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MarkF
5th February 2001, 08:59
My standard schedule in Japan was this. It sounds terrible, but I loved it. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:00 until 10:30 a.m. I did weight trai-ning at the Korakuen gym, which used to be the old Ko-dokan. After lunch, it was training in jojutsu, or short stick, from 2:00 until 3:00 p.m. This training took place at the Tomisaka police station or the Tokyo kidotai (police academy). After an hour or so napping on the floor of the Kodo-kan locker room it was upstairs to the main dojo to fight as many judoka of all sizes and heights and weights as I could manage. That took care of 4:30 until 6:00 p.m. After a quick bite to eat, then it was over to the Oyama dojo to train in Kyokushin Kai karate from 7:30 until 9:00 p.m.
On Tuesday and Thursday morning from 9:00 until 10:30 a.m. I went to the the police dojo, the Keisho, where the fighters where rough and usually heavier than in the Kodokan. Once a year there was a tournament, the police against the students. It was a lovely spectacle to watch and many times the police won. After lunch it was over to the Tomisaka police dojo for iaijutsu or kendo from 1:00 until 2:00 p.m. Then back to the Kodokan for a nap until 4:30, then out to the main dojo. After that, again to the Kyokushin Kai honbu.
Saturday and Sunday morning it was over to the Kyokushin Kai dojo for two hours and in the afternoon of course to the Kodokan again. In between, and afterwards, it was back to the grind of selling at the US bases around Tokyo.
Really, it wasn’t as awful as it sounds, and in-between and afterwards Bill Backhus and I would do oddjobs or chase girls. The latter took precedence, of course. But on this first day at the Kodokan, it was kind of scary, and I had this kind of heavy feeling in my gut, like the one you get during the springtime at the outside pool, the one you get because you know the water is cold but you have to get in anyway otherwise they will call you chicken.
The other foreigners at the Kodokan while I was there included many who became famous later. Besides Donn Draeger, who was kind of the unofficial honcho of the foreign section, they included Doug Rogers, George Kerr, George Whyman, Maurice Gruel, Jimmy Bregman, Bernie Lepkofker, and Ben Campbell, who is now a US Senator. Bill told me that being Dutch, I had better be prepared for a rough introduction, too, since the Kodokan was mad at the Dutch ever since Anton Geesink beat them up in 1958.
Fortunately, with people like Donn Draeger and Mr. Sato to guide me, I found the water at the Kodokan wasn’t all that cold after all, and it wasn’t long before it became hard to find anyone to train with. The reason was that people started hiding behind pillars so that they wouldn’t have to see me. Having Mr. Sato as my friend proved useful then, as he’d go drag the reluctant ones out from behind their pillars, saying "Go! Go! Fight, you coward!"
*********

In July 1959 I was introduced to shochugeiko, or summer training. In addition to its regular hours, from July 6 until August 5 the Kodokan was open from 5:00 to 6:30 a.m. and 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. They closed up all the windows and kept it hot as hell. Meanwhile you were expected to continue all other training as usual. From January 5 until February 4 they had kangeiko, or winter training, which was the same routine with all the windows thrown open. The only good thing about it was that afterwards you slept really well.
Because I was so enthusiastic and progressing so well, in November 1959 the Kodokan made me a member of the Kenshusei ("Special Students"), which was a program for judoka expected to be future champions and teachers. To give you an idea of just how elite this group was, Doug Rogers, George Kerr, and Jimmy Bregman were all members. Regular instructors included Toshiro Daigo, the all-Japan champion in 1951 and 1954, and in my day the head of police judo in Japan; Teizo Kawamura, another great heavyweight; and Toshimi Osawa, a lightweight who won the Tokyo championships in 1953 and then went to Argentina for a couple years. Members also got to attend special seminars given by people such as Sumiyuki Kotani, the last of the great Kodokan 10-dans.
*******

But let's be honest here -- from my standpoint, probably the best feature of belonging to the Kenshusei was that its members didn’t have to pay monthly fees.
About the same time I stepped on the scales at the Kodokan. These were those silly Japanese scales that you can’t read yourself, you have to have someone else do it. So I asked George Whyman from London to tell me the news.
He looked and said matter of fact like, "One hundred and two kilos."
I said, "George, don’t screw around. Let me have it."
It burned old Georgy and he said, really pissed off, "One hundred and two kilos, and you’ve become too bloody big and too bloody strong , you bloody Dutch *******."
God, I loved him for that. Finally at 26 years of age I was a heavy weight like I always wanted to be and not the undernourished skinny kid of the Hunger Winter or the McHungry years.
_________________
Jon Bluming
******

Anyone here ever had a schedule of training such as that of Mr. Bluming?

I bring it up because many things have been said of Mr. Bluming, and mostly were not very nice. This is probably his fault, mostly, but then most don't know the time he really put in. This includes his Jo training, or other weapons training he was doing around the same time period, late fifties through the early/middle sixties.

It could be said "Well, he only did this for a few years." The truth is, though, his work included being very well trained (security in Amsterdam in the casinos, etc.), his training didn't stop because he left Japan, and he had put in two tours of duty in the "Korean war" earlier on. He worked out a lot when he went home, and began teaching. He is also a Kodokan Judo kudan and a Kyokushinkaikan judan as he studied with Mas. Oyama.

If you would like to read more about him, check out the articles at http://ejmas.com , Journal of Combative Sport, or read his autobiography "The history of Jon Bluming." Somtimes called the "Beast of Amsterdam" a title most likely earned, today he really is no different, apart from his age.

Today, he says he teaches neither Kodokan judo nor Kyokushinkaikan karate, but instead, he teaches how to fight, basically.

“What I teach,” says Bluming, “is neither Kodokan judo nor Kyokushin Kai karate but instead a mix of one-third karate and Thai boxing, one-third throwing techniques - I teach seven different throws - and one-third groundwork. That altogether is the full circle of unarmed fighting. That is not arrogant, that is the truth.”
********

I suppose teaching merely seven nage waza is what a judo coach of an Olympic team might teach. Most judoka, at some point, learn, at the very least, the fifteen throws of the nage no kata. With the entire nage no kata, or perhaps all recognized throws for randori or shiai, being the 99 throws the IJF allows, even the kata specialists, such as John Cornish (he was talking about this recently), say the entire nage no kata "means ninety hard falls." He was describing an admonishment from Mifune Kyuzo Sensei that he and Donn Draeger repeat the entire nage no kata based on one error on one throw which was "accidentally" viewed by Mifune Sensei. This was after doing the one throw fifty times.
******

With the real life obligations assumed (job, wife and kids, etc.), what is your training level? What is the true nage no kata (fifteen throws spelled out by the Kodokan committee or all nearly one-hundred nage waza the IJF allows, or all ninety Mr. Cornish says he had to do as *punishment?* (the ninety throws, BTW, was in the early sixties and Mr. Cornish called that the "entire nage no kata)."

Is Mr. Bluming's description of teaching the "full-circle" of unarmed fighting a good one? Or is he just plain full of it?:toot:

Opinions, please?

Mark

Ben Reinhardt
8th February 2001, 04:57
MarkF wrote:I suppose teaching merely seven nage waza is what a judo coach of an Olympic team might teach. Most judoka, at some point, learn, at the very least, the fifteen throws of the nage no kata. With the entire nage no kata, or perhaps all recognized throws for randori or shiai, being the 99 throws the IJF allows, even the kata specialists, such as John Cornish (he was talking about this recently), say the entire nage no kata "means ninety hard falls." He was describing an admonishment from Mifune Kyuzo Sensei that he and Donn Draeger repeat the entire nage no kata based on one error on one throw which was "accidentally" viewed by Mifune Sensei. This was after doing the one throw fifty times.
******

With the real life obligations assumed (job, wife and kids, etc.), what is your training level? What is the true nage no kata (fifteen throws spelled out by the Kodokan committee or all nearly one-hundred nage waza the IJF allows, or all ninety Mr. Cornish says he had to do as *punishment?* (the ninety throws, BTW, was in the early sixties and Mr. Cornish called that the "entire nage no kata)."

I teach Judo 3 times per week (2 h each)and work out two (1.5h each). I work 40 hours per week.

As to the Nage No Kata, that's 15 throws, of course. 1 each side would be 30 falls for uke. I haven't any idea what is being refered to in the quote above about 90 hard falls. Do it three times, that's 90 falls ?

A coach of an Olympic team probably isn't teaching throws. By the time a judoka gets to the Olympic team, his/her Judo is going to be pretty much developed, especially in a country where Judo is popular and well supported...like France, Germany, England, etc.

Ben Reinhardt
++++++++++++++++++

MarkF
9th February 2001, 10:14
Hi, Ben,
Well you were certainly right. It's too bad I don't review my own statements, but here is the quote concerning John Cornish and kata. It was the "nage no kata" done three times.


Both he [Donn Draeger] and I had done lots of kata, but still put in lots of training, mostly under Otani Sensei (then 8th Dan now 10th Dan). Mifune did look in one session of training. This may have been accidental or not. He did not say anything to us but, and admiral doesn't talk to the ordinary seamen and may have passed his thoughts down the ranks. When training with Matsushita we had help from the Kodokan senseis but also an expert at Nihon University. Sorry, but I forget his name. In one session this sensei made us go through nage-no-kata three times with full power. That meant ninety hard falls for me, then made us do one throw he didn't like fifty times. Next day I had little pinpricks of blood coming out of my pores where I had made contact with the mat. I tell this to show how serious the training was. In my years as a British national coach for kata I have, and still do, try to explain the demonstration of kata is not important, it is the training and what you learn from the training that counts. For so much of judo, kata is the only way that training in safety can be carried out.

___________
John Cornish

Read, read, and read again.:o

I also was curious what people thought consisted of hard training considering most do not get the opportunity to do it as these two did, and what consisted of a training regimen.

I hope that answers your questions as to my intent in posting these descriptions.









[Edited by MarkF on 02-09-2001 at 04:18 AM]

Ben Reinhardt
9th February 2001, 16:09
Originally posted by MarkF
Hi, Ben,
Well you were certainly right. It's too bad I don't review my own statements, but here is the quote concerning John Cornish and kata. It was the "nage no kata" done three times.


Both he [Donn Draeger] and I had done lots of kata, but still put in lots of training, mostly under Otani Sensei (then 8th Dan now 10th Dan). Mifune did look in one session of training. This may have been accidental or not. He did not say anything to us but, and admiral doesn't talk to the ordinary seamen and may have passed his thoughts down the ranks. When training with Matsushita we had help from the Kodokan senseis but also an expert at Nihon University. Sorry, but I forget his name. In one session this sensei made us go through nage-no-kata three times with full power. That meant ninety hard falls for me, then made us do one throw he didn't like fifty times. Next day I had little pinpricks of blood coming out of my pores where I had made contact with the mat. I tell this to show how serious the training was. In my years as a British national coach for kata I have, and still do, try to explain the demonstration of kata is not important, it is the training and what you learn from the training that counts. For so much of judo, kata is the only way that training in safety can be carried out.

___________
John Cornish

Read, read, and read again.:o

I also was curious what people thought consisted of hard training considering most do not get the opportunity to do it as these two did, and what consisted of a training regimen.

I hope that answers your questions as to my intent in posting these descriptions.


++++Ben R.+++
When I was in college, and was competing, I trained a minimum of 4 days per week (Judo). I also did cardio conditioning (running/obstacle/swimming/sprinting), and weight training on the same or other days. The last two years of college, I took no less than 17 hours per semester towards a geology degree. So I was pretty busy with school ! I basically ate, slept, studied, and did Judo. One day per week I would travel 2 hours to Ft. Worth,Texas to train with Michinori Ishibashi at TCU. The other 3 were at the old YMCA Judo Club in Wichita Falls, Texas. The training in both places was tough, especially at TCU, where I was usually the smallest and lowest ranking guy.

In the summer, I would do Judo up to 7 days per week, usually 5 or 6 plus the other training. I wold travel at least 2 times per week to Ft. Worth to work out at Ishibashi's dojo.

I considered that pretty hard training at the time. It could have been harder if there were more lightweights to workout with (more volume). As it was, thee were a lot of partners, mostly at least 20 lbs heavier than me and black belts to boot.

Nowadays, I don't have time or energy or resources to train like that, and I don't think my body could take it anyway.

Ben Reinhardt








[Edited by MarkF on 02-09-2001 at 04:18 AM]

MarkF
10th February 2001, 09:20
Hi, Ben,
I know what you mean concerning training when what seemed to be endless, that is, time and energy (crowed school schedule, as well).

I never got to seven days, except on tournament weekends when randori only Saturdays became training time for the shiai the next day. Even then, the energy I used to have was boundsless.

When school was finished, I went four days, three hours in the evenings, and competing as often as time permitted, and age, too.

Judo (budo) doesn't have to be your life, I suppose, but your life can be judo (budo). It isn't so bad, infact, I've been without it a couple of short periods, but even this was filled with other budo, but was never as comfortable as the judo mat.

Mark