|
|
|
|
|
|
SWPA Judo Registration Packet USJA Membership Application SWPA Judo Dojo Rules SWPA Judo Ranking System JUDO Competition Rules 
|
Recent Accomplishments of Our Club Members
Our Instructors  Pamela and Robert Russell Pamela & Robert Russell both hold the rank of SanDan (3rd degree black belt).
Definitions for "CHILDREN"
|
|
|
|
More About Judo General Information Judo's most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an opponent to submit by joint locking the elbow or applying a choke. Kicks, punches, chops and thrusts are also practiced, but only in pre-arranged forms (kata). They are not allowed in Judo competition or freestyle practice (randori). According to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), judo is one of the four main forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally today. The other three are Greco-Roman wrestling, Freestyle wrestling and Sambo wrestling.Ultimately, the philosophy and subsequent pedegogy developed for judo became the model for almost all modern Japanese martial arts that developed from "traditional" schools (koryu). Practitioners of judo are called judoka. History & Phylosophy The early history of judo is inseparable from its founder, Japanese polymath and educator Kano Jigoro 1860-1938). Kano was born into a well-to-do Japanese family. His grandfather was a self-made man; a sake brewer from Shiga prefecture in central Japan. However, Kano's father was not the eldest son and therefore did not inherit the business. Instead, he became a Shinto priest and government official, with enough influence for his son to enter the second incoming class of Tokyo Imperial University.Kano was a small, frail boy, who, even in his twenties, did not weigh more than a hundred pounds, and was often picked on by bullies. He first started pursuing jujutsu, at that time a flourishing art, at the age of 17, but met with little success. This was in part due to difficulties finding a teacher who would take him on as a serious student. When he went off to the University to study literature at the age of 18, he continued his martial studies, eventually gaining a referral to Fukuda Hachinosuke (1828-1880), a master of the Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu and grandfather of noted judoka Keiko Fukuda (Fukuda Keiko, born 1935), who is one of Kano's oldest surviving students. Fukuda Hachinosuke is said to have emphasized technique over formal exercise, sowing the seeds of Kano's emphasis of or free practice (randori) in judo. A little more than a year after Kano joined Fukuda's school, Fukuda became ill and died. Kano then became a student in another Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu school, that of Iso Masatomo (1820-1881), who put more emphasis on the practice of pre-arranged forms (kata) than Fukuda had. Through dedication, Kano quickly earned the title of master instructor (shihan) and became assistant instructor to Iso at the age of 21. Unfortunately, Iso soon took ill, and Kano, feeling that he still had much to learn, took up another style, becoming a student of Tsunetoshi Iikubo of Kito-ryu. Like Fukuda, Iikubo placed much emphasis on free practice; on the other hand, Kito-ryu emphasized throwing techniques to a much greater degree than Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu. By this time, Kano was devising new techniques, such as the "shoulder wheel" (kata-guruma, known as a fireman's carry to Western wrestlers who use a slightly different form of this technique) and the "floating hip toss" (uki goshi). His thoughts were already on doing more than expanding the canons of Kito-ryu and Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu; full of new ideas, in part as a result of his education, Kano had in mind a major reformation of jujutsu, with techniques based on sound scientific principles, and with focus on development of the body, mind, and character of young men in addition to development of martial prowess. At the age of 22, just about to finish his degree at the University, Kano took 9 students from Iikubo's school to study jujutsu under him at the Eisho-ji, a Buddhist temple. Although two years would pass before it would be called by that name, and Kano had not yet been accorded the title of "master" in the Kito-ryu, Iikubo would come to the temple to help teach three days a week, this was the founding of the Kodokan or "place for teaching the way." The word "judo" is composed of two ideograms "JU", which means gentleness, and "DO" way or road (the same character as the Chinese "tao"). Thus Judo literally means "the gentle way", or "the way of giving way", and may also be defined as "the way of suppleness", "the way of flexibility, or "the way of adaptability". To English speakers, Judo and Jujutsu would mean "the easy way", as in the easiest way to accomplish something. Judo takes from jujutsu ("gentle art") the principle of using one's opponent's strength against him and adapting well to changing circumstances. For example, if the attacker was to push against his opponent he would find his opponent stepping to the side and allowing (usually with the aid of a foot to trip him up) his momentum to throw him forwards (the inverse being true for pulling). Kano saw jujutsu as a disconnected bag of tricks, and sought to unify it according to some principle; he found it in the notion of "maximum efficiency". Jujutsu techniques which relied solely on superior strength were discarded or adapted in favour of those which involved redirecting the opponent's force, off balancing the opponent, or making use of superior leverage. In "Mind Over Muscle", a compilation of Kano's writings, the concept of "maximum efficiency" was extended into daily life and evolved into "mutual prosperity". He saw Judo as a means to governing and improving oneself physically, mentally, emotionally and morally. In this respect Judo was seen as a holistic approach to life extending well beyond the confines of the dojo. In the book there is much discussion of the application of Judo philosophy to education - another of Kano's great interests. Judo's Balanced Approach Judo's balance between the standing and ground phases of combat gives judoka the ability to take down opponents who are standing up and then pin and submit them on the ground. This balanced theory of combat has made Judo a popular choice for many.Judo assumes that there are two main phases of combat: the standing (tachi-waza) and the ground (ne-waza) phase. Each phase requires its own mostly separate techniques, strategies, randori, conditioning and so on, although some special training is devoted to 'transitional' techniques to bridge the gap. Some judoka can become quite skilled in one phase and be rather weak in the other, depending on where their interests most lie, although most are rather balanced between the two. The Uniform Judo practitioners wear white or blue cotton uniforms called judogi (which means Judo uniform in Japanese) for practicing Judo. Sometimes the word is seen shortened simply to "gi" (uniform). This judogi was created at the Kodokan and similar uniforms were later adopted by many other martial arts. The judogi consists of white cotton drawstring pants and a white quilted cotton jacket fastened by a colored belt indicative of kyu or dan rank. The jacket is intended to withstand the stresses of throwing and grappling, and is as a result much thicker than that of a karategi. Before competition, a blue judogi is assigned to one judoka for ease of distinction by judges, referees, and spectators. In Japan, the traditional red sash (based on the flag's colors) is affixed to one judoka belt, however in Europe and North America, a colored sash is typically used for convenience in local competitions, while a blue judogi is assigned to one judoka at the regional, national, or Olympic levels where the visibility, particularly to television cameras is more important than tradition or convienence. It should be noted that some Japanese practitioners and purists tend to look down on the use of blue judogis.Techniques (Waza) While Judo includes a variety of rolls, falls, throws, pins, chokes, joint-locks, and methods of percussion, the primary focus is on throwing (nage-waza) and groundwork (ne-waza). Nage-waza is divided in two groups of techniques, standing techniques (tachi-waza) and sacrifice techniques (sutemi-waza). Standing techniques are divided into hand techniques (te-waza), hip techniques (koshi-waza) and foot/leg techniques (ashi-waza). Sacrifice techniques are divided into those in which the thrower falls directly backwards (ma-sutemi-waza) and those in which he falls onto his side (yoko-sutemi-waza).The groundwork techniques are divided into: attacks against the joints or joint locks (kansetsu-waza), strangleholds or chokeholds (shime-waza), and holding or pinning techniques (osaekomi-waza). Randori (free practice) A kind of sparring is practiced in judo, known as randori meaning "free practice". In randori, two adversaries may attack each other with any judo throw or grappling technique. Striking techniques (called atemi-waza) such as kicking and punching, along with knife and sword techniques are retained in the katas. This form of pedgogy is usually reserved for higher ranking practioners (ie. blackbelts) (for instance, in the kime-no-kata), but are forbidden in contest,and usually prohibited in randori for reasons of safety. Also for reasons of safety, chokeholds, jointlocking - and the sacrifice (sutemi) techniques, which can be very spectacular, but often dangerous are subject to age and/or rank restrictions; in the United States, one must be 13 or older to use chokeholds, and 16 or older, or hold the rank of shodan or higher to use armlocks.In randori and shiai (tournament) practice, when an opponent successfully executes a chokehold or joint lock, one "taps out" by tapping the mat or one's opponent at least twice in a manner that clearly indicates the submission. When this occurs, the match is over, and the tapping player has lost, but the chokehold or joint lock ceases. Because this allows a merciful exit to the match, injuries related to these holds are quite rare. Kata (forms) Kata are prearranged forms displaying several judo techniques. They have several purposes: to illustrate the basic principles of judo; to demonstrate the correct execution of a technique; to teach the philosophical tenets on which judo is based; to illustrate techniques that are not allowed in competition; to preseve ancient techniques that are historically important but not used anymore in contemporary judo.Knowledge of different kata is a requirement for the attainment of a higher rank or dan. There are seven kata that are recognized by Kodokan today:
Sport Although a fully featured martial art, judo has also developed as a sport. Judo became an Olympic sport for men in 1964 and, with the persistence of an American woman by the name of Rusty Kanokogi and many others, a sport for women as well in 1988. Popular legend insists that the men's judo event in 1964 was a demonstration event, but according to Michel Brousse, official researcher and historian for the International Judo Federation, Judo was in fact an official sport in the 1964 games. Thanks to Dutchman Anton Geesink who won the gold medal in the All Categories division defeating Aiko Kaminaga, Japan, judo lost the image of being "Japanese only" and became an international sport. The women's event was a demonstration event in 1988, followed by becoming an official medal event 4 years later. Men and women compete separately (although they often train together), and there are several weight divisions.The object in a judo match is to either throw your opponent to the ground flat on his back, to pin him to the ground on his back, or to force him to submit using a choke or an armlock. This will score an ippon (a decisive score). In the case of throwing, anything else, such as landing your opponent on the hip or shoulder from a throw, will be waza-ari or yuko or even no score. Technically speaking, a waza-ari is a "near-fall", two of which will win the match. Yuko is a score of lesser value that is not cumulative to either that higher waza-ari. Rather, it is used as a decider if the match ends before either of the higher scores is acheived. In the event that the match is a draw, the clock is reset to 3 minuets; and the contest is to be resolved by a sudden death whereby the first contestant to achieve any score wins. This is called the Golden Score rule. If there is no score during this period, then the decision is by a majority of two--the referee and two corner judges. After a throw occurs (whether or not it is scored), combat may continue on the ground. Pinning an opponent, with both shoulders on the mat, for 25 seconds (20 if you previously scored a waza-ari, since two half-points will complete your ippon) results in an ippon. An automatic ippon is also granted when one's opponent submits (which frequently occurs when strangleholds / armlocks are used). If there is no ippon, the one with the highest score wins. Penalties may be given for being inactive during the match or using illegal techniques. Sport and Beyond Despite the literal meaning of judo being "the gentle way", competition judo is one of the roughest and most demanding of sports. Regulation time in a World Championship or Olympic match is only 5 minutes, but will leave participants exhausted; in the event of a tie, matches proceed to an overtime phase called Golden Score.Because competition judo does not contain the kicking and punching so common to other martial arts, Judo is often portrayed as friendlier than, for instance, Karate (although some forms of Karate emphasize the control of character and aggression). Proponents believe this contributes to judo being underrated as a method of self-defense although advanced kata do contain defenses against kicking, punching, and armed techniques. In addition, while throws executed with proper break falls on soft mats can seem light and graceful, their more practical application on a hard surface (and potentially with greater intent to harm) could be very dangerous. Even in the controlled environments of a match or dojo training session, injuries can easily occur due to a lapse in focus or overzealous application of a technique. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Judo techniques are very effective in self-defense situations. Due to their knowledge in ne-waza/grappling and tachi-waza/standing-grappling, various accomplished judo practitioners have also competed in mixed martial arts matches. Fedor Emelianenko is PRIDE Fighting Championships's current heavyweight champion and consistently ranked the world's best heavyweight mixed martial arts fighter. Karo Parisyan is a top contender for the UFC's welterweight championship, and Hidehiko Yoshida, an Olympic gold medalist in 1992 and World Judo Champion in 1999, is another top fighter in PRIDE FC. Other Olympic gold medalist and world champion judokas such as Pawel Nastula and Yoon Dong Sik also fight in PRIDE. It should be noted that the ability to throw an opponent to his back and apply a pinning technique is of enormous importance in these kinds of competitions, as is the ability to finish off a downed opponent with strikes or a submission hold. Judo, uniquely among combat sports, puts equal emphasis on the initial throwing and the final pinning and submitting phases of combat, ideally enabling practitioners to dominate grappling-fights from the get-go. Other Styles of Judo Jigoro Kano's Kodokan Judo is not the only style of judo. Kano took the name Judo from Jikishin Ryu Judo, which is an older school but not really seen outside of Japan. A sub-style of Kodokan Judo that developed in Japanese inter-scholastic competition is known as Kosen judo with the same range of techniques but greater latitude permitted for Ne-waza (ground technique).Teaching in France, Mikonosuke Kawaishi developed an alternative approach (Kawaishi Ryu Ju Jitsu) to instruction that continued to teach many techniques banned in modern competition. In Austria, Julius Fleck and others developed a system of throwing intended to extend Judo that they called Judo-do. Mitsuyo Maeda introduced Judo to Brazil in the early 20th century. At this time, groundfighting (newaza) was very popular and not yet limited by the rules. He taught Judo to Carlos Gracie (1902-94) and others in Brazil. The terms Judo and Jujutsu were at that time interchangeable. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu remained rather aloof to later changes in international Judo rules which added emphasis to the standing phase of the fight, and thus remains a distinctive form of Judo to this day. |
|
|
||
|
Southwestern Pennsylvania Judo Home Page | More Info | Class Schedule | Fees & Specials | Maps & Directions | E-mail Us | © 2010 Southwestern Pennsylvania Judo, LLC. All Rights Reserved |
