Introduction

Aims | How to Use | The history of Judo | Basic Principles | Aims of practice | How to achieve those aims | Methods of practice | Grades – Equipment and Clothing | Judo Traditions

This book contains one hundred carefully graduated lessons in Judo and Self-Defense. The first forty-five lessons cover the theory required for the grading examinations up to Black Belt 1st Dan of the main Judo associations in Great Britain, so that a student proceeding this far will know as much as is required of a "Black Belt", though I would stress that mere knowledge is not sufficient to win the grade. At a grading examination, the examiners will look for practical skill and contest ability as well, and these only come with long practice. The fifty-five lessons that follow extend the student's knowledge still further, dealing with such subjects as Continuous Attack, further Counter Movements, Standing Defenses, and Self-Defense, etc.

Any two people can study together, using this book as their tutor, without joining a Judo Club at all. On the other hand, the book might equally well be used as the basis for class study, in a Club where tuition is lacking or has tended to be spasmodic and unorganized.

If the student wishes to take Grading Examinations, he can feel confident that he will know all the theory required and more at any stage, providing he has followed this course strictly. For example, after six months he will know all the movements required up to green belt, 3rd Kyu, which is much higher than he would be likely to reach in contest ability after such a short time. After one year, he will know enough theory for black belt, 1st Dan, though again he will need a lot more practice to reach that grade.

At the end of the book will be found an Index to the Movements, which will enable the work to be used for reference after the course has been completed.

Whether readers are using this book for private or class study, they are recommended to proceed in the following way:

1. Read the sections of the Introduction that follow very carefully. Try to commit to memory the basic principles of Judo. Think about them, and how you would apply them, so that the knowledge is absorbed and becomes part of you. Do not skip over this section, dismissing it as mere theory. It is vital, for the principles stated here underlie all Judo and Self-Defense movements, and will be constantly referred to in the lessons.
2. Study the lessons one to a hundred in the correct sequence. There is a reason for the order of learning the movements. Experience has shown that it is the best order. For example, Judo is taught before Self-Defense, because just knowing the tricks of self-defense alone is not much good. You would be very lucky if they worked, because you must have experience of making Judo movements, and have developed timing and skill, and the instinctive knowledge of what your opponent will do next that is part of Judo, before self-defense tricks are useful to you.
3. Study one lesson each week. If you can only have one practice each week, you will find that it will fill the evening. If you have several practice evenings, go over the week's lesson again and again. Do not move on to the next week's. Beginners tend to do a movement twenty or thirty times, and then to say: "I know this one now. I'll do something else." They might reflect that experts will practice a movement for ten years, and still agree that they do not "know" it. A week is a short time to be practicing one movement, not a long time. If you really cannot complete a lesson in a week, take longer of course, but then your course itself will take longer. Assuming normal progress, and allowing two weeks' holiday each year, these hundred lessons will last two years. At the end of that time, you will have a sound knowledge of all the movements you are likely to need in your Judo career, and a good grounding in Self-Defense as well. Suggestions are then made as to how you can continue your studies, and there are appendices on "How to Form a Club" and "How to Present Public Displays", which might be of use to some readers.

The History Of Judo

Judo is based on the movements of Ju-jitsu. The origins of Ju-jitsu can be traced back two thousand years, though it is probable that the forms practised then were more like modern Japanese Sumo wrestling than Judo as we know it. Some historians think that Ju-jitsu originated in China and came to Japan about 1645, but there is evidence that it was known in Japan long before this date. The reasons for the growth of Ju-jitsu were: (i) the need for warriors to have a means of self-defense on occasions when they were forbidden to wear their swords, and (ii) the tradition that a warrior should be able to overcome a person of lower rank without the use of weapons. Many schools of Ju-jitsu came into being in Japan, differing greatly in the number and value of the tricks their masters taught.

In the middle of the eighteenth century, however, feudalism declined in Japan, and with it the martial arts. Ju-jitsu masters were forced to close their schools for lack of pupils, and the art might have been lost altogether, but for a Dr. Jigoro Kano. He was at that time a student at the Tokyo Imperial University, and became interested in Ju-jitsu because he was of small stature and he had heard that Ju-jitsu tricks would enable such as he to hold their own in combat with bigger men. Kano studied under various masters, selecting those tricks which he thought most valuable for his own study.

In 1882 he opened his own school, The Kodokwan, in Tokyo. As he progressed, Kano came to see that Ju-jitsu was more than a way of defense against attacks; it was a way of life that developed the intellect and the spirit. Kano selected those movements most suitable for practice as a sport from the many he had learnt, and he called the system he compiled "Judo" as distinct from "Ju-jitsu". "Judo" means "the gentle way", in distinction to "Ju-jitsu", which means "the gentle art".

"Judo" is the word commonly used now throughout the world, and the principles of Dr. Kano have had a lasting effect on the movement. There is a very high tradition of good behavior and helpfulness amongst students.

Judo's beginnings in the United States are rather hazy, but it is believed that the sport was brought to America by President Theodore Roosevelt who, upon witnessing an exhibition, was so impressed that he immediately imported a Japanese instructor from whom he took lessons. Today there are many Judo clubs in the U.S., though most of them are unaffiliated with the main organization, the Judo Black Belt Federation.

In Britain an early school to be established was The Budokwai, set up in London in 1918, by Mr. G. Koizumi. Mr. Tani became the Chief Instructor there. Before the last war there were about forty clubs in Britain affiliated to that school, and of course a number of independent schools as well. Judo became so popular after the war, however, that a larger organization was necessary, and the British Judo Association was founded in 1948, with The Budokwai and its affiliated clubs as early members. In the past twelve years about four hundred clubs have become affiliated to this organization. Of more recent years, another organization has grown up, the Amateur Judo Association, with Mr. Pat Butler as its secretary. This organization also has about four hundred affiliated clubs, and a large number of individual members. In addition to these, there is the British Judo Council, having Mr. K. Abbe, 8th Dan, as its President, and Mr. Otani, 7th Dan, as its National Coach. This organization is the British section of the International Judo Council.

The popularity of Judo as a sport throughout the world today is so great that it has been recognized by the Olympic Committee for inclusion in the next Olympic Games.

Basic Principles Of Judo

Judo techniques enable a weak and small man to overcome a large and strong man because they are based on scientific principles of leverage and balance. The first thing to learn is never to oppose strength to strength. If you do that the stronger man will inevitably win. You must learn to yield. If the opponent pushes you, give way to his push, so that he has nothing to push against. This will have the effect of bringing him off balance in a forwards direction. If he pulls you, quickly move towards him farther than he pulls, so that he is off balance in a backwards direction. Remember that when he is on balance he is strong, but off balance he is weak, providing you have retained your own balance to take advantage of his weakness. A man is on balance, you will find, if he stands upright, and keeps his centre of gravity inside a small circle drawn round his feet. Before you can execute a throw, you must break his balance, as will be explained in the lessons, by getting his centre of gravity outside that circle. ("Centre of Gravity" is a scientific term, and for those who are not familiar with it, it means the point at which a person's or an object's weight acts. The point at which you could balance him on a support, in plain language.)

The second principle you should understand and think about is the action of levers. You know how much easier it is to lift a heavy object by putting a crowbar under it. If you rest the end on the ground, have the object a little way up the lever, and lift the other end of the bar, you are using your crowbar as a lever of the second class. If you put a support under your crowbar, put one end under the object and press down on the other end, you are using it as a lever of the first class. The effort you use multiplied by the distance from the point of support (fulcrum) is equal to the resistance you lift multiplied by its distance from the fulcrum, and the resistance divided by the effort is called the Mechanical Advantage of the lever. (There is a third class of lever which does not have a Mechanical Advantage, but this will not concern us.) Applying this to turning an opponent about a line drawn perpendicularly down through his middle, you will see that the wider your hands are apart in gripping him for this purpose, the greater will be your Mechanical Advantage. You will be able to see this applied in throws. Get the greatest Mechanical Advantage you can. Dr. Kano stated the principle as "Maximum Efficiency, Minimum Effort".

Direction of pulls and timing of attacks are also of paramount importance to success.

Aims Of Practice

From the brief statement of principles above, it will be seen that the immediate aims of practice are three-fold:

1. To learn the techniques.
2. To learn non-resistance, so that the opponent can be made to put himself off balance.
3. To develop speed and timing in the application of the techniques.

These are the immediate aims of a beginner, but there are more fundamental aims as well. As you progress, you will find that you reach a point where you can see that an opportunity to throw is going to occur, and you have developed enough speed to take advantage of that opportunity. This is very good, but beyond this, you will reach a stage in which you are practicing with an opponent, and suddenly he is down, without conscious thought on your part. Then your body is automatically reacting in the right way to the situation, and that is true Judo. We may think of it as being like a telephone exchange. When you see an opportunity and take advantage of it consciously, that is like a manual telephone exchange, in which the operator in your brain has to plug in. When you automatically take advantage of the situation, that is like an automatic telephone exchange, in which the act of dialing a number is already making the connection, without any delay at the exchange.

It takes some years of practice before this automatic throwing occurs at all, and then it will be only rarely, but once it has happened to you, you will appreciate the difference at once. You will know that this is true Judo, and that all that went before was just a preparation. Beyond this stage, but developing with it from the very beginning, must come a mental and spiritual development, in which you lose all thought of anger towards the opponent, or of competition, and ultimately rise above the conceptions of victory and defeat.

There is only one way to reach this kind of perfection, and that is endless practice. Japanese students may do about eight hours a day for five or six years before they achieve anything like perfection, and they will still go on practicing all their lives. Ordinary working men in Britain cannot hope to do as much as that, but however much you do you are bound to make some progress. It is estimated that 10,000 repetitions of a movement are needed to make it flow smoothly, and 100,000 to bring it near correctness. Great patience is needed to train like this, but it is well worth doing so to achieve real Judo, rather than to accept the short-term alternative of helping out faulty technique with a bit of brute strength. The latter method may win you competitions but it does not make you any better at true Judo.

Methods Of Practice

There are four methods of practice in use:

1. Standing Throws

This means practicing the movement from a standing position without any resistance. One man presents the opportunity, and the other throws.

2. Random

This is a Japanese word, meaning "free practice". In this method, the opponents move around, trying throws in a spirit of gentle competition. It should be clearly understood that if this method is to have any value, it must not be treated as contest. Do not go all out to throw and to avoid being thrown. That will lead to irreparable faults in your style. Randori is an opportunity to try the movements learnt as standing throws, when moving about. It does not matter who throws who, so long as there is practice.

3. French Randori

This is the method of Randori practised in France. The opponents move around trying throws, as described above, but it is pre-arranged that they shall throw in turn.

4. Contest

This is a trial of skill. Contests normally last five minutes, or until one opponent has scored two points. Generally speaking contests should not be indulged in too frequently, as they are a test of skill rather than the means of developing that skill. On no account should Randori develop into contest. That would be as bad as a boxer training for a fight solely by fighting, without doing any of the other exercises he needs as well.

Grades

The Judo organizations award grades to students to indicate their proficiency. These grades are given partly for knowledge of theory, and partly for skill in practice and contest. Standards vary slightly in different countries. The grades are as follows:

Beginner                                   White Belt, sometimes Red
6th Kyu                                    White Belt
5th Kyu                                    Yellow Belt
4th Kyu                                    Orange Belt
3rd Kyu                                   Green Belt
2nd Kyu                                   Blue Belt
1st Kyu                                    Brown Belt
1st Dan to 5th Dan                   Black Belt
6th Dan to 8th Dan                   Red-and-White Belt
9th to 1 lth Dan                         Red Belt
12th Dan                                  White Belt, twice as wide as
                                                the original white belt.

A belt of the appropriate color is actually worn with the Judo clothing on the mat. It consists of a sash nine feet in length, and about two inches in width, which is wrapped round the body two or three times and tied in front. Only about five men have ever been awarded the 10th Dan, three of whom are still alive. All are Japanese. Only Dr. Jigoro Kano himself has ever been awarded a higher grade. He is 12th Dan. Generally speaking, if a student has a variety of partners to practice with and they are all keen, he should achieve the Brown Belt grade in about three years.

Equipment And Clothing

If two people using this book are going to study together without joining a club, there is a minimum of equipment they will need. The first requirement is a mat to practice on. It should be about fifteen feet square, and covered with a canvas sheet stretched tight. Cheap and quite satisfactory mats can be made by sewing together ex-Army biscuit-mattresses with string. Even cheaper mats can be made by building a wooden surround on the floor, and filling it level with sawdust to a depth of one and a half inches. Covered with a canvas sheet, either of these mats is quite soft to fall upon. The latter needs a space where it can be left down permanently, however. A third alternative is to practice out of doors on a lawn, but even then a canvas sheet should be stretched out, so as to give a smooth surface for practicing the foot throws. I have said more on the subject of mats in the Appendix on "How to Form a Club".

Judo is practiced in white canvas suits. The jacket has no buttons or fasteners to cause injury, and is secured around the body by the belt referred to above. The trousers come to just below the knees, so as to prevent grazing the knees on the mat. Suits cost about $7 to $15 to buy. Students might manage with old clothes to begin with, though these seldom stand up to the strain of practice, and it is really economical to buy the proper suits. Judo is practiced bare-footed. Holds on the clothes are used for the movements, as it is reasoned that if you are attacked in the street the opponent will usually be fully dressed.

Judo Traditions

Mention has been made of the high traditions of behavior amongst Judo students. It is considered wrong to use the knowledge you gain except in cases of real emergency, and then you should only do so sparingly. In earlier days, vows were taken by students that they would never misuse their skill, and although this is not generally done today, the same principles should guide the student.

In practice, do not take advantage of a less experienced student. The thrower is responsible for the safety of the man thrown. Make sure that he knows how to fall before you throw. It is considered a disgrace to injure anyone of lower grade than yourself. If you should meet an opponent much less skilful than you are, try some of your poor movements on him, so that you are not continuously throwing him around. The practice at the unfamiliar movements will be good for you, and he will have a chance of practice too.

Finally, proceed carefully. The movements described in the lessons that follow are dangerous if performed roughly. They were originally self-defense tricks in the old Ju-jitsu schools, remember.

Note

Japanese names as well as English ones are given for the various movements as they are commonly used in the sport, and knowledge of them will be required at grading examinations.

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