The Judoka Journey

The 3rd martial art I chose to practice is the relatively popular Judo.

Unlike the previous two martial arts I practised, Judo is a Japanese sport based on Jujitsu and developed at the end of the 19th century by Professor Jigoro Kano. The word Judo means ‘the gentle way’ in Japanese, and its main focus is the physical and moral betterment of its practitioners. It is an unarmed style of fighting comprised mostly of throws to the ground, locks and strangles. The principle of Judo is that the judoka never resists his opponent’s force, but rather uses it against him. Judo first appeared in the Olympic Games at Tokyo in 1964 but was only permanently admitted as a men’s sport at games in Munich in 1972. Judo became an Olympic event in Barcelona games in 1992.

When I started this project I imagined that some martial arts would push me out of my comfort zone, but I didn’t realise how true this would be till I attended my first Judo session. There are no strikes involved whatsoever, so as you can imagine I was grossly out of my element. I headed to my first session at the Kin-Su Dojo- which means a Change of Wind- in Sta. Venera where I met Sensei Gaetano Scerri. Truth be told I was a little apprehensive at first since I was aware that Judo is a completely different fighting style and I’m not a great fan of being thrown to the ground, but in the name of research and this blog, I persevered and I must say I do not regret it one bit.

The session started with a cardio warm-up followed by a joint warm-up... very important in fighting styles like this where locks are involved. We then moved-on to some rolls and break-falls...pretty normal stuff up to this point. Though I didn’t plan it, it was actually also really helpful to have had attended a month of Hapkimudo before starting Judo as the break-falls and throws are practically the same.

We then practiced different throws, all of which have names in Japanese, but none of which got absorbed by my brain...in English...I cannot for the life of me remember what the throws are called...probably because Japanese is not really a language that comes as second nature ;). One of the throws was a shoulder throw which is identical to one I had practiced in Hapkimudo, though originally belonging to Judo. Another throw is performed by grabbing the opponent’s lapel and sleeve- the part behind the elbow, as this enables better control of the opponent’s arm- pulling the sleeve toward you and pushing the shoulder area back, also tripping him with your leg.

We moved on to what so far is my favourite thing in Judo- groundwork. The techniques are far too complex to explain in writing. They are however rather effective and practical and I enjoyed this part immensely, also probably because I have no experience whatsoever in this area so it was all rather new and exciting.

I can also proudly proclaim that after trying many goes at trying to understand the Judo scoring system, I finally get it...but more on that another time.

I must thank Sensei Tano for his hospitality and for making me feel very welcome at his club. I am greatly excited for my next session!

Anyone wishing to train at Kin-Su Dojo can find more info on http://kinsudojo.com/ or email kinsudojo@hotmail.com.

#judo #martialart #judoka