Who would have thought that something as physically demanding as Judo actually means “gentle way” in Japanese? Juno, a modern martial art, was introduced in Japan by Jigoto Kano in 1882. It has then became a combat sport and then later became an Olympic sports as well (1964 for Men’s Judo and 1992 for Women’s Judo).
This martial art is very famous for its competitive nature, which involves two people taking each other down and focused on grappling more than striking. Some techniques also include going locking, strangle and choke. In pre-arranged forms, which is known as the “kata”, hands and feet are allowed to be used for strikes, thrusts and defense. However, in “randori” (free practice) and judo competitions, this is not allowed.
Although Judo was derived from another martial art Jiu-Jitsu, the former focuses mainly on throws, joint locks, holds and chokes while the latter is more on striking (atemi-waza). The concept of Judo has since then became the model for other martial arts in Japan and also led to the development of other martial arts in other countries like the Sambo and the Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu.
Judokas (those who do Judo) are required to wear a uniform called gi. The gi are made up heavy cotton that is designed to endure all the physical demands of Juo such as the falls. In addition to this, in Judo, size doesn’t really matter. So even if you are small and your opponent is big, the principles of Judo still enables you to overcome your opponent. Why? Simply because the principle of Judo is all about leverage and balance – and you don’t need to be large for that.
To help our readers with the basics of Judo, I will be sharing with you the basic principles of this martial art. The first thing to remember is “never to oppose strength to strength.” This is all about balance. A Judoka is strong when he is balanced, and one has to break his opponent’s balance to execute a throw. As I’ve said, it wouldn’t matter whether or not your big in size, all you need to worry about is to be able to use a small amount of force in other for you to tackle your opponent. In line with this, Dr. Kano firmly stated that one should have “maximum efficiency, minimum effort (seiryo zen’yo).”
“In short, resisting a more powerful opponent will result in your defeat, whilst adjusting to and evading your opponent’s attack will cause him to lose his balance, his power will be reduced, and you will defeat him. This can apply whatever the relative values of power, thus making it possible for weaker opponents to beat significantly stronger ones. This is the theory of ju yoku go o seisu.”
The second one is all about mutual welfare for both of the judoka. The judoka should always look out for each other despite all the tackling down. According to Dr. Kano, this is the “mutual welfare an benefit (jita kyoei).”
Now that we have the basic principles covered, let’s talk about the techniques. In Judo, these techniques are called, “waza”. There are three categories of waza: the nage-waza (throwing), katame-waza (grappling) and atemi-waza (striking). Because Judo is prominent for its throwing and grappling techniques, this martial arts is often associated with nage-waza and katame-waza only because they are the most well-known. The person who does the waza is called “tori” (“taker”) and the person whom it is performed is the uke (“receiver”).
The nage waza is all about the tori attempting to throw or sometimes trip the uke. This is usually done by placing the uke on the tori’s back. The stages for nage-waza are: first, he kuzushi which is the initial balance break, the second one is the tsukuri which is when the uke turns in and fits into the throw and lastly, the kake, which marks the completion of the throw. The second technique is the katame-waza, which is all about grappling. This technique can be further divided into three sub-techniques: the osaekomi-waza (holding) where the tori will trap and pin the uke on his back on the floor, the shime-waza (strangulation), where the tori will force the submission of the uke through choking and strangling, and the kansetsu-waza (joint techniques), where the tori would have to attempt to force the uke into submission by painful manipulation of the letter’s joints. However, kataThe last sub-technique that involves manipulation of joints is limited only to elbow joint manipulation in competitive judo. Moreover, the atemi-waza or the striking techniques are only used during kata (pre-arranged forms) and are not allowed in competitive judo.
Now that we have the basics of Judo covered, head over to our skills page for you to see the specific techniques in this martial art and how they are done. Who knows, you just might be interested in practicing Judo like Tsunejiro Tomita, Theodore Roosevelt and Yasuhiro Yamashita.
–Pauline Zamora
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