What is Judo?
Judo is a martial art, an Olympic sport, and to many, a way of life. To me, Judo is something that is always changing, moving, and evolving.
In your search of what is Judo, you will find that many have their own definitions for Judo. You will also find that when you ask a black belt what Judo has done for him, most will tell you that they do not know where to begin!
There are numerous benefits of practicing Judo. To some, it is great source for self-defense, a sport, a social outlet, a means in which one can learn about himself and a means in which to improve the human character.
There are two main principles of Judo: maximum efficiency and mutual welfare and benefit. Through Jujitsu, the art of self protection, came Judo, the art of self-perfection. Hence the philosophy behind Judo. One of the concepts of being a Judoka, is that you must conquer yourself before you can conquer others. This philosophy can be interpreted in many ways, but we all know that we are our worst enemy. So when one studies Judo, one is really studying about his/her own abilities and limitations by learning how to redirect adversity.
Judo is about balance, and in almost every sense. In free sparring, you have to maintain your own balance if you wish to unbalance your opponent.
Ground fighting and throwing skills complement each other and are an integral part of Judo. However, students sacrifice ground fighting skills if they spend more time working on throwing skills, and by the same token, they sacrifice their throwing skills if they spend too much time on ground fighting skills. Students need a good balance of both throwing and ground fighting skills. They are both interdependent, yet they cannot exist without each other.
Click on the following links to find out what others think about Judo: Judoinfo and Wikipedia.
Some of the above photos are by Bob Willingham.