Judo School

Judo School

To understand the art of Judo, let us figure out what the word “judo” means.  Judo is made up of two words, “ju” which means gentle, and “do” which means way.  Therefore, judo can be translated as the “gentle way”.  What makes it intriguing is the fact that since this is a form of martial arts, it’s hard to understand how one can be gentle in hand to hand combat when your life is at risk.  The nature of martial arts is to defend, to fight, to disable and opponent who may want to do you harm, and yet, here is a discipline here that says follow the gentle way.

Judo is both gentle and dynamic in activity.  Application of the philosophy means not to resist, to give way or to be compliant and at the same time moving to create an opportunity to grab and throw an opponent to the ground.  The Judo response is to give way, not to meet force head-on.  So then, one may ask, what if someone punches or grabs you, what do you do?  Do you let yourself be manhandled because the philosophy says not to resist?  If this is the case, the Judo wouldn’t be much of a martial art at all.

Since this is a martial discipline, principles of offense and defense are still in place.  If not, what’s the point of studying it in the first place?  What the principle means is that one can defend him or herself properly by being compliant.  That is the art and science of Judo.  That is the essence of Judo.

It is important to note the Judo combines the techniques of jujitsu, karate and wrestling.  On top of that, it has its own highly perfected techniques.  Also, the combative techniques of Judo use the most scientific analysis than any other martial art.  Improper application of its techniques can cause injury even to the practitioner.

Therefore, it is imperative to study and learn the physics behind this art.  This can be especially appreciated when the opponent is somewhat bigger, stronger and heavier.  All these make Judo a very formidable form or martial art.

In Judo school or while learning Judo, students are also taught how to fall in such a manner that they can create countering attacks if they are the one who is being thrown or taken to the ground. This makes perfect sense because it would be very embarrassing for a judoist to be beaten at his own game.  We must remember that in a fight, anything can happen.  Judo considers such dynamism and prepares for it.

A student learns both offense and defense so he or she can apply the principles and techniques in a real fighting situation.  As a result, he or she can then adapt to the situation, since not all fighting situations are the same, and create movers on her own to win.  If the student learns to do this, then he or she has indeed learned how to apply the science behind Judo.