Dojo Memoirs

I better write this before my memory fails me and school hits me again. Yes, its about Judo - if you're sick of me harping about the sport i love then go off and read something more interesting.

Now, where was i? Oh, okay. Judo. never made a proper introduction to this sport when i joined it more than a year ago (and with only five people to a class. Now? Good God.) It had been newly revived and i was several months behind the other four -Vincent, Tang, Desmond and Garrick. That being so, Sensei hurried me through white belterhood and (to my friends's everlasting horror) i was upgraded to yellow within a month, knowing a total of three throws and forgetting every pin he ever taught me.

These days most beginners know five throws, five pins and are hell of a lot better than i was. No matter, i tell myself, they can't throw me (indeed they can't, although in katamewaza (pinning, grappling on the ground) they have a distinctive strength advantage, forcing me to engage in all sorts of unorthodox armlocks, chokes and tickles which i shall not go into here)

By my second month (in stark contrast to beginners now) i had chosen a tokuiwaza and was working on it. Let me explain, so if you have the misfortune to read one of my Judo related posts you will understand what the heck i am saying (Sam, you should do the same - i am hopeless when it comes to badminton terminology).

A tokuiwaza is a favourite technique. Judokas pick one and built their entire attacking style around it, so much so that you become famous for that one throw. Indeed, it is not uncommon for international commentaries to go: "That is Nasamura, his strongest throw is Uchimata and it will rip his opponent's genitalia apart."

Okay not really.

At any rate, mine was Osotogari - a strong throw, hard to learn and slightly harder to master, but if you didn't know how to use it well (as i didn't) you take awfully big falls from counter attacks. The variation i use looks a little like this:

Tang's was a Taiotoshi - easy to learn, but impossibly hard to master. It gave me a lot of problems at first, practising with him - the throw was so powerful it made my head it the floor many times. It looks something like this:

Desmond, on the other hand, chose ippon seoinage. Seoinage is one of the earliest throws you ever learn in Judo, but i didn't like it ... because i didn't like it. No idea why. Now, of course, Des uses a lot of other techniques, and tells us he changed his tokuiwaza, but i don't believe him. He practised ippon seoinage at every practice session i've been to, and unless he practises with his dog at home i don't see how he can develop other techniques. it looks like this:

Vincent, who started off as the underdog due to his thiness and lack of muscle, chose haraigoshi, and practised it until every push you made agaisnt him became a threat to yourself. He almost always used your strength against you, making fights with him particularly frustrating for me because i use a back throw, which is exactly the direction he wants me to push. Haraigoshi is like this:

And there you go. A (nearly) complete introduction of the sport, just in case you stumble on one of my judo posts. I'll not touch on Atemiwaza, which is forbidden killing techniques, mainly because we haven't learned them yet. But for all other purposes people like Wandkey can no longer complain they do not understand.

Now if only I can begin to comprehend badminton ...