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Kit LeBlanc
21st January 2002, 16:20
Speaking of good books, this one is very interesting. Buyu books produced it in Japan (though it is in English, and it says it is printed and bound in the U.S).



The book was originally released as a pamphlet in 1937 by the Japanese Tourist Library, as part of a series on Japanese culture. Apparently it was the last thing Kano wrote before he passed on.

It states that except for grammatical corrections and reformatting of photos, it is exactly as the original.


The book is short on technique, but it contains many interesting photos, and of course a snapshot of how Kano viewed his judo just prior to his death.



Some choice quotes from the Master himself:

On judo and jujutsu:

"Let me now explain in this connection the meaning of of these words Kodokwan, judo and jujutsu. Kodokwan literally means "a school for studying the wa," "the way" being the concept of life itself. Judo and jujutsu are composed of two words, ju meaning "gentle" or "to give way," jutsu "art" or "practice," and do "way" or "principle." Thus, judo means the way of gentleness or of first giving way in order ultimately to gain victory, while jujutsu means the art and practice of judo."

p. 8 (emphasis mine)

and

"From these examples, one sees at once that although giving way to the opponent's strength is often very important, the principle of leverage is sometimes more important for the purpose of throwing. If we consider also that hitting, kicking, choking and other kinds of positive attacks must be used in actual jujutsu contests, the name jujutsu, the art of "gentleness" of "giving way," does not convey the real meaning. Actual jujutsu is something more. If I explain Jujutsu as the art or practice of the most efficient use of mental and physical energy, and judo as its way or principle, we can for the first time say that we have arived at the true definition of those words."

p. 16

Ben_Holmes
22nd January 2002, 04:46
"From these examples, one sees at once that although giving way to the opponent's strength is often very important, the principle of leverage is sometimes more important for the purpose of throwing."

This is a bit of Judo that seems to be misunderstood occasionally. Every once and a while I have to explain to someone that "Ju" is not the over-riding principle of Judo, that Seiryoku Zenyo is, and that "Ju" is just a part of it. You can also see something similar to this quote in Kodokan Judo.

MarkF
22nd January 2002, 08:44
If I explain Jujutsu as the art or practice of the most efficient use of mental and physical energy, and judo as its way or principle, we can for the first time say that we have arived at the true definition of those words."


Isn't this the very thing most have difficulty in understanding? I have often tried to explain this, but seem always to fall short, and I think it is very different from the usual discussion of judo and jujutsu, where one ends and the other begins.


Thanks, Kit.

Mark

Brian Griffin
22nd January 2002, 16:27
Originally posted by Ben_Holmes
This is a bit of Judo that seems to be misunderstood occasionally. Every once and a while I have to explain to someone that "Ju" is not the over-riding principle of Judo, that Seiryoku Zenyo is, and that "Ju" is just a part of it.I'm going to disagree very slightly here.

Ju is, in fact, the Fundamental Principle that governs both Kodokan Judo and jujutsu in general.
The question that Kano had to face was:
What the heck do we mean when we talk about "Ju" ?
The usual definitions involving "yielding" & "giving way" were unsatisfactory, because there were too many circumstances in which they did not apply.
After much thought, he derived a definition of Ju that met his requirements. He expressed his definition of Ju in the phrase Seiryoku Zen'yo.
He then went about examining the waza of his jujutsu to be sure they were consistent with his Fundamental Principle. Techniques contrary to this Principle were altered to comply or discarded.
Going further, he applied the Fundamental Principle outside the realm of mere attack-&-defense (IOW jujutsu), to the realm of ethical human conduct in society.
The result was called Kodokan Judo.

Ben_Holmes
23rd January 2002, 23:27
After much thought, he derived a definition of Ju that met his requirements. He expressed his definition of Ju in the phrase Seiryoku Zen'yo.

I'm not where I can lay my hands on Kodokan Judo, or other books quoting Kano on this point, but I will have to disagree here. He didn't redefine "Ju", he demonstrated places where Ju has no validity... one example he gave was a wrist grab. No matter how you define Ju, escaping from a wrist grab is contrary to it.

For example, a common definition of Ju might be to not directly oppose force with force. Escaping from a wrist grab is EXACTLY that. Now, it can still be done under the principle of the best use of strength, so it's still an example of Seiryoku Zenyo (if done appropriately - as commonly taught).

While I'd be happy to check out any citations to Kano's discussion of the subject, I strongly suspect that if you read them again you'll come to the conclusion that he was subsuming Ju within Seiryoku Zenyo, not coming to a new definition of Ju.

The discussion given by Kano in "Judo Training Methods" is quite clear, I cannot recall if Kodokan Judo is as clear...

Kit LeBlanc
24th January 2002, 00:10
From Judo Training Methods (Tuttle 1999) pp. 20-21, attributed to Kano:

" A main feature of the art is the application of the principles of nonresistance and taking advantage of the opponent's loss of equilibrium; hence the name Jujutsu (literally soft or gentle art) or Judo (doctrine of softness of gentleness). Now let me explain the principle by actual example...
Suppose my opponent tries to lift my body, intending to make me fall. If I resist him, I shall be thrown down, because my strength to resist is not sufficient to overcome his. If, on the other hand, I leave him unresisted and, while so doing, pull him this way (illustrating), throwing my body voluntarily on the ground, I can throw him very easily.
I could multiple these examples, but probably those I have given will suffice to enable you to understand how one may beat an opponent by not resisting him. But there are cases in which this principle does not apply. Suppose, for instance, my opponent takes hold of my right wrist and I resist him: there is no means of releasing it from his hold. The best way would be to move my arm so that my whole strength is used to counteract his hand grip, the strength which is of course far inferior to my concentrated strength and therefore gives way to it. In such a case I used my strength against his, contrary to the principle of nonresistance... These examples serve to show that the principle of nonresistance is not applicable in all cases.

Is there then, any principle which never fails of application? Yes, there is! And that is the principle of the Maximum Efficiency in Use of Mind and Body. Nonresistance is only ONE instance of the application of this fundamental principle."



The italics are as shown in the book, though I only kept those directly related to this discussion. It is interesting to compare this to this from Yokoyama's Judo Kyohan (Nishodo, 1915) pp. 61-63:

"It is a tradition handed down from old times that in taijutsu or in jujutsu the more strength one has, the more liable one is to be beaten on account of the strength, and it does one more harm than good. But this is a great mistake. Other things beaing equal, the stronger man is bound to win. It is quite true, however, that one with less strength sometimes is the superior, on account of his greater skill, of one with more strength. Again one who has much strength is apt to rely on it, often applying his trength against the principles of judo. He may beat thise with very much less strength than himself, but he can never win over one who is very skilful in his tricks or another who has equal strength, much less over a person who has more strength. Besides, he will get into a bad habit of doing his tricks against judo principles and in a slovenly way, which habit he will find a great obstacle in his progress. This fact seems to have been the cause of that mistaken tradition. But this never comes of the fact that a man has much strength, but of the fact that he lacks coaching and he has his own way in training himself, that is, trusting entirely on his strength. If a strong man, however, trains himself thoroughly, paying careful attention to the principles of judo, therewill be no fear for his being taken advantage of his own strength: he will never fall into the mistake of applying his tricks in a wrong way; his progress in the art will have no obstacle, and he will be able to make the most proper use of his strength. There is no doubt that his strength together with his skill will make him a formidable exponent. If the great masters of judo in former days had had more strength, they would have been still more proficient. Briefly speaking, strength is very necessary to enable one to keep one's own proper posture, to break one's opponents posture, and apply one's tricks upon him. Judo pupils should cultivate their strength in order to use it properly whenever necessary. "

Ben_Holmes
24th January 2002, 02:04
Thanks Kit, you quoted the exact few paragraphs that I had in mind!! Although I had not thought to add Yokoyama's comments. My favorite single sentence by Yokoyama, by the way, is "If the great masters of judo in former days had had more strength, they would have been still more proficient." While the excessive use of strength is to be deplored in Judo, this one statement supports the appropriate use of strength.

By the way, this book was recently re-released in large sized paperback... and if any of you don't have it, how can you go wrong with a book written by Donn Draeger and Takahiko Ishikawa? Highly recommended!

tommysella
24th January 2002, 06:08
Ben wrote:
By the way, this book was recently re-released in large sized paperback
----------------------

Where can I find this book?

Regards,
Tommy

JimmyCrow
24th January 2002, 07:09
Tommy

You can find the book at www.amazon.com. Just type in Draeger Judo in the search box.

Good Luck:smilejapa

William F. Kincaid
24th January 2002, 18:34
Judo Training Methods (Tuttle 1999)

I bought this book only after my Aikido instructor pointed out to me it was now in reprint. At first I thought, "humm I wonder how dated it really is?" Well to make a long story short I found the book very interesting, it also contained wonderful insight on how to train in Judo from dojo to weight room. While some of the lifting exercises today are a bit dated it is still a wonderful book for the Judoka who wants to liven up his or her path in Judo.