Originally Posted by
MarkF
As to the comment concerning letting judoka give the physical answer, I agree and not because I am judoka, or more precisely, "only judoka," a term I have heard most of my adult life in judo. I have read so many different stories on Takeda Sokaku "beating up a bunch of judoka" that this original statement being the first I had read on the subject though I have since read it said in different ways, but the standard story is one of showing disdain by this group of judoka at a seminar/demonstration due to Takeda's rapidly aging and shrinking body not to mention the tattered hakama. I read the story of incredibly stupid and unnecessary egoism (provided the story went this way) of five or six judoka, who attacked Takeda, first one, with a "chop" to the forehead in which Sokaku not only avoided it, but in the haste of the judo player (someone who actually would do something like tha cannot be called a "judoka), he, Takeda side stepped the attack, with the adept move everyone should have said to themselves (this guy is goooood!), but then the second judoka steps up and tries to land the same atemi to the same area, and he too ended up on the floor in a pile, while a third did the exact same thing, Takeda noting what was obvious, that the judoka were not going to give up on that same attack. He did this in answer to each and every attack brought by the same judo players, which surprised me, actually, by the second attack. If something does not work, try something else, I said to myself, but to no avail. Stupidity and ego did.
But as much as the judo players proved how much they had been playing instead of working on alternate attacks, they certainly did not deserve the descriptive "judoka" especially at that time. I don't care whether or not they wer go-kyu or godan, you just do not check your respect at the door, and if someone shows up that perhaps, at the least, give the old man kudos for just being there. Thanks for reading,
Mark F.