The Submission Judo Archives
Atemi Waza by M. Tripp
From The Mixed Martial Arts.com
Rather than listen to what I say; or what others say;
I will repost what one of the last living 10th dan's in Judo had to say: The following is the preface to the book ÒNewaza of JudoÓ by Kotani, Osawa, and Hirose. It was published in 1973 and I have a first edition signed by all three authors. I have posted this as written; and I understand it is somewhat hard to read in spots. My comments appear at the end of this (numbered as such). I do want you to notice the VERY charged words used in here. I do not think they were lightly chosen and it goes a very long way to help the understanding of Judo history; and how these giants felt it should be learned.
The preface follows: NEWAZA has been accomplished as an elaborate work of art by the desperate efforts (1) of students of colleges (2) through All Japan Intercollege Championships started in 1914 and ended in 1940 due to the outbreak of II World War (3). However the exquisite Newaza (4) of those days nearly disappeared from Shiai (5) in Japan after the war under the influence of reduction of a time limit of Shiai since most contestants concentrated on Nage-waza in order to try and win Shiai with nage-waza only within the shortened time limit of Shiai such as 6 minutes or 8 minutes (6). They thought it would take considerable time to fight to the finish with Ne-waza (7). This eagerness of gaining Shiai with Nage-waza only caused complete decadence to Newaza for more than ten years after the War (8). This decadent tendency was seen during the first All Japan Judo Championships held in 1948 in Tokyo. Ippon-gachi (9) by Osaekomi-waza (10) were only 5 and none either by Shime-waza or Kansetsu-waza against 27 Ippon-gachi by Nage-waza. This tendency was also seen during the 1st World Judo Championships held in 1956 in Tokyo. 25 Ippon-gachi were gained, out of which 3 were gained by Osaekomi-waza and 2 were gained by Shime-waza. The ratio of Ippon-gachi by Newaza to those by Nage-waza became even more stagnant during the 2nd World Judo Championships. Namely only one Ippon-gachi each by Osaekomi-waza and Shime-waza were gained against 27 Ippon-gachi by Nage-waza.
At the 3rd 2nd World Judo Championships held in 1961 in Paris, when the title of the 2nd World Judo Championship was taken away from Japan by Osaekomi-waza of a Netherlander (11), the indispensability of practicing Newaza was recognized again as the pressing need for restoration of Judo in Japan. The evils of too must concentration on Nage-waza have been gradually remedied since then in Japan and overseas countries. You may see the tendency of putting importance on Newaza from the following number of Ippon-gachi gained by Newaza during the 7th 2nd World Judo Championships held in 1971 in Ludwigshafen and the 20th Olympic Games held in 1972 in Munich. During the former, 60 Ippon-gachi were gained by Newaza out of 162 Ippon-gachi and during the latter, Ippon-gachi by Newaza were 37 against 50 Ippon-gachi by Nage-waza.
As Nage-waza and Newaza are like the two wheels of a cart, they should be evenly practiced by every Judoka. Any chance to enter Newaza should not be missed. We tried to explain Newaza from various angles for your systematic study of Newaza in relation to Nage-waza.
My comments:
1) ÒDesperate effortsÓ What does this mean? In my opinion it is speaking to the methods that smaller people were training in to defeat larger stronger Judoka on the mat.
2) These were the Kosen Judo programs you have read about in the history posts.
3) See the history posts.
4) ÒThe exquisite NewazaÓ Clearly they thought highly of the Newaza of these people.
5) See History posts about post-war changes in Judo.
6) 30 minutes to an hour was the norm before the war.
7) ÒThey thought it would take considerable time to fight to the finish with Ne-wazaÓ HmmmÉ sounds like something we have heard before, from people named Gracie.
8) ÒComplete decadence to NewazaÓ Again, does that sound like someone downplaying Newaza?
9) ÒIppon-gachiÓ to win by Ippon.
10) ÒOsaekomi-wazaÓ Holding techniques. ÒShime-wazaÓ Choking techniques. ÒKansetsu-wazaÓ Joint locking techniques.
11) Anton Geesink. The first non-Japanese to win the world Judo championships; Olympic Gold; and the reason we have weight divisions in Judo.
The following is excerpted from the Ippon Book masterclass series book ÒOsaekomiÓ by Kashiwazaki.
ÒFrom 1889, Kano aimed at spreading Judo internationally, so he went abroad and sent his senior disciples to various countries. In 1904, Mitsuyo Maeda was sent to America. He fought against different styles in Europe and America and eventually settled in Brazil. He taught Judo in Brazil to Carlos Gracie, which is the origin of Gracie Jujitsu, the family which developed the Ultimate Fighting Championships.
During the first three decades of the 20th century, the emphasis in judo leaned towards throwing techniques. But this changed after 1914 when the all Japan Special High Schools championships started at Kyoto Imperial University. This is called Kosen Judo. The practitioners of Kosen Judo put the emphasis on newaza in their Judo. The students researched, developed, and polished their newaza techniques. While the Kodokan and the Budo Virtue Foundation (Butokukai) put their emphasis on nagewaza, the Kosen students made a lot of progress in their research of Newaza.
When the Pacific War started in 1941, judo and kendo became the basis for hand to hand combat training. After the war, the American occupiers banned the Butokukai, and all forms of martial arts were banned. School Judo was banned up to 1950, although in 1946 a championships for the general public was held.
In 1949, Judo was restarted on the condition that it was run as a pure democratic sport and the All Japan Judo Foundation was founded. In 1951 the International Judo Foundation was founded, a move which lead, eventually, to the inclusion of Judo in the Olympics in 1964 as a demonstration sport. Its adoption as an official Olympic sport in 1972 increased its profile as a world sport.
Kosen Judo followed its own course outside the mainstream of international judo. In the early days of Judo in Japan, it was recognized that there was too much newaza Ð fighters used to pull their opponents straight to the ground. In 1925, the rules were changed and it was stipulated that techniques had to start from tachi-waza. If you pulled your opponent down to the ground more than three times your opponent was declared the winner. This was an attempt to prevent newaza only judo.
At this time newaza was extremely popular and well researched, particularly by the Kosen Judo students. This was because Kosen Judo was an inter-school team contest only, so there was the possibility of a draw. This was a time of only one score Ð Ippon Ð or a draw. Most of the students participating were beginners, so in a very short time they had to develop players who could compete. For this reason newaza training was very useful. It was easier to get draws in newaza so they researched turtle positions, double leg locks, and so on extensively. At first they practiced in order to achieve a draw, then to overcome the defensive positions and achieve a win. They became very proficient at these simple, direct but effective tasks, and the leading figures in Kodokan Judo became increasingly concerned that this would change the sport into a newaza battle alone. This was what led to the Kodokan rule changes of 1925.
However, Kosen Judo continued under the old rules even to this day in the Seven Universities Tournament. Even though Kano changed the rules to avoid the newaza-only style in mainstream judo, he did not want to obliterate the Kosen Judo approach for several reasons,
These were:
a) There were relatively few doing only newaza.
b) He wanted newaza specialists in Kodokan Judo.
c) He couldnÕt say that doing only newaza was bad, as there are so many ways to train.
d) They also did tachi-waza even though they were newaza specialists so he couldnÕt condemn them.
Kano therefore hesitated about enforcing the rule changes throughout the Judo world in Japan. He was concerned that the introduction of new rules to insure that tachi-waza was the primary area of Judo would make newaza unpopular Ð and he recognized the value of newaza. On the other hand, he wanted to emphasize tachi-waza to avoid judo becoming just ground wrestling.
In the Bushido spirit of the time winning was the most important aspect Ð though in typical Japanese manner, this meant winning for the group rather than for oneself. They didnÕt think of competition as a sport but as a kind of warfare. The Kosen Judo students were the elite of the time; they fought for the school, the judo club, and their team. Even if they were strangled, or if their arms were broken they didnÕt quit Ð they refused to give in and say maitta. This was the background of the Kosen students Ð fighting for their country and school.
Kosen Strategy If your opponent is taking a defensive posture, find his opening slowly and when you have found it attack strongly and quickly. The Kosen Judo students researched judo from the basis of five principles, which, using an analogy of water, are as follows.
Water has five good characteristics:
a) Water can take any shape; it doesnÕt object to any shape.
b) Water is unobtrusive, but it is the basis of all things.
c) Water doesnÕt distinguish between clean and dirty, they mix freely.
d) Water sometimes flows slowly and gently, sometimes extremely violently.
e) Water follows the laws of nature.
They formulated most of the techniques used today such as sankaku-jime, kansetsu-waza, turnovers, pins, double leg locks and their escapes. These Kosen Judo students, as the elite of the time, became leaders in Japanese society; and as leaders they were able to influence and support young judo players. Many influential leaders today support judo as they themselves were former judo players.Ó
Other Combat Sport Links: