Judo
WHAT IS JUDO?
Judo is a modern Japanese martial art (gendai budo)
and combat sport, that originated in Japan in the late
nineteenth century. Its most prominent feature is its
competitive element, where the object is to either throw
one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise
subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force
an opponent to submit by joint locking the elbow or by
applying a choke.
Strikes and thrusts (by hands and feet) - as well as weapons
defenses - are a part of judo, but only in pre-arranged
forms (kata) and are not allowed in judo competition
or free practice (randori).
Ultimately, the philosophy and subsequent pedagogy developed
for judo became the model for almost all modern Japanese
martial arts that developed from "traditional"
schools (koryu).
History & Philosophy
The early history of judo is inseparable from its founder,
Japanese polymath and educator Kano Jigoro
(1860–1938). He based the technique on jujutsu.
What does the word judo mean?
Judo means "gentle way". The word shares the
same root ideogram as jujutsu, and may mean "gentleness",
"softness", "suppleness", and even
"easy", depending on its context.
 Practice
& techniques
Practitioners of judo are called judoka, a judo teacher
is called sensei. Judokas traditionally wear white uniforms
called judogi. A blue uniform, suggested in 1986, is
worn (outisde Japan) by one of the two competitors for
ease of distinction by judges, referees, and spectators.
The belt is usually coloured to indicate rank.
While judo includes a variety of rolls, falls, throws,
hold downs, chokes, joint-locks, and strikes, the primary
focus is on throwing (nage-waza), and groundwork (ne-waza).
Throws are divided in two groups of techniques, standing
techniques (tachi-waza), and sacrifice techniques (sutemi-waza).
Standing techniques are further divided into hand techniques
( te-waza), hip techniques ( koshi-waza), and foot and
leg techniques (ashi-waza).
Sacrifice techniques are divided into those in which
the thrower falls directly backwards (a-sutemi-waza),
and those in which he falls onto his side yoko-sutemi-waza).
The ground fighting techniques are divided into attacks
against the joints or joint locks (kansetsu-waza), strangleholds
or chokeholds (shime-waza), and holding or pinning techniques
(osaekomi-waza).
A kind of sparring is practised in judo, known as randori,
meaning "free practice". In randori, two adversaries
may attack each other with any judo throw or grappling
technique.
Striking techniques (atemi-waza) such as kicking and
punching, along with knife and sword techniques are
retained in the kata. This form of pedagogy is usually
reserved for higher ranking practitioners (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, joint locking,
and the sacrifice techniques are subject to age or rank
restrictions.
In randori and tournament (shiai) practice, when an
opponent successfully executes a chokehold or joint
lock, one submits, or "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, the tapping player has lost, and
the chokehold or joint lock ceases.
Kata (forms)
Forms (kata) are pre-arranged patterns of attack and
defence, which in judo are practiced with a partner
for the purpose of perfecting judo techniques. Knowledge
of various kata is a requirement for the attainment
of a higher rank.
There are seven kata that are recognised by the Kodokan
today:
• Free practice forms (Randori no Kata), comprising
two kata:
• Throwing forms (Nage no Kata)
• Grappling forms (Katame no Kata)
• Old style self-defence forms (Kime no Kata)
• Modern self-defence forms (Kodokan Goshin Jutsu)
• Forms of "gentleness" (Ju no Kata)
• The five forms (Itsutsu no Kata)
• Ancient forms (Koshiki no Kata) [4]
• Maximum-efficiency national physical education
kata (Seiryoku Zen'yo Kokumin Taiiku no Kata)
There are also other kata that are not officially recognised
by the Kodokan but that continue to be practiced. The
most prominent example of these is the Go no sen no
kata, a kata that focuses on counter-attacks to attempted
throws.
STYLES
Kano Jigoro's Kodokan Judo is the most popular and well-known
style of judo, but is not the only one. The terms judo
and jujutsu were quite interchangeable in the early years,
so some of these forms of judo are still known as jujutsu
or jiu-jitsu either for that reason, or simply to differentiate
them from mainstream judo. From Kano's original style
of judo related forms have evolved, some now widely considered
as distinct arts:
• Olympic Judo: This is the predominant
form of Kodokan judo.
• Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Mitsuyo
Maeda introduced judo to Brazil in 1914. Maeda taught
judo to Carlos Gracie (1902–1994) and others in
Brazil. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu did not follow later changes
in international judo rules that were added to emphasise
the standing phase of the fight, nor those rules that
were introduced to ban the more dangerous techniques.
• Judo-do: In Austria, Julius Fleck
and others developed a system of throwing intended to
extend judo that they called Judo-do.
• Kawaishi-ryu jujutsu: Teaching
in France, Mikonosuke Kawaishi developed Kawaishi-ryu
jujutsu as an alternative approach to instruction that
continued to teach many techniques banned in modern Olympic/Kodokan
Judo competition.
• 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. This style of judo is much closer
to the original early 1900s judo than current Olympic
judo is.
• 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.
• Sambo (especially Sport Sambo):
Vasili Oshchepkov was the first European judo black belt
under Kano. Oshchepkov went on to create Sambo from judo's
influence, integrating other combative techniques into
his new system. Oshchepkov died during the political purges
of 1937 for refusing to deny his education in Japanese
judo under Kano. In their History of Sambo, Dr. Brett
Jacques and Scott Anderson wrote that in Russia "judo
and SOMBO were considered to be the same thing" -
albeit with a different uniform and some differences in
the rules.
Organizations
The worldwide governing body for judo is the IJF International
Judo Federation. The other important body governing
the art is the Kodokan Judo Institute in Japan.
/source: wikipedia/
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