Thursday, January 1, 2015

Project Goshin

Project Goshin

That sounds like a cool spy flick.
James Bond will return in  - Project Goshin (Que theme)

Goshin Jutsu has been on my mind a lot lately. 

Dillon and I have been working on the Keishoukan Budo Syllabus for 2015.
Incorporating Dillon’s Karate instruction as a regular part of the  “Dirty” Judo class.  

As such I wanted to make sure that our Atemi Waza covered all of Judo’s Atemi Waza.
In doing so I discovered that good information on Judo Atemi Waza is difficult to find.  Usually just a chart of anatomical weapons to use and another chart of vulnerable points on the human body that are good to hit.

Can you imagine if throws were taught this way?
This is a picture of your hand use it to grab him.  Here are some places that are good for grabbing.

The strikes of Judo Atemi Waza are rarely taught as they cannot be used in randori or shiai.
Mostly they are in the Kime no Kata and Goshin Jutsu Kata.

"Applying techniques of throwing and grappling to which body attack techniques are added, Kime no Kata is formulated to aim to acquire the most basic and effective way of defending ourselves from unexpected attack of others. The practice of Kime no Kata aims to study not only the principle of defense and counterattack but also the principle of manipulative body movement. In the practice of Kime no Kata, tori and uke should breathe in good harmony with each other, and further, tori has to work his body manipulatively without laying himself open to an attack of uke." Kata of Kodokan Judo Revised, 1968

Kime no Kata, also known earlier as Shinken Shobu no Kata (Combat Forms), was developed as a Kodokan kata around 1888.
*judoinfo.com

The Kodokan Goshin Jutsu was created nearly 70 years later in 1956 by a Kodokan working group to update the older kata with more modern forms of self-defense. It also shows the influence of Kenji Tomiki, one of Professor Kano's students, who also studied Aikido under the founder of Aikido.
The intent in this kata is different than with normal Judo practice, in that this is a self-defense kata, the intent on the part of both participants is to hurt the other. While the actions are controlled, so that the attacker is not hurt, the defender's actions can easily be modified to disable the attacker.
*judoinfo.com

"I seek not only to follow in the footsteps of the men of old, I seek the things they sought."
- Matsuo Basho

What was Kano seeking in the use of Judo for self defense?

  • “to acquire the most basic and effective way of defending ourselves from unexpected attack”
  • “the defender's actions can easily be modified to disable the attacker.”

I seek those things too.  I don’t need to copy them exactly from 1888 of 1956 I need to focus on universal principles that allow one to defend from unexpected attack and respond in a scalable fashion depending on the goal as dictated by the circumstances.

Fighting to the goal -  3 reasons to use force:
  • ·         Escape
  • ·         Control
  • ·         Damage / Disable

"Judo is the study of techniques with which you may kill if you wish to kill, injure if you wish to injure, subdue if you wish to subdue, and, when attacked, defend yourself."
- Jigoro Kano

The more I look at incorporating fundamental striking to achieve those goals the more “old timey boxing” or “BKB” Bare knuckle boxing makes sense.



Here is an example form Carl (Judoka and WWII combatives Instructor)

Old school Bare Knuckle

The fundamentals of BKB may appear silly to modern boxers but they made perfect sense for their time place and purpose.



That most closely matches up with the needs of personal protection (Goshin Jutsu)
Those principles are what are needed for effective self defense striking and have a common core with the striking of WWII Combatives and pre-war or Okinawan Karate.

Boxing removed from sport rules applied to personal protection has been embraced in the Filipino Martial Art Panantukan or “dirty boxing”

Panantukan is just boxing unrestricted by sport rules.  As such looks a lot like old timey BKB boxing and old Karate.



Just as judo unrestricted by sport rules is the devil ( I mean that as a compliment to its effectiveness) and looks a lot like old timey  catch wrestling





The principles that work are the same and survive the test of time no matter what you call them.

K.I.S.S.
  • Keep
  • It
  • Simple
  • Samurai

As I mentioned in the last blog when looking with a critical eye at Nage Waza (throwing techniques)
I have begun to think that a stone has too many moving parts.

What do I mean by this?

The more parts (bells and whistles) the more things can go wrong.
Better served by a few very solid principle based skilled sets that work against nearly everything.
“to acquire the most basic and effective way of defending ourselves from unexpected attack”
“the defender's actions can easily be modified to disable the attacker.”
As opposed to trying to memorize a specific technique as a counter to every possible specific attack.
Learn to handle what happens most and you can handle most of what happens.

Video of silly stuff gone wrong


Ok smart ass how do you plan on doing that?

2015 Keishoukan Budo Dojo Format

In Japan a 3 hour Judo class is the norm.  In the west that may seem extreme.  Many successful commercial schools offer a variety of 1 hour classes.
I find one hour very limiting and I do this for my fun and personal development more than as a business so like Sinatra said I have to do it my way




Average American martial arts class – 60 Min
Probably 20 min warm up, 20 min skills, and maybe 20 min drills

This is how we roll

Keishoukan Budo class 21/2 hours (150 Min)

15 Minutes Warm up
45 Minutes of Striking
-          That is a lot of striking for  Judo class.  That is more striking than a typical Karate or Boxing class.
-          Why so much you may ask.  If the need for striking skill for personal protection  hasn’t already been made by the first part of this blog, allow me to include a portion of Omar Ahmad’s White Paper on Katamedo Jujutsu

A practitioner of Katamedo JuJitsu will be able to compete equally in any grappling or mixed martial arts setting. Katamedo stresses that the principles of grappling are constant, as are the skills involved... The principles of the arts are common, only the rules differ. As such, a JuJitsuka must also learn the principles and tenets of atemi waza, or striking, which are common to many traditional arts…. The most confident fighter is one who can compete on equal ground no matter what the rules.

Or as Bruce Lee said...


Continuing...

40 Minutes of Ground Skills
50 Minutes of Standing Grappling

And once a week we add an additional 30 minutes of Randori (Freestyle)

One of the reasons Judo replaced Jujutsu was randori and shiai.  Being able to go full out against a resisting opponent.  The allowed techniques were paired down for safety but that training methodology gave Judo (any art Wrestling , Boxing) an advantage against those that offered no such similar training.

Military Schools, and Police Academies used to have Boxing, and Wrestling clubs (sometimes Fencing clubs too) for this very purpose.

I have ranted before how today’s youth going into careers that use force professionally have never been in a scrap. 

We cannot teach them the same old ways.

I want to offer a relatively safe way to learn those hard lessons.

So in summary, Project Goshin is my quest to use Judo to defend from unexpected attack and respond in a scalable fashion depending on the goal as dictated by the circumstances for:
•             Professional use of force
•             Personal Protection

In order to do that I have further incorporated  the principles and tenets of atemi waza, or striking, which are common to many traditional arts (Karate and BKB Boxing)

Further to provide safe ways to pressure test skills and expose students to resistive conflict we will have weekly fight nights exploring different styles of free style training for the different aspects of combatives.

-          ONE STEP                  
-          NE WAZA                   
-          NAGE WAZA                            
-          ATEMI  WAZA  (Kumite / Boxing)                    
-          JYU WAZA                 
-          RANDORI (FREESTYLE JUDO Rules)       
          
“I have found that anyone who trains in a system and uses sport or stress training is way better off than reading every violence dynamic article and book you can get. But just so you know, you should do both. Educate yourself in self defense and sport.”
- Omar Ahmad

If anyone would like written out rules / explanations of how we do those freestyle drills hit me up in the comments.

In conclusion I want to end with promoting Freestyle Judo

With all of the nonsense the IJF is pulling…
… it is refreshing to see others saying we have to do it our way as well.

http://www.freestylejudo.org/

You can check out their site from the link above but I wanted to include this excerpt:

Freestyle Judo - The way Judo ought to be
There is only one Judo, and that is the Kodokan Judo of Jigoro Kano. Judo is more than simply a sporting event; rather, it is a complete martial art that has adapted over the years to various fighting styles and techniques. Kodokan Judo includes techniques from wrestling, sambo, and of course modern jujitsu. However, over the past two decades many of these fighting styles were discouraged, and eventually penalized, in tournament Judo for reasons cited as "better television viewing". Unfortunately, the resulting rule changes resembled Greco-Roman wrestling in a kimono, all the while professional Mixed Martial Arts grappling gained in television popularity.
Freestyle Judo brings back the "Golden Age" of Judo competition by embracing the fighting styles of wrestling, sambo, and modern jujitsu. Competitors who specialize in standing techniques can throw for ippon. Wrestlers who prefer lower body attacks can shoot for the legs. Grapplers who specialize in submissions have the time and flexibility to fight on the ground. All of these styles are good Judo.
A judo coach observing a Freestyle Judo match for his first time remarked; "That looks just like judo." The answer was; "That's because it is judo. It's just judo the way it ought to be done." Good judo is good judo and the rules of Freestyle Judo allow judo athletes to use all the skills of judo during a match.

Freestyle Judo encourages participation from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestlers, and Mixed Martial Arts enthusiasts by providing an open-ended competition format.
Freestyle Judo is endorsed by Dr. AnnMaria De Mars, World Judo Champion, former president of the USJA, and mother of Ronda Rousey, UFC Champion and 2008 Olympic Judo Bronze Medalist, as the "Ultimate Judo Style for MMA".

Freestyle Judo is an outgrowth or continuation of judo as a sporting activity with adaptations in how a judo match is scored making it an interesting and positive approach to judo competition. It's most definitely not our intention in any way replace the Kodokan Judo of Jigoro Kano. Judo, as a combat sport, has stood the test of time and whether people realize it or not, has been the technical and theoretical basis for many other combat sports as well.  There is only one judo and that is the Kodokan Judo founded by Professor Jigoro Kano in 1882.  How people view a sporting event is directly affected by the rules of the game. Judo is no different. The rules of the sport of judo have changed through the years, and as is the case with any physical activity, these changes in the contest rules affect how people teach, learn and train in judo. Freestyle Judo's rules offer athletes and coaches another opportunity to compete and dispay their skills in the sport of judo.  Freestyle Judo is not intended to replace the existing rules of judo; rather, Freestyle Judo offers more competitive opportunities for everyone who takes part.

Freestyle Judo is not a different "system" of judo. Good judo is good judo. The rules of Freestyle Judo encourage all the skills and strategy of good judo to be used.
Freestyle Judo uses a numerical point scoring system for both throwing and ground fighting. This provides an objective set of criteria for allowing the athletes (and not the referees) to determine the winner and loser in the match.

Freestyle Judo is Judo, the way your sensei did it.  If you are old enough to remember how judo was done in the 1960s through 1980s, you will remember that judo is really a combat sport. Freestyle Judo allows all the elements of good judo to be used in a safe and fair way. No soft or rolling Ippons and the referees allow the athletes time to engage in newaza. Freestyle Judo is not for the faint of heart. It is what judo was intended to be as a combat sport.

Freestyle Judo is the only form of sport judo that includes a "no-gi" category. Basically, no-gi Freestyle Judo is "judo without a jacket."

You can have the sport of Judo without the art.  But you cannot have the art of Judo without the sport.  Freestyle Judo rules even if just for in house randori give a solid foundation to enhance the art through the sport.

Train hard, Train smart, Be safe



























2 comments:

  1. Dear kasey, I would be to receive the explanations of your Freestyle Drills. We practise Ju-Jutsu, a German Hybrid Art of Judo, karate and Aikido, developed out of need of the police force. Over the years, elements of other arts like boxing and FMA found their way in our curriculum. I think your Drills would perfectly suit our needs best regards Andreas

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  2. Free Style Judo rules are trademarked so instead of me working harder here is a direct link
    http://www.freestylejudo.org/Rules/

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