The new student asks “What are the basics of Judo?“, and, if he is wise, he’s asking for more than just a list of throw’s and submissions he’s going to need to get to the next belt. That’s what we are here to look at today.
According to the requirements of the U.S. Judo Federation, their basic requirements for promotion from White Belt to Yellow Belt are:
- Number of classes: 20 or two months.
- Basics: Bowing, tying belt, counting to 10 in Japanese.
- Vocabulary: Rei (bow), Sensei (teacher), Gi (uniform).
- Falling techniques: Forward, backward, etc.
- Standing techniques): O soto-gari, Deashi-barai, etc.
- Ground techniques: Kesa-gatame. Yoko-shiho-gatame.
- The history of Judo.
- Personal: Good moral character.
The above serves well as a rubric for Judo instructors in order to grade promotions, but the truth is that the basics of Judo includes much more than a handful of throws, grabs, and submissions. The basics includes elements that must be present in order to progress beyond the beginner and intermediary stages of skill. These are psychological elements like respect, humility, tenacity, and the ability to laugh at one’s own mistakes. These are paramount, before mastery of things like the Ippon Seoi Nage (shoulder throw), because to master a physical skill or technique you must first be able to persevere through the many stages of ineptitude.
Of course, Judo is hard, and even the most emotionally enlightened judoka can’t be said to have mastered the basics without arming himself with certain physical skills. Read on and see how the physical basics of Judo play their part too.
Attitude
The most important of all basics is the attitude you bring to the dojo and to your training. I’ll spare you the cliche about how a full cup can’t be filled, but just let it be said that if you are distracted by desires to show your fellow judoka what you know, then you won’t be learning much. Embrace learning the way you did as a child, without ego or pretense.
Humility
Humility is also a requirement and it must be present from the beginning of judo training. So critical it is that if you don’t bring it with you, it will be provided to you through randori (sparring). And it’s gonna hurt! Even as an adult, you are likely to find that many children or teenagers in your dojo are higher rank than you and are more knowledgeable in a particular skill or technique. An immature judoka would cringe away from asking for advice from such a senpai (senior student), or would brush off a suggestion they might have offered. This demonstration of ego is not only detrimental to your training, it is also disrespectful to your fellow student. Which brings us to the next point…
Respect
Respect must also be part of your training. You must respect yourself, your sensei, your fellow judoka, and your dojo.
- Respecting yourself and your body – Listen and ask questions. And take time to heal from the inevitable injuries that accrue during good training.
- Respecting your Sensei – Obeying his commands, asking questions, listening more than you speak, and applying yourself to his teachings (don’t waste his time with half-hearted efforts).
- Respecting your dojo – Learn and adhere to your dojo’s etiquette.
- Respecting your fellow judoka – During drills, avoid over-compliance but don’t sabotage your partner by deliberately resisting.
- Respecting the art – Giving 100% of your effort and attention.
Principles
Most people think Judo is just about throwing your opponent. But that’s like saying Chess is about moving around little wooden pieces on a board. The basics of judo, its principles, have less to do with how you move your opponent and more to do with how you move yourself and what space you occupy.
Efficiency
As you doubtless already know, Judo literally translates as “the gentle way”. Part of this means that great strength is not required to perform most techniques. And due to this fact, Judo is a very efficient martial art. Because the power of Judo comes primarily from the legs, feet, and hips, you will know whether you are performing most techniques correctly by how little upper body strength you require to execute a throw. And as such, you must also be relaxed during training, or else you’ll need to use strength to overcome your own rigidity and tire quickly.
Patience
Patience is yet another basic principle of Judo. During randori you will be seeking kuzushi (unbalancing your partner), but you must not attempt to force this. Rather, you should remain watchful and attempt to create it through movement, positioning, and feints. Your opponent knows this as well and will be trying to feint you into a false opportunity to unbalance him. This is especially true if he is more experienced than you and has fallen for just such a trick himself.
Techniques
Techniques will always fail if you haven’t first learned the principles of movement and position, and you will never learn those principles if you did not begin your training with a proper attitude. Therefore it follows that only after attitude and principles should a judoka concern himself with techniques. With that said, here is a list of many of the basics of Judo you’ll learn as a beginner.
- Ippon Seoi Nage – One-handed shoulder throw
- Kibisu Gaeshi – One-handed reversal
- Kuchiki Taoshi – Single leg takedown
- Morote Seoi Nage – Two-handed shoulder throw
- Sukui Nage – Scoop throw
- Tai Otoshi – Body drop
- Uki Otoshi – Floating drop
- Yama Arashi – Mountain storm
- Uchi Mata Sukashi – Inner thigh void throw
- Sumi Otoshi – Corner throw
- Obi Otoshi – Belt throw
- Morote Gari – Two-handed reap
- Kouchi Gaeshi – Minor inner reap reversal
- Kata Gumura – Shoulder wheel
Final Round
The basics of judo is comprised of many different throws, pins, submissions, and chokes. But more important than the physical element are the psychological elements that you must bring to your training. Things like showing respect for oneself and his sensei and other judoka, being humble enough to learn, even from those younger than you, and the ability to take your training seriously while not taking yourself too seriously. All of these mental and emotional elements serve as the foundation that techniques are built upon and without them no Judo player is complete.