From: satadd00@nx12.mik.uky.edu (scott andrew taddiken)
Subject: Judo, jujutsu, and competition.
Summary: Questions and answers.
Organization: University of Kentucky
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 22:55:01 GMT

VERY LONG.  I suggest that if you want to read this, you save it to a file
first.

I have a lot to say, and I have thought hard about how to say it.  I _hate_
snipping up others' articles (I think it makes reading clearer in certain
specific circumstances), and I _hate_ semantic arguing.  This is the format
I chose.  I hope it doesn't come off too much like Dave Barry's "Ask Mr.
Language Person":

Q: What is jujutsu?

A: The art that a Samurai used to defend himself while unarmed or lightly
armed.  There were _many_ schools and styles of jujutsu in years past.  "Ju"
means "yielding", as in the willow in the storm which bends but does not break.
Jujutsu practicioners learned to give way to the opponent's attack as a means
of getting the advantage.

Q: What is judo?

A: As the word is popularly used, it refers to the activity founded by Kano--
a Japanese professor who died in 1938.  This activity was intended to develop
fighting ability, but it was also intended as a form of physical and moral
education.  "Judo", the WAY of yielding, was deemed more accurate than 
"Jujutsu", the ART of yielding.  (WAY here is the same as the word Tao in
Taoism, and carries with it lots of philosophical underpinings which I haven't
the time or will to explain).

Q: Is anything else called "judo"?

A: Yes.  Kano's aggressive push to popularize his system and get it into the
public schools was bad for the already beleaguered jujutsu schools.  At 22
he started judo, and later he wrote:

"In 1882 I founded the Kodokan to teach judo to others.  Within a few years,
the number of students rapidly increased.  They came from all over Japan, many
having left jujutsu masters to train with me.  Eventually judo displaced
jujutsu in Japan, and no one any longer speaks of jujutsu as a contemporary art
in Japan, although the word has survived overseas."

The message to jujutsu masters was harsh.  Many changed the names of their
schools to contain the word "judo", while changing their syllabus in varying
degrees to accomidate Kano's techniques.  Today, the number of people who
practice Kano's judo is so very much larger than the number who practice other
judos that "judo" has become synonymous with Kano's system in popular usage.
This is IMHO unfair to other jujutsu-derived systems which want to have the
word "do" in their title.

Q: If someone is talking about judo, how do I know if he is talking about
Kano's judo or some other judo?

A: It's very difficult.  In articles I write, I have taken to pointing out
early on that I am talking about Kodokan Judo (Kano's Judo) to avoid offending
jujutsu folk.  As yet, the jujutsu folk have not been returning the courtesy.
Perhaps this is because they believe that there is a "global" meaning to the
word "judo" which transcends the individual systems.  

Q: Why should I care?  Is Kano's judo any different from jujutsu or the "other"
judos?

A: It depends on which school you look at.  Judo techniques were derived from
Kito Ryu Jujutsu and Tenshin Shin Ryu Jujutsu, and so the techniques are rather
similar.  Some of the other judos split off from Kano's judo in the present
century, and are thus similar, while others developed parallel to Kano's judo,
deriving their techniques from other jujutsu schools very different from those
which gave birth to Kano's judo.

Kano's judo differs from the others more in training philosophy than technique.
Jujutsu and all judos have "kata" training, in which participants "choreograph"
the same situation repeatedly while they practice the appropriate technique.
Kano's judo has a second form of training called "randori", in which partners
vie with each other as they would in an actual match.  Some other judos have
this, but in my experience none of the others do it anywhere near as much as
it is done in Kano's judo dojos.

Also, Kano considered judo competition to be an important form of training.
He wrote: "Contests in judo have as their rationale the idea that the lessons
taught in matches will find application not only in future training but in the
world at large."  Also, he included the pleasure of winning competitions on a
list of the aesthetics of judo.  During his life he pushed for judo and judo
competitions to be standard (for boys) in the public schools, and it was a
lifelong dream that judo would be in the Olympics.

Q: Which kind of training is more important?  Randori [free practice] or kata
[set practice]?

A: Kano wrote: "Both kata and randori are forms of mental training, but of the
two, randori is the more effective."  He was a deliberate man, not prone to
making such pronouncements without much thought.

Q: But wasn't Kano concerned that adherents weren't doing enough kata?

A: Yes.  Competitive judo can be addictive, but kata is a neccery part of a
training program.  He found it necessary to increase kata training to two days
per week.

Q: Is kata a more spiritual form of training than randori?

A: Extremely doubtful.  See the quote a few lines up.  In addition, Kano went
on at length about the virtues of randori for developing moral character and
spirituality: "Practicing randori tends to make the student earnest, sincere,
thoughtful, cautious, and deliberate in action."

Q: Is judo competition a western invention?

A: Not at all.  There is a rich tradition of competition in Kano's judo, which
began long before judo was heard of in the west.

Q: But haven't westerners gone overboard with competition?

A: It _some_ schools in the west (particularly the Olympic training centers of
various countries) kata is virtually abandoned in favor of randori as players
prepare themselves for competition.  Some go so far as to say, "If you want to
be good at judo, go to lots of competitions to aquire tournament experience."
It seems clear that Kano would not approve.

The truth is that judo in Japan today is _more_ competitive than in the west.
In the big national judo schools, college aged kids are put through two long
practices per day.  The first has a little technique training.  The second has
none.  At the Kodokan, however, a team of Kano's students, along with his son,
has tried to keep Kano's ideas alive.  IMHO, it's hard to believe that others
have succeeded better than they.

The Kodokan certifies the ranks of judoka in certain national organizations, to
maintain standards of kata and randori and contest skill.  Sometimes there is
controversy about how good a job they are doing, or which organizations they
should certify the ranks of.

There is controversy about a rules change which took effect in the early
1970's, which some say had the effect of taking all the "art" out of judo
competition.  Write for details if you like.

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Scott Taddiken, University of Kentucky