Judo – The Gentle Way of Self Defense

Judo which translates to a ‘gentle way’ was developed more than a century ago by Professor Jigoro Kano, who named his special methods Kodokan Judo, although the art itself has its roots in Jujitsu. In fact, there are other variations too like the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Judo is highly popular and is usually part of the training to defense personnel for their self defense. A lot of students also learn Kodokan Judo, to enhance their own abilities and absorb the overall principles of this self defense form, in a better manner.

The martial art of Judo is taught to students in the form of waza, which means techniques. There are different types of techniques, each contributing to a more important purpose. If one would look at a wider classification, all the techniques fall into one of the 3 categories, atemi waza, which comprises of striking techniques, nage-waza, which comprises of throwing techniques and katame waza, which comprises of grappling techniques.

There is also ukemi, which is practiced in Judo, which teaches a practitioner how to reduce the impact of a fall by using the right landing technique with hands and feet. These techniques can be greatly useful to avoid extensive injury during break-falls caused during practice of throwing or striking techniques.

One would also come across what is known as kata, which means sequence of movements or patterns, much the same way as the kata practiced in karate. Some kata are recognized in Kodokan Judo, while some practiced in the modern day are not recognized.

These kata solve different purposes like learning counter-attack techniques, improving flexibility of the body, developing the right physique, use of resistance and force in the most efficient manner and even antique techniques which are just practiced to make sure that the old techniques are not lost in the spiral of time. Kata can also help to enable students to learn the psychological aspects involved in the art of Judo.

Ukemi or falling, comprises of lowering the impact on the body while falling from standing positions or falling on the back or from sitting positions. Initially practiced on a mat or soft padding, an experienced practitioner can try these techniques on hard ground too. It is interesting to note that there are several individual elements of each of the 3 basic categories or techniques.

For example, nage waza, which involves practicing throwing techniques comprises of standing and sacrifice techniques. There are hand, hip, foot and leg techniques which are part of tachi waza or standing techniques. Similarly, the practitioners have to master the three phases in a throwing technique, which involve the balance break, fitting in and then executing the throw.

The grappling techniques can further be classified into grappling and choking techniques along with the use of locks to disable the opponents. In Judo, practitioners also learn the art of executing strikes on the vital points of the opponent in order to disable them, although, these can be practiced only as part of a kata or sequence of movements.