shinyo Ryu (天神真楊流) and ancestor of noted Japanese/American judoka Keiko Fukuda, who is one of Kano's oldest surviving students. Fukuda is said to have emphasized technique over formal exercise, sowing the seeds of Kano's emphasis of randori (乱取り), or free practice, in Judo.

Little more than a year after Kano joined Fukuda's school, Fukuda took ill and died. Kano then became a student in another Tenjin Shinyo school, that of Masatomo Iso, who put more emphasis on formal kata than did Fukuda. Through dedication, Kano quickly earned the title "shihan", or master, and became assistant instructor to Iso at the age of 21. Iso, too, took ill, and Kano, feeling that he still had much to learn, took up another style, becoming a student of Tsunetoshi Iikubo of Kito Ryu. Like Fukuda, Iikubo placed much emphasis on free practice; on the other hand, Kito Ryu emphasized throwing techniques to a much greater degree than Tenjin Shinyo Ryu.

By this time, Kano was devising new techniques, such as the kata guruma ( or 'shoulder wheel', known as a fireman's carry to Western wrestlers who use(d) a slightly different form of this technique) and uki goshi (floating hip toss). His thoughts were already on doing more than expanding the canons of Kito and Tenjin Shinyo Ryu; full of new ideas, in part as a result of his education, 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, just about to finish his degree at the University, Kano took 9 students from Iikubo's school to study jujitsu under him at the Eishoji Temple. Although two years would pass before it would be called by that name, and Kano had not yet been accorded the title of "master" in the Kito ryu (起倒流) -- Iikubo would come to the temple to help teach three days per week, this was the founding of the Kodokan (講道館) or "place for learning the way."

The word Judo is composed of two kanji: "ju", which means gentleness or giving way, and "dō" (道), meaning way of life (the same character as the Chinese "tao"). Thus Judo literally means "the gentle way", or "the way of giving way", and may also be defined as "the way of suppleness", "the way of flexibility, or "the way of adaptability". To english speakers, Judo and Jujutsu would mean "the easy way", as in the easiest way to accomplish something. Judo takes from jujutsu ("gentle art") the principle of using one's opponent's strength against him and adapting well to changing circumstances. For example, if the attacker was to push against his opponent he would find his opponent stepping to the side and allowing (usually with the aid of a foot to trip him up) his momentum to throw him forwards (the inverse being true for pulling). Kano saw jujutsu as a disconnected bag of tricks, and sought to unify it according to some principle; he found it in the notion of "maximum efficiency". Jujitsu techniques which relied solely on superior strength were discarded or adapted in favour of those which involved redirecting the opponent's force, off-balancing the opponent, or making use of superior leverage.

Judo's Theory of Combat

Judo assumes that there are two main phases of combat: the standing/tachi waza and the ground/newaza phase. Each phase requires its own mostly seperate techniques, strategies, randori, conditioning and so on, although some special training is devoted to 'transitional' techniques to bridge the gap. Some judoka can become quite skilled in one phase and be rather weak in the other, depending on where their interests most lie, although most are rather balanced between the two.

The Standing Phase

In the standing phase, which is considered the initial phase, the opponents try to throw each other to the ground. Even though standing joint-lock and choke/strangulation submission techniques are legal in the standing phase, they are quite rare due to the fact that they are much harder to apply standing than throws are. Some judoka, however, are very skilled in combining takedowns with submissions, where a submission technique is begun standing and finished on the ground. Strikes (i.e. punches, kicks etc) are not allowed due to their certainty of injury, but judoka are supposed to 'take them into consideration' while training by, for example, not fighting in a bent-over position for long, since this position is vulnerable to knee-strikes and others. The main purpose of the throwing techniques / nage waza is to take an opponent who is standing on his feet, mobile and dangerous, down onto his back where he cannot move any more. Thus, the main reason for throwing the opponent is to control him and put yourself in a dominant position above him where you have more potential to inflict damage on him than he does on you. Be that as it may, another reason to throw the opponent is to shock his body through smashing him forcefully onto the ground. If a judoka executes a powerful yet fully controlled throw, he can win a match outright due to the theory that he has displayed enough superiority. In actual fact, this kind of victory is very difficult to achieve if the opponents are equally matched. Therefore points are given for lesser throws in the standing phase of combat.

The Ground Phase

In the ground phase, which is considered the secondary phase of combat, the opponents try to pin, or submit each other using elbow-locks and chokes/strangulations.

Pins

Pins are considered important since in a real fight the person on top who has control of the person beneath can hit him with knees, forearms, the head and so on. If a pin is held for 25 seconds, the person doing the pinning wins the match. The reason for requiring such a long pin is that in order to be able to hit the person underneath you effectively, you have to have full control of him for a long time. In a match, if you pin your opponent for less than 25 seconds you get points depending on how long, with the minimum being 10 seconds. This also flows from the theory that you will be striking a pinned opponent, and after 10 seconds will have possibly weakened him somewhat with strikes, at least enough to merit giving some points.

However, If the person you are holding down has wrapped his legs around any part of your lower body or your trunk, he is pinning you as much as you are pinning him since you cannot get up and flee unless he lets go. What if, for example, his friends who are nearby happen to drop in to 'pay you a little visit'? You won't be able to get away. Also, to make things even worse for you, there are various attacking techniques he can launch against you from this position, which is called 'Do-osae' (body squeeze) in Japanese and 'The Guard' in English. Clearly you do not have control of him in this position even though you are 'on top', so it is not considered a pin. It is your job to break through his 'guard' and pin or submit him, and it is his job to submit you from where he is, to roll you over and get on top of you or to simply break out and get back up to his feet and fight from there if that is what he wants to do.

Joint Locks

Elbow locks are considered safe-enough to do at nearly full-force to induce a submission. In times past, Judo allowed many other joints to be attacked too such as the knees, spine and others. Over the years it was discovered that attacking those other joints would not only result in many injuries to the athletes, but also would gradually wear the joints down over time. Even so, some Judoka still enjoy learning and fighting each other informally using these banned techniques. Joint locks are effective combat techniques since they enable you to control your opponent through pain-compliance. Also, some joints, such the elbows, can be broken, maiming your adversary so he cannot any longer attack you effectively or put up a defence. For these reasons Judo considers joint locks to be important techniques.

Chokes/Strangulations

Chokes/strangulations are Judo's deadliest techniques. They enable the one applying the choke to force the adversary into unconsciousness and even death.

Fighting

Judo emphasizes fighting/randori as its main form of training. Half the combat time is spent fighting on the ground, called newaza 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 Balanced Approach to Fighting

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. This balanced theory of combat has made Judo a popular choice for many.

Uniform

Judoka (Judo practitioners) wear white cotton uniforms called Judogi (which means Judo uniform in Japanese) for practicing Judo. This judogi was created at the Kodokan and similar uniforms were later adopted by many other martial arts. The judogi consists of white cotton drawstring pants and a white quilted cotton jacket fastened by a colored belt indicative of kyu or dan rank. The jacket is intended to withstand the stresses of throwing and grappling, and is as a result much thicker than that of a karategi. Before competition, a blue judogi is assigned to one judoka per match for ease of distinction by judges and referee. In some matches, when there are not enough blue judogis availible, one judoka may be given a colored sash or alternately colored belt to differentiate himself from the other.

Techniques

While Judo includes a variety of rolls, falls, throws, pins, [[chokehold|chokes], joint-locks, and methods of percussion, the primary focus is on throwing (nage-waza, 投げ技), and groundwork (ne-waza,寝技). Nage-waza is divided in two groups of techniques, standing techniques (tachi-waza, 立技) and sacrifice techniques (sutemi-waza, 捨身技). Standing techniques are divided in hand techniques (te-waza, 手技), hip techniques (koshi-waza, 腰技) and foot/leg techniques (ashi-waza, 足技). Sacrifice techniques are divided into those in which the thrower falls directly backwards (ma-sutemi-waza, 真捨身技) and those in which he falls onto his side (yoko-sutemi-waza, 橫捨身技).

The groundwork techniques are divided into: attacks against the joints or joint locks (kansetsu-waza, 関節技), strangleholds or chokeholds (shime-waza, 絞技), and holding or pinning techniques (osaekomi-waza, 押込技).

A kind of sparring is practiced in judo, known as randori (乱取り), meaning "free practice". In randori, players (known as judoka) may attack each other with any judo throw or grappling technique. Striking techniques (called atemi-waza) such as kicking and punching, along with knife and sword techniques are retained in the katas taught to higher ranking judoka (for instance, in the kime-no-kata), but are forbidden in contest (and usually prohibited in randori), for reasons of safety. Also for reasons of safety, chokeholds, jointlocking - and the sacrifice (sutemi) techniques, which can be very spectacular, are often subject to age and/or rank restrictions; in the United States, one must be 13 or older to use chokeholds, and 17 or older, or hold the rank of Shodan (first grade black belt) or higher to use armlocks.

In randori and shiai (tournament) practice, when an opponent successfully executes a chokehold or joint lock, one "taps out" by tapping the mat or one's opponent at least twice in a manner that clearly indicates the submission. When this occurs, the match is over, and the tapping player has lost, but the chokehold or joint lock ceases. Because this allows a merciful exit to the match, injuries related to these holds are quite rare.

Gradings

Judoka are ranked according to skill and knowledge of judo, that grade being reflected in the colour of his belt: There are two divisions of grades, the student grades (kyu, 級), and the master grades (dan, 段). In some countries, the nine colours run from grey through white, light blue, blue, yellow, orange, green, purple, and brown. In The UK and most of Europe the belt grading colours run like this: White, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Brown and then Black. Some European countries additionally use a red belt to signify a complete beginner. In Japan, all adult kyu grades wear either white or brown belts. All dan grades may wear the black belt; sixth- through eighth- dans may alternately wear a red-and-white belt, while those ranked ninth- dan and above may wear a solid red belt. Historically, a woman's belt had a white stripe at its centre in some countries, while in most of them this habit has been discontinued. Jigoro Kano was the inventor of the kyu - dan grading system, that soon got adapted by other martial arts such as karate.

In competition one judoka wears a blue suit while the other wears white. In some competitions the older system whereby one competitor wears a white sash and the other a blue sash remains in place. In both cases this does not indicate their rank, but is to enable the judges and spectators to tell the opponents apart during a fight. Points are also awarded to white or blue. Corner judges on the corners of the mat also have a white and blue flag to indicate to which competitor a point should go when it is unclear whom it should be awarded to.

In most Western countries, Judokas have to pass an exam which is normally assesed by the Sensei (Teacher) within the Dojo. Judokas also have to compete in a grading competition against people of a similar grade. Once both parts have been completed it is possible for a Judoka to be promoted. The dan (black belt) ranks are awarded after doing an exam supervised by independent judges of the national judo association.

Styles

Jigoro Kano's Kodokan Judo (講道館) is not the only style of judo. Kano took the name Judo from Jikishin Ryu Judo, which is an older school but not really seen outside of Japan. A sub-style of Kodokan Judo that developed in Japanese inter-scholastic competition is known as Kosen judo (高專柔道) with the same range of techniques but greater latitude permitted for Ne-waza (ground technique).

Teaching in France, Mikonosuke Kawaishi developed an alternative approach to instruction that continued to teach many techniques banned in modern competition. In Austria, Julius Fleck and others developed a system of throwing intended to extend Judo that they called Judo-do.

Mitsuo 'Count' Maeda introduced Judo to Brazil in the early 20th Century. At this time, groundfighting (newaza) was very popular and not yet limited by the rules. He taught Judo to Carlos Gracie (1902-94) and others in Brazil. The terms Judo and Jiu-jitsu were at that time interchangeable. Brazilian Jiu-jitsu/BJJ remained rather aloof to later changes in international Judo rules which added emphasis to the standing phase of the fight, and thus remains a distinctive form of Judo to this day.

Sport

File:Vladimir Putin martial arts.jpg

Russian President Vladimir Putin throwing a sparring partner at a training session in Novo-Ogaryovo, 16 June 2002

Although a fully featured martial art, judo has also developed as a sport. Judo became an Olympic sport for men in 1964 and, with the persistence of an American woman by the name of Rusty Kanokogi and many others, a sport for women as well in 1988 (both years given were the years that Judo was a demonstration event followed by an official medal event 4 years later). Men and women compete separately (although they often train together), and there are several weight divisions.

The eight divisions are: Men Up to and including 60Kg Over 60 Kg. up to and including 66 Kg. Over 66 Kg. up to and including 73 Kg. Over 73 Kg. up to and including 81 Kg. Over 81 Kg. up to and including 90 Kg. Over 90 Kg. up to and including 100 Kg. Over 100 Kg. Women Up to and including 48 Kg. Over 48 Kg. up to and including 52 Kg. Over 52 Kg. up to and including 57 Kg. Over 57 Kg. up to and including 63 Kg. Over 63 Kg. up to and including 70 Kg. Over 70 Kg. up to and including 78 Kg. Over 78 Kg.

Collegiate competition in the United States, especially between UC Berkeley and San Jose State, contributed towards refining judo into the sport seen at the Olympic Games and World Championships. In the 1940s Henry Stone and Yosh Uchida, the head coaches at Cal and SJSC, developed a weight class system for use in the frequent competitions between the schools. In 1953, Stone and Uchida successfully petitioned the Amateur Athletic Union to accept judo as a sport, with their weight class system as an official component. In 1961, Uchida represented the United States at the International Judo Federation meetings in Paris, where the IJF adopted weight classes for all future championships. Of course the IJF was created largely based on the earlier European Judo Union where weight classes had also been used for many years.

The object in a judo match is to throw your opponent to the ground. This will score an ippon (一本), a full point that wins the match. Anything else, such as landing your opponent on the hip or shoulder, will be waza-ari (技有), yuko (有効) or koka (効果) (waza-ari being the highest of the 3, koka the lowest) or even no score. Technically speaking, a waza-ari is a half-point, two of which will earn the match. Yukos and kokas are not fractional points in that they do not accumulate to equal a waza-ari or ippon-- in fact a waza-ari beats any number of yukos and a yuko beats any number of kokas. Rather, they are used as tiebreakers if the match ends before an ippon is scored. At match end, if one player has scored a waza-ari and the other has not, the player with the waza-ari wins, but if they are equal in that regard (both with zero or one) yukos are used to break the tie. If they are also equal in yukos, kokas break the tie. Finally, if both players have identical scores, the match is resolved by having the contestants continue fighting in a sudden death overtime called the Golden Score period where the first contestant to get any score wins. If there is no score during this period, then the decision (majority vote) of the referee and two corner judges is used.

After the throw occurs and is scored, combat may continue on the ground. Pinning an opponent, with both shoulders on the mat, for 25 seconds (20 if you previously scored a waza-ari, since two half-points will complete your ippon) results in an ippon. An automatic ippon is also granted when one's opponent submits (which frequently occurs when strangle holds / arm locks are used). If there is no ippon or submission, the one with the highest score wins. Penalties may be given for being inactive during the match or using illegal techniques and fighting must be stopped if a participant is outside the designated area on the mat (tatami).

All scores and penalties are given by the referee. The judges can make a decision to change the score or penalty given by the referee.

Sport and beyond

Despite the literal meaning of judo being "the gentle way", competition judo is one the roughest and most demanding of sports. A World Championship or Olympic match lasts only 5 minutes, but will leave participants exhausted.

Without the kicking and punching so common to other martial arts, except in atemi-waza, which is taught to black belts, judo is often portrayed as friendlier than, for instance, karate. Proponents believe this contributes to judo being underrated as a method of self-defense. However, while throws executed with proper break falls on soft mats can seem light and graceful, their more practical application on a hard surface (and potentially with greater intent to harm) could be very dangerous. Even in the controlled environments of a match or dojo training session, injuries can easily occur due to a lapse in focus or overzealous application of a technique.

Due to their knowledge in newaza/grappling and tachi-waza/standing-grappling, various accomplished judo practioners have also competed in mixed martial arts matches. Hidehiko Yoshida, an Olympic gold medalist in 1992 and World Judo Champion in 1999, is well-known in PRIDE Fighting Championships, as is Fedor Emelianenko, PRIDE's current heavy weight champion. It should be noted that the ability to throw an opponent to his back and apply a pinning technique is of enormous importance in these kids of competitions, as is the ability to finish off a downed opponent with strikes or a submission-move. Judo, uniquely among combat sports, puts equal emphasis on the initial throwing and the final pinning and submitting phases of combat, ideally enabling practitioners to dominate grappling-fights from the get-go.

Organization

The international organization of judo is the IJF, or the International Judo Federation. In the US, there are several different national organizations. One is USA Judo, which also has state organizations which host state tournaments and other judo related activities. The other national organizations are USJF, United States Judo Federation, and USJA, United States Judo Association. Each national organization in the US has its own promotion requirements, but they still have the same belt rank system.

In Great Britain, the British Judo Association (BJA) is the largest Judo Association and the only one affiliated to the IJF. Judo clubs can also be administered by the British Judo Council (BJC), which is popular in the north of England. Some minor judo administrations exist, such as the BJC-MAC (British Judo Council - Martial Arts Circle).

External links

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