[Frodo]

Kano probably believed in taoism. The martial arts ryu, which he studied before creating judo, included the concept of ki. However, ki does not exist. Kano never seemed to write about ki much in his writings either. Translations of his texts seem to focus on the concepts of maximum effectiveness with minimum effort, and mutual benefit and welfare.

Promotion after shodan means you meet the requirements of those grades. Check out USA Judo's web site for those requirements. Anything else is misleading at best. It may be the opinion of your teachers that most judoka don't understand 'do for a long time, and they picked 4th degree as an arbitrary indicator of this point. That doesn't mean it must take a long time to understand it.

Saying it is lost in translation is not an argument. If you can't explain an idea, then you don't really understand it. To understand a concept is to be able to use it. At least you can describe it through examples. To understand a concept is to prove it to yourself. That reasoning should be able to be used for others too. So if you can't communicate the point of 'do, then you don't understand it.

[EndoG]

Originally Posted by Frodo

If you can't explain an idea, then you don't really understand it.

Word.

[Happy Boy]

I agree with what he said a little bit. Ive often watched UFC and thought that golden opportunities are being missed all over the place. Parisyan was one of the first to take advantage of the way guy align against each other in a grip to avoid the body knee, that side on clinching is prime for an uchi mata which is very easily done even without a gi.

I dont know how good Pedro would be in MMA, he was never that good technically in judo but he could fight like mad, had fantatic ground fighting also. His guard passing and hold down control was phenomenal, he beat a lot of guys he should have lost to by getting past their ground defense in seconds and holding them down.

I do think for having one single discipline, it is the one to have.

[tudor_bjj]

Who cares about judo, judokas and what Jimmy Whatever has to say?

[infamous mattyd]

I just train for fun and stuff

[Vaga]

Originally Posted by Happy Boy

I do think for having one single discipline, it is the one to have.

If this where true then there would be a lot more Judoka in MMA.

[georgejjr]

Originally Posted by Happy Boy

I agree with what he said a little bit. Ive often watched UFC and thought that golden opportunities are being missed all over the place. Parisyan was one of the first to take advantage of the way guy align against each other in a grip to avoid the body knee, that side on clinching is prime for an uchi mata which is very easily done even without a gi.

I dont know how good Pedro would be in MMA, he was never that good technically in judo but he could fight like mad, had fantatic ground fighting also. His guard passing and hold down control was phenomenal, he beat a lot of guys he should have lost to by getting past their ground defense in seconds and holding them down.

I do think for having one single discipline, it is the one to have.

Sure, opportunities are being missed for throws. But I don't think judo is the "one" single discipline to have - that'd actually be MMA itsself (which you can learn without specializing in one discipline). Moreover, BJJ is at least as effective as a single discipline.

Pedro also said something to the effect that judo tramps BJJ in terms of throws and matwork. Throws? No question about it (sorry Frodo ). But matwork?

As for the whole 'do' element, it's very controversial even among higher ranks in judo. Higher ranks in judo (generally meaning 6th dan and above - 6th is the highest you can go on pure competition ... yondan is still pretty low in the hierarchy, trust me). For every one you find who sees it as a ****physical thing, you can find one who sees it in terms of philosophy and efficient mechanics. Its also a very involved discussion - lurk on www.judoinfo.com forums and you'll see a lot of arguments, and among the senior ranks that post there.

And there's a good number of highly successful judoka (as in olympic medalists or world champions) who never bother going beyond shodan, simply because there's no reason for it. Rank means very little now, the importance is put on doing well in high level tournaments. Sometimes that's enough to be given ranks. For instance, Nick Gill was put to 6th dan without ever having to do a grading by Judo Canada. Some countries don't bother - the Russians were full of gold medalists who were shodans and never promoted, prefereing their "international masters of sport" titles.

[Frodo]

Um, nobody said judoka weren't usually better than BJJ fighters at throwing. I agree about the rest.

[Thrawn33]

This doesn't suprise me, I've heard Jimmy Pedro is a little arrogant from somone I trust who has "interacted" with him several times.

Granted he's quite good at what he does, but so is Jim Bregman, and that man is as down to earth as anyone I've ever met.