Khadaji's blog

A common problem that many Judoka have is that they don’t realize that their Judo must change depending on their opponent.  You must adjust your tempo to who you are facing.

If you are a big guy, and you are facing ‘Speedy Gonzalez’, who is dancing around you - he is doing precisely what he should be doing… using his speed to counteract your greater strength.  By the same token, you should be ‘rooting’ yourself in one spot, and using your greater strength to offset Speedy’s greater speed.

My original Sensei, George Hamm, came to both my Junior High School, and our rival Junior High School in the area, and performed Judo demonstrations. Although I’d been interested in Judo before this point, this was my introduction to the Hueneme High School Judo Club - where I trained from white belt to Ikkyu.

It has become popular among martial artist’s to equate fighting ability with rank in America today.  This has largely been the attitude of BJJ, and has become a popular idea for a very simple reason - what Black Belt wants others to think anything else?

A recent post on the Judo Forum was discussing the popularity of Judo in America:

Mmm, let me see…Do I sign up to that Judo class where I’m going to get thrown all over the place, strangled nearly to death, my arms locked into painful holds and I am actually going to sweat like a horse every class and then drag myself home in all sorts of pain…?

The one form of technique, that just like wine, gets better with age.  The older I get, the more Judo training I participant in, the better my Kuchiwaza becomes.

Kuchiwaza can be translated from the Japanese as “mouth technique”, and merely refers to the extensive ability us old-timers have of being able to tell a story for just about anything related to Judo.

There are some Judoka who have taken the position that the Olympics, and other international competition that are related - was never Jigoro Kano’s ideal, and is fundamentally undermining Kano’s concept of what Judo was to be.

This is the same crowd that often denigrates the use of strength in Judo.  Both concepts, of course, are simply wrong.

What is the definition of a Judo throw?  Have you ever considered what it might be?  I’ve always held the (apparently) mistaken belief that a throw is what you do to an opponent to take him to the ground.

What training method gives you the most benefit for the time spent on it? If you are like me, you’ll spend much of your life practicing Judo, so what is the most efficient way of practicing?

First, let’s examine the common ways to practice a given technique: