It seems most of my readers are not in love with competition. So this should be a welcome viewpoint from Donn Draeger. Reading the whole thing here is highly recommended. His comments could address any art that competes.
Judo, as a classical budo, or martial “way”, of Japan, was intended by its founder, Jigoro Kano, to be less martial and to be rather a vehicle for the spiritual and physical development …By perseverance, regardless of the superficial achievements (rank, contest successes, prestige), every judoist can realize improvement of mental and physical self, and can be prepared, therefore, to make a better application of his mental and physical energies in his daily living.
Make no mistake, today’s Judo is not parallel to Kano’s original product, not a mirror-image of it, and is more diverse from than congruent with it.
For one thing, the Judo training system, as is in vogue in our modern-day society, is in reality a cruel system insofar as it is wanton to recognize the inexorable decline of a judoist’s physical and mental powers as the judoist descends the chronological ladder, as each of us inevitably must. Modern-day Judo training manifests in this cruelty by insisting that, regardless of age or other bodily limitations, the proof of the judoist is in the contest. The judoist for advancement in rank, and once established as a yudansha is more often than not forced to pay himself physically against opponents far younger than knee; opponents whom he is expected to defeat if he is to gain the advancement or if used to continue his popularity via the route of respect to other judoists.
Judo training, therefore, which requires the oldster to keep competitive pace with the youngster is opposed to our natural design, and is further tangential to that which the founder intended for Kodokan Judo. Kano accepted the reality of two types of Judo, one an entity in complete accord with nature – the other, substantially opposed to it.
Kano defined these two types as Judo in a “high” sense (jodan Judo), and Judo in a “low” sense (godan Judo). With his definitions, he also cautioned that the latter type is more entertaining, because it is less precise, plain to the mediocre mind as more of a “game” and contains, therefore, less valuable disciplines. While its technical implications are very similar to those adopted for the “high” Judo, the end point of a “low” Judo is a short road to almost nowhere.
9 responses so far ↓
1 Guido // Jul 2, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Good post. Always good quality. Thank You…
2 Meow // Jul 2, 2008 at 5:50 pm
why make / do a martial sport, one can achieve the physical and spiritual, and! gain a useful skill
3 Joseph T. Oliva Arriola // Jul 3, 2008 at 3:01 am
I Live for Competition.
A few weeks ago I listened to an account on the news about a Little League All-Star game that had been canceled due to the furor of concerned parents. The majority of parents who had prevented the game, had felt that children 9-12 should not be psychologically confronted with the existence of “All-Stars”.
“We are all equal,” I say abhorrently.
4 Meow // Jul 3, 2008 at 6:10 am
lol and then in the next breath they expect people to act like role models, rediculous, the existence of people better than me when i was younger made it tonnes easier to see and notice what good was.
5 wayne hansen // Jul 3, 2008 at 6:23 am
several olympic level sports people here in australia have been recently been arrested for drugs both using and selling,not only steroids but also ice.
several others have been on assult charges,assulting both male and females alike.
is this the enevitable outcome of excess wealth,celebrity and competition.
6 Joseph T. Oliva Arriola // Jul 3, 2008 at 6:37 am
In Evolution it’s all about Competition
The best hunter gets to eat. He also gets the girl. He presents himself as a hero.
That said, I have no difficulty with the “sportsmen” who use steroids. They eat well. They get the prettiest girls and they drive the nicest cars.
Unfortunately, for me, I am too short to play basketball, to fat to play futbol and too old to compete in UFC. However, given my parameters for “competing” I am quite prosperous.
What are my parameters?
1. Train for Health
2. Train to Compete
3. Compete
4. Compete to Win
5. Win to get the “Rewards”
6. Win the Grand Rewards
7. Play only those Games where I am the Best
8. Win at all Costs
9. Know why I Compete: My family, my tribe, my values and my beliefs
7 neijia // Jul 3, 2008 at 10:22 am
It’s funny how it’s tempting to think shiai is more important than randori which is more important than kata yet the balance is key just like the founder stressed. In my judo class we tend to do ne waza as randori only. No kata. In my bjj class we tend to do mostly kata, limited rolling. Randori/rolling is way more fun, but without the kata I always feel stuck. It’s not that I need to memorize 10,000 techniques. It’s more that doing 10,000 math problems even with assistance builds a lot of intuition for novel problems without assistance. They say it takes people like professional bond traders 10 years to build up the intuition they need for good instant decisions. Probably the same with martial arts. I’ll report back on my foray into grappling sports in 10 years, lol.
8 William // Jul 3, 2008 at 11:39 pm
If one’s interest is in enligthment, better do Zen editation or something on that note. Martial arts to be martial need sparring and the understanding on applications with and without a cooperative partner, otherwise is just arts/dancing.
9 Joseph T. Oliva Arriola // Jul 4, 2008 at 1:47 am
A few comments on Draeger:
1. First, we all owe Draeger for documenting his observations and opening the door.
2. From readings, it has been asserted that Draeger was a military officer who oversaw whether or not “certain” martial arts post war Japan would be allowed license to continue.
3. It seems that Japanese martial arts took on a “peaceful/passive” demeanor during these times. Ju-do, Aiki-do, karate-do IMO became “Ways” of spreading the ways of peace and inner moral development.
4. As such, Draeger in 1958-1968 (while a practitioner of judo) was seeing the transitions from warrior practice to bu-do to sport. I suspect the Olympics and the introduction of Judo at said Olympics had much to do with the changing of the guard.
5. I as an old guy was quite interested in his comments regarding aging and keeping up with the young guys. He seemed to talk about the “details and refinement” of “higher judo” vs. the excitement of gross motor movement.
6. I enjoy beating up on any guy young, strong and from whatever martial art. My “higher” movements allow me to continue to compete with them. Though I am quite aware of my limitations in the “sport arena”. But then, I know when to play by the rules and when not too. I’m sure Draeger thought about these things as he explored and eventually made it to CMA and Southeast asian MA.
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