Martial Arts - Judo
06/24/2010
Judo Practice in...
Larry Burrows
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Martial Arts - Judo
By Tian Xiangyu
Judo is a martial art that makes use of throws, strangles and
joint locks. It is one of the few sports accessible to almost
anyone, including children, adults, and senior citizens. Because
it emphasizes physical and mental development, its influence
extends to every area of a person's life.
More than a martial art, Judo is also a way of life, one that
stresses self-respect and respect for others. Physically, Judo
improves flexibility, coordination, balance and reflexes. It is
a means of self-defense that requires skill rather than just
size or strength. Mentally, it promotes concentration,
self-confidence and leadership. Because Judo requires a clear
and focused mind, it encourages participants to be fully present
in the moment. Judo participants benefit from practice, but just
as important, they learn respect for others. With its strict
moral and ethical principles, and its humanitarian approach to
life, Judo fosters a sense of respect and consideration.
Participants are taught to strive for physical, intellectual and
moral perfection, so they can not only improve their own life,
but also contribute to the greater good.
Judo is derived from the ancient martial art of jujitsu, the
hand-to-hand combat technique of ancient samurai warriors.
Unlike other techniques, Jujitsu emphasized skill over force:
the goal was to know how and when to strike an opponent in order
to throw him off balance. Samurai in Japan's feudal period
studied Jujitsu as part of their training, which also included
swordsmanship, horsemanship, archery and etiquette. During this
violent period, Jujitsu was used often on the battlefield, but
during the 300 years of peace following the Japanese civil wars,
heavy warfare was less frequent. Instead, Jujitsu found its
greatest use in unarmed combat among common citizens, and the
art was adapted for everyday life. In 1873 the Japanese
government banned the samurai from wearing their weapons in
public, and jujitsu became popular with the warrior class.
However, it soon began to lose popularity with the public, and
it was from here that the martial art of Judo - the gentle way -
was developed by Jigoro Kano. He developed judo at a time of
great modernization and industrialization when the Japanese
people were on guard against anything inefficient or antiquated.
In 1886 the Tokyo police department arranged a competition to
find out which was the best form of unarmed combat for its
officers. Fielding a team, judo defeated all other martial arts
without losing a single bout!
Judo has since spread rapidly around the world. As Judo spread
throughout the Western world it slowly gained the form of a
sport. Its eventual popularity in World and Regional Games and
in the 1964 Olympic Games led more and more to an emphasis on
the physical and competitive aspects of the art, sometimes at
the expense of its intellectual, moral and spiritual
underpinnings.
Achievement in Judo is recognized by a series of ranks. When
Kano developed Judo's ranking system, there was no official
system in the martial arts; student achievements were usually
acknowledged by the presentation of certificates or scrolls.
Today, Kano's system has been adopted for needs. Originally, the
Judo ranking system consisted only of white and black belt
ranking, until the 1930s when Kano created a belt to acknowledge
the achievements of high-ranking black belts. The red belt and
brown belts were also added. The more extensive system used
today was developed after Judo spread outside Japan. Judo
instructor Mikonosuke Kawaishi introduced a more complex ranking
system, featuring several more colored belts, when he began
teaching in Paris in 1935. He felt Westerners would have more
incentive to practice if they had a system in which achievement
was regularly recognized. He included white, yellow, orange,
green, blue and purple belts, awarded before the traditional
black and brown belts.
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