I recently needed to purchase another black belt – mine is getting ragged on the edges, and it seems more and more difficult these days to find a belt.

First, you have to decide whether you want a club belt, a competitor belt, or an “elite” belt – although I’ve not the foggiest notion of the differences. You can chose a belt that is 1 1/2″ wide or a belt that is 1 3/4″ wide, or one that is 2″ wide.  You’ll need to know how many rows of stitching you want… 8 rows, 12 rows, or some other number?  You can have stripes at the end of it, and of course, you can have all sorts of embroidery work done, in a rainbow’s choice of colors. Keep an eye on those lengths, too… different manufacturers use different lengths for the standard sizes… Naturally, you’ll have the brand name tag on the end of the belt as well… for the snob appeal, I suppose.

Luckily, I found a martial arts supply store in the same state, that offers just one black belt – a 2 inch wide “deluxe” black belt, for the grand total of $9.95… so I jumped on it.

This seems like a good time to muse on the rather funny difference between some styles of Karate, and Judo. In Judo, my belt starts to show a little white on the edges, and WHAM!! – it’s time for a new black belt. On the other hand, we have a Karate yudansha in this town who’s belt is so ragged and torn, that it looks like a bunch of grey threads holding his gi together, rather than a belt.

I recently had a new student to Judo asking me about the belts – it seems that he’d come from a dojo where the dropping of a belt to the ground was considered a worse offense than dropping the American Flag to the ground. Hmmm… seems to me that I wouldn’t intentionally throw my belt to the ground… but then again, neither would I get worked up about it either… we occasionally have belts on the mat, and I simply De Ashi ‘em to the sidelines so that Judoka busy doing randori don’t slip on a belt.

 

 

We had an interesting class last night… Neil was showing a turnover from the hands & knees position… a Daki Wakare variation…

What I found interesting is that a number of students were stuck because they didn’t allow enough slack at the beginning of the move. If you keep a close connection with uke into this move, you can’t end up where you need to be. There has to be some slackness in your position as you begin the movement. It brought to mind how many people today are purchasing books and videos to learn from – yet the problems that people had with this move would never be diagnosed with a book or video.

Naturally, I’m a big fan of Judo books – I could hardly say otherwise with this website – but books (and videos) have limitations that beginners rarely understand. Without a basic grounding in the fundamentals of a martial art – learning techniques from books is a waste of time. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t be starting a martial arts book collection as soon as you can – but to recognize and understand the inherent limitations of learning from books/videos.

By all means, if you learn something from a book or video, practice the move under the supervision of your sensei, and let him guide you. This way you can both learn from books/videos, and then learn correct technique under the guidance of your sensei.

Of course, if you’re yudansha – the above paragraphs mean nothing to you – you already have grounding in the fundamentals, and can easily and profitably make use of books & videos to expand your knowledge base.

 

 

I was recently tending to an all-day miniature exhibit of Judo at the local Buddhist Temple’s Obon Festival… and one of the things I like to put up is a large screen T.V. with Judo videos that play constantly.

So needless to say, I got to watch a lot of Judo in the 8 hours that I was standing around, answering any questions about Judo.  I spent quite a bit of time with a video of the 2004 All Japan Championships, and I discovered an extreme interest in determining who was winning the gripping fight.

It was fun to watch one particular competitor who liked a right handed high collar grip – as that happens to be a favorite of mine as well.  It was interesting to see how he was fended off from time to time, his opponent cocking his head to the left to stop the hand from finding a grip.

But what’s interesting, is that this fight for the grip is so decisive… each time I could identify one person as having the overwhelming advantage of being able to establish his favorite grip – that was the person who almost invariably won the match.  You could visibly see some Judoka completely dominating their opponent’s with just their gripping ability.

As an example from my own Judo: A favorite tactic of mine is the stopping of my opponent’s power hand… if both Judoka take a standard right-hand grip – now, take your left hand, and instead of gripping the bottom or outside of your opponent’s sleeve, move it to the upper inside sleeve of your opponent’s same sleeve.  You’ll note that your opponent can no longer -plant- his forearm against your chest to initiate most throws.

It’s a sly move, and I saw a battle in one match over exactly this sort of arm positioning.  Beginners virtually never catch on, and I’ve even caught a few brown belts & black belts napping on this particular grip.  For as long as you hold it, you can’t be thrown by quite a number of throws that rely on the power arm being ’set’.

(By the way, this Gleesonian expression sometimes doesn’t mean anything to more traditional Judoka unless it’s explained… "setting the power arm" is really a simple idea – take, for example, your standard right-hand Osotogari – your right forearm should be placed firmly against your opponent’s chest… so that any movement of your body is instantly projected against uke.  This is the idea of "setting the power arm".)

If your Judo seems ’stalled’, perhaps you can spend more time learning how to take your favorite grip – and perhaps even look at different grips that you might enjoy.  I’ve always liked the high collar grip – it works well with the throws I like, and it really irritates many of my opponents… and an irritated opponent is easy to beat!  This high collar grip also gives you great control of uke’s head… which is a big plus in my books.

 

 

This weekend the Encino Judo Club was engaged in giving the annual Judo exhibition at the Buddhist Church during their Obon Festival.  A fun time was had by all – and the local paper actually showed a photo of Judo this year. (Usually its a photo of some Japanese lady in traditional garb for Japanese dance)

What I found most interesting was the two exhibitions given by two different local Karate clubs.  One was quite classical – lot’s of kata, breaking demonstrations, and a little jiyu kumite.  It was interesting to watch, and I found it quite easy to judge the experienced from the less-experienced, even though all of them were wearing black belts.

What disturbed me was the other demonstration… it was actually pretty slick, done to music, lots of choreography.  Had one interesting bit done to the music of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” featuring a katana wielding karateka playing the part of the devil, and the opposing side taken by a karateka wielding two iridescently metallic red Nunchaku.

What was disturbing is that the demonstration was performed with an eye to pleasing the crowd rather than fundamentals.  Those with Kama’s were tossing them in the air, and even more fantastic, the Karateka with Katana was tossing it in the air… sometimes catching it by the blade.  I do hope he never tries this with a live blade…

There was also a weapon I’ve never seen before… it looked like a bladed weapon shaped like a triangle… the outside appearing edged… with a wooden handle roughly 1 foot long.  Are we merely inventing traditional weapons nowadays?

My question: if you aren’t teaching tradition – what are you teaching?  Most of the Karateka in this second exhibition were teenagers and younger – a drastic difference from the first, more traditional exhibition where all of them were black belts, and were all young men in their 20’s to 30’s.

If you teach a tradition that you’ve learned, and are passing on – then you have nothing to be ashamed of… but if you’ve modified your art to ‘look’ impressive to an audience, then all you’re teaching is modern dance.  Just my two cents worth…

 

 

On a martial art forum, the assertion has come up that Judo contains the same sort of “internal” skills that are common in Chinese Kungfu or Japanese Aikido (among others.)

The idea is amusing for many reasons – those who assert these “internal” skills never seem able to cite any Judo texts on the topic. In fact, it originated from the statements of a Jujutsuka (not a Judoka!), an instructor in Shinden Isshin-ryu; Nobuyuki Kunishige; as referenced in E.J. Harrison’s fine book “The Fighting Spirit of Japan“.

[Just as a side note; I highly recommend that you purchase this book – it was re-released not long ago, and you may never have another opportunity to get this book!]

What makes this topic really amusing, is that those who assert that “internal” skills are present in Judo, believe that they are present in Kuzushi – one of the best documented foundational differences between traditional Japanese Jujutsu, and the art Kano created, known as Judo.

We have an interesting conundrum here… we must either believe that Jigoro Kano was too stupid to understand the Japanese terms traditionally used (for example, in Aikido) to reference “internal” skills, or that Jigoro Kano was trying to reserve this as a secret teaching of Judo.

That Jigoro Kano was an educator all of his life would tend to throw doubt on the idea that he had no concept of “Ki” or “Aiki”, to mention two examples… so this idea is silly on the face of it.

However, the concept that he might have been reserving these teachings on “internal” skills as a secret for only higher level students deserves a quick thrashing… Jigoro Kano always viewed Judo in a wider context of benefit for society – he didn’t have any “elitist” thoughts on martial training. While it might be understandable to presuppose that he had reservations about ‘killing’ techniques, to imagine that he withheld secret teachings on something as fundamental to Judo as Kuzushi seems just a tad incredible.

One proponent has even gone to the extent of asserting translation problems from Japanese to English – but didn’t seem fazed when I pointed out that only Judo texts had this “translation” problem, as Aikido texts don’t seem to have any problem getting across key concepts… or Ki concepts…

The next step of the debate seems to be that since I, as a Judoka, are unfamiliar with these “internal” skills, that I can’t be presumed to be able to state with any authority whether they exist in Judo or not. Of course, this presupposes that these ‘teachings’ were either secret, or that Jigoro Kano was a stupid man. I reject both scenarios.  I also reject the implication that Judoka can’t determine what Judo is – that it must be defined by those outside the art.

Another theory that was presented was that these “internal” skills are known to have been present in other Jujutsu styles, and since Judo was founded on these styles, it’s inconceivable that Judo doesn’t contain them. Of course, most Jujutsu styles also train with katana – and I suspect that should I step on the mat with a live katana, any Judoka is going to be looking at me as if I were a crazed Post Office worker…  So another argument down the drain…

(Note to foreign readers – there was, not long ago in America, a spate of Post Office workers who would walk into work carrying a gun, and who would begin shooting their co-workers… hence the phrase “going postal” to indicate someone who’s just a little crazy!)

To illustrate the desperate extremes that these people who assert “internal” skills in Judo will go, I provided a quote on the topic of physical strength, to illustrate that strength in Judo is a topic that Judoka can provide citations for.  What my esteemed opponent did was to declare that this quote proved their assertions of “internal” skills in Judo… from Sakujiro Yokoyama comes the following:

“It is a tradition handed down from old times that in Taijutsu or in Jujutsu, the more strength one has, the more liable one is to be beaten on account of the strength, and it does one more harm than good. But this is a great mistake. Other things being equal, the stronger man is bound to win. It is quite true however, that one with less strength sometimes is the superior, on account of his greater skill, to one with more strength. Again one who has much strength is apt to rely on it, often applying his strength against the principles of Judo. He may beat those with very much less strength than himself, but he can never win over one who is very skillful in his tricks or another who has equal strength, much less over a person who has more strength. Besides, he will get into a bad habit of doing his tricks against Judo principles and in a slovenly way, which habit he will find a great obstacle in his progress.

This fact seems to have been the cause of that mistaken tradition. But this never comes of the fact that a man has much strength, but of the fact that he lacks coaching and he has his own way in training himself; that is, trusting entirely on his strength. If a strong man, however, trains himself thoroughly, paying careful attention to the principles of Judo, there will be no fear for his being taken advantage of by his own strength; he will never fall into the mistake of applying his tricks in a wrong way; his progress in both arts will have no obstacle, and he will be able to make the most proper use of his strength. There is no doubt that his strength together with his skill will make him a formidable exponent. If the great masters of Judo in former days had had more strength, they would have been still more proficient. Briefly speaking, strength is very necessary to enable one to keep one’s own proper posture, to break one’s opponent’s posture, and apply one’s tricks upon him. Judo pupils should cultivate their strength in order to use it properly whenever necessary.” – Sakujiro Yokoyama 10th Dan.

Sakujiro’s meaning seems pretty clear here – but the theory must be that Yokoyama was either stupid, or those who translated his words were… for this quote contains nothing that is specific to “internal” skills. 

I’ve come up with a theory that explains all of these assertions. Those who practice “internal” skills have never been noticeable in the Mixed Martial Arts arena – they have no known proponents with skills that are testable – so my theory is that they’d like to ’sit at the same table’, so to speak, as a well-known, tested, and powerful martial art. I imagine that Judo is the ‘train’ that they’d like to jump aboard, and draw some respect by association. Just my opinion, of course. I have no particular axe to grind with these martial arts that employ “internal” skills… they just aren’t in Judo.

Just to make my position clear, there is nothing intrinsic to Judo that forbids any use of these internal skills (Commonly referred to as ‘Ki’ in Japanese martial arts).  So should you learn these skills, perhaps by studying Aikido, there is no reason to suppose that you can’t apply it to your Judo.  But these internal skills are neither taught nor required in Judo.  The burden of proof lies on those who claim otherwise.

 

 

Hadaka Jime is one of the interesting chokes where modern practice doesn’t necessarily follow tradition. In virtually all of the older Judo texts, Hadaka Jime is taught as a ‘pain compliance’ type of choke – the pressure being directly on the trachea, and trust me, it’s painful.

If you’d like to find out, have someone clasp their hands together, as if they were shaking their own other hand. (right hand fingers pointing to the left, right thumb down). Now, if they are right handed, have them rotate their right wrist in a circular movement. You should have the point of your wrist able to rotate first -down-, then inward and up. This ‘point of the wrist’ – once you have the rotation understood and practiced, will be placed just under your trachea… Go ahead and have them place the point of their right wrist immediately under your trachea, then rotate their wrist in and upward.  See how long it is before you tap out…

The problem with this traditional form is that it’s difficult to teach to white belts. They don’t know enough to forgo the possibility of injuries. So most Judo instructors start off by teaching Hadaka Jime as a blood strangle against the side of the neck. And while this is still a perfectly legitimate Hadaka Jime, some Judoka have formed the opinion that this is the only correct version. For a more complete article detailing the citations, see this article.

I think that the idea of teaching the historical Hadaka Jime as a pain compliance choke should be limited to adults and brown belts and above – as I agree that this is rather more dangerous than what we need in a class of kids and beginners. The only problem is that many instructors never go on to teach any other way of doing Hadaka Jime than other as a blood strangle. Yet they should… That’s just my 2 cents worth…

 

 

Sometimes, people get the idea that they have to learn dozens of throws to correspond with each weakness in their opponent… He spreads his legs too far, Uchimata… he steps too far forward, Kouchigari… he side steps with his feet too close, Okuriashibarai… and so on.

And while in some respects, this can be true – that there are slightly more –appropriate- throws for some given situations, a competent Judoka is going to be able to force uke to give up the opening he needs for whatever throw he wants to do.

I recall watching Ramon Riviera for a number of years – he always threw his opponents with Uchimata. In fact, the one time he didn’t, was a memorable event, and I can still recall to this day when he threw his opponent with Osotogari. He did so, I suspect, because his opponent had just scored a wazaari against him with Osotogari.

Everyone knew that Ramon was going to throw them with Uchimata, and simply couldn’t stop him. Now, granted, Ramon was a superb Judoka, winning at the national level, but if you look around, you’ll see that most Judoka are ‘known’ for just a few techniques.

While you should learn as much as you can about Judo, you shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking that you need dozens of competition techniques. Many International and Olympic competitors get by with less than the number of fingers they have on their right hand.

So take your favorite few techniques, and drill ‘em until you can do them in any direction, and regardless of whether your opponent takes a right hand grip, or a left hand grip. This is where uchikomi, particularly dynamic uchikomi can help.  Practice your techniques moving – in all directions.

 

 

Kuzushi is integral to Judo, and is taught right from the very beginning, but as I’ll discuss here, there are different forms of Kuzushi, and different ways to apply it.
 
Let’s begin by learning what is meant by the term.  There are three different ‘sets’ of kuzushi that are taught in Judo:

Roppo no Kuzushi – the six directions of breaking balance, referring to the right, left, right front corner, left front corner, right back corner, and left back corner.
 
Happo no Kuzushi – Same as above, but the directions directly forward and back are added, for a total of eight directions of off balance.
 
The third set is not commonly taught as far as I’m aware, but comes from Kazuzo Kudo’s observations in his book, “Dynamic Judo”.  He teaches 14 directions of off balance, taking the normal eight directions, and separating the front corner directions into three, and the back corner directions into two.  So instead of right front corner, Kudo has “outside right front”, “mid right front”, and “inside right front.  Instead of the right rear corner, Kudo has “right rear”, and “right rear side”.
 
Of course, the real number of directions is, in theory, infinite… but it’s good to have a starting basis for being able to transmit the basic ideas of a given throw.  Throws often have a preferred direction of off balance, and often can work in a number of directions, as well as directions in which the throw simply won’t work.  Off balancing your opponent to the left front corner, then attempting a right-sided Osotogari is a recipe for disaster.
 
What, though, does the term “Kuzushi” actually mean?  We often use it to mean off balancing uke in a given direction, but does “Kuzushi” mean this?  Or is this only one of the meanings that can be used?  Kuzushi comes from the verb, kuzureru, which has the meaning of ‘to break or crumble’.  The problem, as you can easily see, is that this does not necessarily refer to balance. 
 
If Kuzushi doesn’t actually refer to balance, let’s look at what else might be available.  Koshikudake – this term has the meaning of losing one’s balance (such as in the middle of a match), or a weakening of one’s attitude.  You might begin to wonder why Kano didn’t chose to speak of Koshikudake, Tsukuri & Kake.
 
Unfortunately, we can’t ask Kano at this time why he chose kuzushi, when there was a much more appropriate Japanese word to use, so let’s examine the issue and see if we can come to any conclusions.  The goal of kuzushi is simple, to prevent uke from being able to mount a defense against the technique being used.  The argument could then be made that a fifth of Scotch or a baseball bat can be a very effective form of kuzushi!
 
Unfortunately, I suspect that any good tournament director isn’t going to allow you to fight drunken opponents, or to carry a bat with you on the mat – so how can we induce a state where our opponent cannot defend?  Off-balancing uke certainly does exactly this.  When you attack at the moment uke is not in good balance, he cannot make the appropriate defense.  And before I move on, I’d like to cover some of the ways you can induce your uke to be off-balance.
 
1. A simple push or pull with the hands will force many Judoka to a momentary loss of balance.  This is the very first method that is taught (or perhaps more accurately, the first method that is perceived by the student), and it would be difficult indeed to find a Judoka who doesn’t know this simple way to perform kuzushi on uke.  The major problem with this method is that people have been learning since they first began to walk just how to regain lost balance.  It’s difficult indeed to counter decades of balance conservation with a few months or few years of learning how to pull uke off-balance.
 
2. A slightly more advanced method is to have uke help you with off-balancing him.  As Mifune puts it, “In most cases, the opponent will oppose your energy when you begin to attack him, in order to maintain his stability.”  So the trick is to force uke to begin a movement that you will help him with.  For example, you really want to throw uke with a left-side Osotogari, so you pull to uke’s right front corner, as if you intend to try Tai Otoshi – as uke will resist by pulling back, you then ‘help’ him with your strength.  This method is more powerful than the first method, as you are now inviting uke to help you off-balance him.
 
3.  Next, you arrive at the point in which your arms do nothing more than maintain the distance between you (while being quite relaxed), and you off-balance your opponent with your body movement.  This is an advanced form of off balancing your opponent, and particularly, when combined with random changes of tempo, can be extremely effective.

4. Finally, the epitome of off balancing is when you blend with uke’s movement, and add your force to his to extend his movement beyond where he’d intended to go.  Rather than initiating any movement – you take what uke gives you, and work with it.  This is the rarest form of off balancing – and the most difficult.  It simply takes a great deal of experience and randori to achieve.
 
Now, what happens when you are facing a black belt, perhaps at the national or international level, and only have five minutes to force him to lose his balance?  Let me tell you a secret – IT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN!
 
So now, let’s examine again the difference between kuzushi, which means in Judo to off-balance, but comes from the verb kuzureru – meaning to break or crumble, and what Kano could well have used instead, Koshikudake, which does indeed have the very meaning that many Judoka believe “kuzushi” has in Judo.  I think that it’s possible that Kano purposely stayed away from Koshikudake (which, by the way, is frequently used in Sumo).  Kano might well have been telling us that off balancing is merely one way that you can ‘break or crumble’ uke’s ability to make a successful defense against your attack.
 
What other way is there?  Let’s imagine two Judoka in a classic upright posture, with a normal grip.  Tori suddenly steps backward, placing himself at a 45 degree ‘angle of attack’ to uke.  This creates an overwhelming force to uke’s back, which in order to defend HE MUST STEP BACK (or, possibly to the side, which instead of opposing the force, would let tori’s force go ‘past’ him).  What is to prevent uke from doing exactly this?
 
Several possibilities here… speed, rhythm, kiai, misdirection, atemi, timing, grip, and psychology… all come to mind.  Let’s examine each briefly:
 
Speed: If, for example, your attack is so blazingly fast, that uke doesn’t have time to react to it, then you have broken his ability to defend without off balancing him.  Most Ashiwaza falls into this category …
 
Rhythm: Randori or shiai between two Judoka have a rhythm, or tempo; to the movement being made by both.  If you break this rhythm, take control of this rhythm, you can create a momentary lapse of uke’s ability to present a defense.
 
Kiai: A loud kiai can disrupt uke’s concentration and movement.  Although appropriate kiai is more helpful to tori than damaging for uke’s balance or concentration, it is certainly yet one more factor to use.
 
Misdirection: If you fake a throw to one direction, and uke defends strongly in that direction, yet you actually complete the throw in another direction, again, you’ve taken away uke’s ability to defend.  This also forms the basis for renrakuwaza – combining techniques together to form an attacking combination.

 

Atemi: Unfortunately not allowed in randori or shiai, but can be an excellent method to break an opponent’s concentration and/or balance.

Timing: If Uke has just made an attack on you, and as he is withdrawing, you initiate your attack, you are using timing as a factor to prevent uke from defending.  While only one example, this is perhaps one of the stronger uses of attack timing.  More advanced Judoka can also use the time immediately preceding uke’s attack.  Uke is poorly prepared to defend an attack at the moment he is initiating one.

Grip: What Judoka has not had the experience of attempting to defend and suddenly discovering that because Tori has an unusual grip, no defense works?  Or that your opponent has started his attack – but you don’t have a grip yet?
 
Psychological: Related somewhat to misdirection – if you continually attack, or threaten to attack, with right-sided forward Tai Otoshi, and suddenly shift your attack to a rearward left Osoto Gari, uke can become disoriented momentarily, and this can prevent his effective defense to your waza.
 
What do all these methods (which do not directly affect uke’s balance) have in common?
 
If you watch high-level competition, you will see that they attack opponent’s who are clearly not off balance.  They are using exactly these factors to prevent uke from defending.  This leads to the next discussion – the problem of what came first, the chicken or the egg.  Or, in Judo terms, is it Kuzushi and then Tsukuri, or the other way around?  Well, to begin with, every Judoka is taught that Kuzushi comes first… as indeed, at the lower levels of Judo, it does.  But at the higher levels of skill, it is Tsukuri which comes first, and creates kuzushi – whether in the form of off balance, or by destroying uke’s posture, or simply making it impossible for uke to defend.
 
To some Judoka, this might sound at first as a heretical concept… but let’s examine what others have said… From Kazuzo Kudo’s “Dynamic Judo”, we find this description: “Getting your opponent into a posture from which it is easy to throw him or easy to down him is called breaking his posture (kuzushi).  We also sometimes refer to this as making the proper posture (tsukuri).”
 
It’s interesting to own both versions of Kodokan Judo, and watch how concepts have evolved and changed over time.  Let’s look at what the current 1982 edition of Kodokan Judo says about Tsukuri:
 
“To execute a throw (kake), after breaking your opponent’s balance you must move your body into position for the throw.  This is known as tsukuri.” – Note that for this edition of Kodokan Judo, there’s clearly the sequential sequence of Kuzushi, Tsukuri, and Kake.
 
Now, let’s see what it originally stated… from the original 1955 edition: “To destroy your opponent’s posture or balance so as to make your attack easier while holding yourself ready at the same time to attack him is called Tsukuri or “preparatory action for attack”.  To actually apply our contemplated technique, when his posture has already been broken by Tsukuri, is called Kake, or “an attack”. – Note the difference here – The sequential sequence is clearly Tsukuri (creating Kuzushi), Kake.  Or, perhaps this edition presupposes that Kuzushi and Tsukuri don’t have a clearly defined demarcation.
 
Jimmy Pedro, America’s most successful International competitor, puts it this way: “In some throws the three stages happen in order, one following the other—kuzushi, breaking the balance; tsukuri, positioning for the throw; and kake, the throw.  On other occasions the kuzushi and tsukuri occur simultaneously, with the kake following.  In some throws the three phases happen simultaneously.  Finally, in a few throws the tsukuri happens first, the kuzushi occurs next, and the kake ends the technique.” (‘Judo Techniques & Tactics, pg. 62)
 
Clearly, what at first might appear to be an idea contrary to good Judo is nothing more that mainstream Judo.  Certainly it is mainstream competitive Judo.  Anyone who watches the video “101 Ippons” will quickly learn that successful attacks don’t necessarily start with an off-balance uke.  So perhaps Kano was telling us something when he chose to use Kuzushi – which in my opinion more accurately refers to an uke’s posture OR ability to defend being broken or crumbled, rather than only his balance.  For if balance were Kano’s only concern, there’s a far more appropriate Japanese term.
 
Kuzushi is one of the major differences between Judo and the foundational Jujutsu arts from which Judo developed.  The expertise that you develop with Kuzushi will largely determine the expertise with which your waza can overcome your opponents.  This is a topic that you should constantly spend your training time on.  While there are many factors that bear on your Judo skill and ability, there are only five major factors that can improve your Judo:

1. Greater speed with your waza.
2. Greater body strength to employ.
3. More body weight.
4. More precise taisabaki.  (Accurate and precise Tsukuri for a given waza)
5. Better and more accurate Kuzushi.

The first two are quite difficult to improve, the third is only applicable if you wish to change your art from Judo to Sumo, and the last two are the two that will give you the greatest gains for the time spent improving them.
 
So the next time you’re at the dojo, spend some time in randori observing how to disrupt your opponent’s ability to defend, and your Judo will be the better for it.

 

 

Poseur: From the French – a person who pretends to be what he or she is not: an affected or insincere person…

Most martial arts are afflicted with ‘em. I well recall as a young Ikkyu meeting a 20 something year old Marine, holding a 7th degree belt in some arcane art, who informed me that his art was so deadly, that he could not step on the mat with me.

Fortunately, we don’t have too many poseurs in Judo – since it becomes instantly clear who is knowledgeable, and who is not – when we step on the mat. No amount of theoretical knowledge is going to over-ride a person’s inability to perform simple throws.

Yet with the dramatically increasing presence of the Internet, a new phenomenon has appeared… Actual Judo poseurs! Something that without the Internet would not be possible.  It’s quite hard to step on the mat with someone that’s 3,000 miles away.  Fortunately however, with the amount of knowledge that the average American black belt possesses, it’s still easy to tell the difference.

One recent example occurred over on rec.martial-arts – the newsgroup where ‘armchair’ martial artists hang out with real ones… This particular person claims that kansetsuwaza was not taught in Judo clubs of the 1960’s, that belt rank derived from the “dirty belt” tradition (although interestingly, he believes that Kano used a “dirty belt” tradition from China to invent the belt system), and has shown other rather fascinating misconceptions of Judo, all the while claiming to have practiced the art.

Another favorite poseur no longer posts – but she was famous (or infamous, as you will) for claiming that all Judo throws were designed to land Uke on his head. Tawara Gaeshi comes to mind, here – since when done the way it’s taught, Uke’s head can never touch the ground. And when was the last time you saw a De Ashi Barai so powerful that it was able to turn Uke upside down?

They are amusing, however – and a way to judge your knowledge and skill. The game is simple – who is a real Judoka, and who is the poseur? Anyone can play. Simply run to your nearest newsgroup or discussion area – where they are talking about Judo – and try to figure out who’s a real Judoka, and who simply thinks that they know Judo.