It takes a fairly self-confident woman to admit that “Austin Powers – International Man of Mystery” is one of her favorite movies. But I am, and it is. And the famous “judo chop!” line from the first movie made me quite excited to go see my first judo tournament a few weeks ago.
Judo means “the gentle way”. However, to the untrained eye, one might think Judo actually means “the way of slamming your opponent’s face into the mat”. However, after recently attending a local judo tournament to watch a young family friend participate, I gained a greater appreciation for the fine art of Judo. Here’s what I learned:
Judo Founder, Jigoro Kano
Background: The founder and creator of Judo was the Japanese educator, Jigoro Kano (1860 – 1938). Kano started learning the martial art of jujutsu classes around the age of 17. Kano was a small young man and he wanted to be able to defend himself from the bullies who picked on him.
By 22 he’s already become a master instructor, but he saw jujutsu as a disconnected bag of tricks. Kano wanted judo to be different that most traditional Japanese martial arts, which had the sole purpose of killing one’s opponent.
A focus on finesse: “Jujutsu” refers to the “art” or the “science” of softness. In martial arts, the “soft method” relies on the basic idea of using finesse over brute force. More specifically, softness refers to the principle of using an opponent’s strength against him and adapting to changing circumstances. A good example would be stepping to the side of an attacking opponent and tripping them, rather than just blocking a punch.
As mentioned before, judo refers to the “way” (or the “road” or “path”) of softness. Kano wanted judo to become a way of governing the whole person: the physical, mental, emotional and the moral. He wanted judo to extend outside of the dojo and help it’s practitioners to have the “best use of energy” lead a life of “mutual prosperity”. When refining his judo methods, Kano threw out many jujutsu techniques that relied only on superior strength, and added skills that involved redirecting an opponents force, off-balancing an opponent and make use of leverage, timing, skill and efficient movement.
The moves: The sport of Judo involves pins, arm and joint locks, choking techniques and, of course, the spectacular throws. One of the ways to win a judo match is to hold an opponent on their back for 25 seconds.
Interesting side note: The rules in 1905 stated that it was only necessary to hold an opponent down for 2 seconds, which was about the amount of time needed for a samurai to draw their sword or knife and dispatch their opponent.
I was surprised to learn that there is no striking, punching or kicking in judo, since these cause certain injury. (Some of the highest level judo competitors learn striking or atemi waza in training, but it is never used in competition or outside the dojo.) I guess Austin Powers lied when he was “judo chopping” bad guys left and right. But… we forgive him, don’t we?
I was just getting the hang of understanding the pins, throws and arm locks, when I saw my first choke hold. I must say it took me by surprise to see 12 year old girls attempting to strangle one another. I had a momentary flash back to the World Wrestling Federation shows my brother used to be fond of.
However, after a little more research, judo surprised me once again with it’s focus on skill over brutish force.
More than you might want to know about choke holds and strangulation: Chokes occur by blocking the airway at the front of the neck, whereas strangulation is when one cuts off the bloodstream to the brain by compressing the sides of the neck. Both are referred to as “shime-waza” and can win a match if the opponent submits or becomes unconscious. What interested me most was that when done properly, shime-waza take only a few seconds to subdue an opponent, but rarely cause any injury.
(Supposedly… they don’t get hurt.)
My final observation: The last thing that impressed me about judo competition I saw was not just the skill and strength of the competitors, but also the degree of respect and ceremony that the sport maintains. Contrarily to most youth sporting events I’ve been to that have equal parts poor sportsmanship, foul play and angry parents in ample supply, there was none of that at the judo competition. Even though people were quite literally getting slammed into mats and pinned into clausterphobic little balls, it was obviously understood that to compete in judo meant that you’d also be well-behaved, under control and respectful to your opponents, the judges and the other participants.
Unlike the hundreds of soccer, basketball and football matches I’ve played in and attended, there was not one person who ever questioned a ref’s call. It was all quite refreshing.
After watching my first judo match, the seemingly brutal became graceful, the thuds on the mats looked skilled, disciplined and focused, and I started to understand the true meaning of “the gentle way”.
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Want to learn judo?
Judo lessons and training are great fun, and a wonderful sport for all ages but is particularly good for young people. Parents will love it because of the discipline it instills and because it has fewer injuries for youth than other more traditional contact sports (football, soccer etc.). Kids will love it because it’s so active. What kids doesn’t want to learn cool throwing and flipping moves? Judo is an Olympic sport for both men and women, both guys and gals are accepting in just about every dojo. And because judo is a sport of skill, strength, speed and agility, it’s great regardless of whether you’re small and wire-y or of a stockier build. Note: Some judo classes are specifically targeted at women because of the excellent self defense skills you can learn and use regardless of body size.
JudoInfo.com has a database of some of the judo dojos around the country and the world.