Judo Fighters

Originating in late nineteenth century, Judo is a Japanese martial arts technique which means "gentle way". A Judo fighter is called a Judoka. Weapons are used in judo but only in pre-arranged forms. In free practice and competitions only freehand is allowed. The basic aim of the Judoka is to get control over the opponet and bring him to submission. This can be done in many ways like throwing the opponent to the ground, joint locking elbows and knees of the opponent, choking the opponent and by subdueing the opponent with a grappling maneuver. Thrusts and strikes by hands and feet are not allowed.

Famous Judo athletes include Shiro Saigo who was one of the first few to obtain a black belt.Yasuhiro Yamashita, perhaps the most succesfful Judo practitioner of all times, most amazing fact is that he never lost a single game in his entire career.  Mitsuyo Maeda, taught the Gracie family, is also the pioneer of Judo in Brazil. A high ranking female in the world of Judo is Keiko Fukuda. Kenshiro Abbe of Japan was responsible for introducing Aikido to UK and Europe. He also founded many international and European councils of Judo such as the British Judo Council, the British Kendo Council, the International Budo Council et al.

Tadahiro Nomura of Japan, holds the record of being the only Judo player in the world who has won three Olympic medals consecutively.Current judo greats include, Wilhem Ruska, Shota Chochosivili who was the first to win a gold medal for the then Soviet Union etc.

For a judoka there two main phases in combat. Tachi-waza is the standing phase and ne-waza is the ground phase. It is very important to be equally skilled in both phases. The technique involved in the two phases are very different from each other. And special techniques are developed to bridge the gap between the two phases. Being equally skilled helps a judoka to first take down an opponent then to pin him down and force him into submission. Many times the judokas are strong in tachi-waza and are able to take th opponent down but then their weakness in ne-waza makes it difficult from there to win the combat and if the opponent is strong in ne-waza it may turn out to be to his advantage.

In standing position kicks, strikes and punches are not allowed as they certainly cause injury. Hence the importance of throwing technique is very high. With proper throwing technique a judo fighter can get his opponent on the ground in a position where he can easily pin him down or choke him or in other words get into a dominent position. The throwing technique is basically divided into four phases: off-balancing, body positioning, execution and finish.

On the ground pinning the opponent down is the main aim of the judo fighter. Leg locks are not allowed so only armlocks, chokes and strangulations are used to force the opponent into submission. Sdome of the techniques involved in the ground phase of the combat are attack against the joints or joint holds, strangleholds, chokeholds,  and holding techniques. The submission is indicated by an opponent either by tapping the mat ones or by tapping the opponent twice in a way that confirms failure.