[Happy Boy]

Originally Posted by PSJJJJ

Just curious. I know people concider Mifune the god of judo... don't know if I believe that.

He embodied judo the most, but its hard to gauge those guys as he never got to compete in the world stage against all styles, shapes and sizes.

Yamashita on the other hand can hold a claim to that title. That dude was undefeated in his career and won olympic, world, all-Japan medals and others in that time. He was canned twice IMO opinion but they werent given, both times by the same guy with the same throw which is not illegal as its a leg breaker. Still though, his track record is untouchable.

[PSJJJJ]

Originally Posted by Happy Boy

He embodied judo the most, but its hard to gauge those guys as he never got to compete in the world stage against all styles, shapes and sizes.

Yamashita on the other hand can hold a claim to that title. That dude was undefeated in his career and won olympic, world, all-Japan medals and others in that time. He was canned twice IMO opinion but they werent given, both times by the same guy with the same throw which is not illegal as its a leg breaker. Still though, his track record is untouchable.

Yeah, but alot of Yamashita's accomplishments where at Openweight... and he's a BIG dude.


Not taking anything away from him, ofcourse.

[Thrawn33]

Originally Posted by PSJJJJ

Just curious. I know people concider Mifune the god of judo... don't know if I believe that.

Why is that?


According to a man I know who uke'd for Mifune during Kata class at the Kodokan, he really was that good. It was said that no one wanted Mifune to pick them as his Uke because if anything happened to the old man while doing Kata you'd never leave the building alive. If you were too heavy or stiff and Mifune was hurt/killed trying to throw you, the "joke" was you would be given a sword and a room to yourself so you could die with honor, and not be tore apart by Japanese students.

To have that kind of respect from not only the Japanese but Westerners too would qualify Sensei Mifune as a pillar of Judo.

[PSJJJJ]

Originally Posted by Thrawn33

Why is that?


According to a man I know who uke'd for Mifune during Kata class at the Kodokan, he really was that good. It was said that no one wanted Mifune to pick them as his Uke because if anything happened to the old man while doing Kata you'd never leave the building alive. If you were too heavy or stiff and Mifune was hurt/killed trying to throw you, the "joke" was you would be given a sword and a room to yourself so you could die with honor, and not be tore apart by Japanese students.

To have that kind of respect from not only the Japanese but Westerners too would qualify Sensei Mifune as a pillar of Judo.

Oh I'm not denying his respect or importance to the sport. I'm just a sceptic on him being the god of judo. It seems to be an honor bestowed upon him more because he was great in Kano's time than anything else... Who knows though.

[Happy Boy]

Originally Posted by Thrawn33

Why is that?


According to a man I know who uke'd for Mifune during Kata class at the Kodokan, he really was that good. It was said that no one wanted Mifune to pick them as his Uke because if anything happened to the old man while doing Kata you'd never leave the building alive. If you were too heavy or stiff and Mifune was hurt/killed trying to throw you, the "joke" was you would be given a sword and a room to yourself so you could die with honor, and not be tore apart by Japanese students.

To have that kind of respect from not only the Japanese but Westerners too would qualify Sensei Mifune as a pillar of Judo.

This must have been when he was OLD! His technique was such that he was never under much stress, but then again in his old age he could have been frailer.

A similar thing happened to one guy I know from Britain who trained in Japan for a year. First day he is already getting eyed up as he is wearing blue pants with a white jacket, and then for randori the first guy he pairs off with is an 80 year old man, and freaked, my mate thinks that he better be on guard as he heard these old guys are incredible, so he dives in off the bat and does a massive double leg, over the head slam landind full force on top and nearly killing the dude. Needless to say, the rest of the hour was him getting killed all over the mat by every guy there.

[Happy Boy]

Originally Posted by PSJJJJ

Yeah, but alot of Yamashita's accomplishments where at Openweight... and he's a BIG dude.


Not taking anything away from him, ofcourse.

Yeah he fought as a HW but even still, undefeated and most matches ended with a clean ippon cant be argued with. I know he was big, but so were the guys he was fighting and they all fell. A good example of just how good he was was Saito who always came 2nd in the all-Japan to Yamashita and never got the olympic place, and as soon as Yamashita bows out Saito wipes out the 100 and OW at the olympics with two golds!! Shows how far ahead of the field they were.

[PSJJJJ]

Yeah, Shinahara should have definately won the gold:

[Thrawn33]

Originally Posted by Happy Boy

This must have been when he was OLD! His technique was such that he was never under much stress, but then again in his old age he could have been frailer.

Yes, the time frame would have had my source's encounter with him 3 years before his death.

Here's his Wiki page (not trying to pass all of it off as fact, but it is quite impressive)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyuzo_Mifune

[Happy Boy]

Originally Posted by Thrawn33

Yes, the time frame would have had my source's encounter with him 3 years before his death.

Here's his Wiki page (not trying to pass all of it off as fact, but it is quite impressive)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyuzo_Mifune

I agree, a mere glimpse at some of his throwing demonstrations would be enough to say he was something special. Perfect throwing isnt tiring, but even the best in the world will get tired from throwing over and over and over. Very rare you get someone with such perfect kazushi and timing that it takes almost no effort, Mifune was one of the few that had it.

Ive had a couple of them here, one 8th dan dude and another 7th were training a bunch of us going for our shodan. That stuff was just incredible, got to the point where every time I took a step in any direction my foot never hit the ground as the sweeps were so perfect it was like being sat down every time. That was before they broke out the tai-otoshi, such low impact but every time I was straight over with now resistance!!

[Calibur]

Say guys.

I am a 5'10" thin guy who does Judo with a lot of Jpnz guys who are, for the most part, shorter and stockier. Because of that my ashi waza is competent but my koshi waza is crap.

I want to get my throws more well rounded, but the only hip throw I can regularly pull off is Tai Otoshi (is that a hip throw?)

Any advice for someone like me who wants to use seo nage on shorter guys (besides the obvious "choose another throw" response ).