Comments on Mokuren Dojo: Basically Just Judo

I love that. We had Rener Gracie at Windsong last...

2009-09-19T15:40:01.212-05:00

I love that. We had Rener Gracie at Windsong last night and there were few things he had shown us that I had not seen before in Judo..however there was a different ideology/approach to them. I think Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (it's spelled how they pronounce it instead of Ju Jutsu for gentle art) discounts the value of ashi and nage waza. All great stuff though. It's the Olympic and MMA/UFC stuff that takes away from these arts.

Exactly right - judo and BJJ are brand names for j...

2008-10-06T22:02:00.000-05:00

Exactly right - judo and BJJ are brand names for jujitsu just like Cannon and Xerox are brand names of copiers.

But then, by your own logic isn't Judo really just...

2008-10-06T21:36:00.000-05:00

But then, by your own logic isn't Judo really just jujutsu? :)

I think you hit the nail on the head, Steve, when ...

2008-10-06T21:32:00.000-05:00

I think you hit the nail on the head, Steve, when you said, "We benefit from them as they benefit from us." That is, you hit it on the head by not saying, "BJJ has something judo lacks or vice versa."

Having a variety of training partners who think about the game differently than you do benefits everyone. I don't think crosstraining "BJJ" benefits judoka or vice versa as much as does just rolling with different people.

The names, "BJJ" and "Judo" are not magical incantations that make people cooler and stronger.

Modern judo (like modern karate per Dan Paden) sort of seems like a bastard son of a second cousin of 1950's Kodokan judo. In a lot of ways, BJJ, instead of being something new and innovative, seems closer to the old judo (the judo of Feldenkrais and Kawaishi et al. for instance) than is modern olympic judo. As such, it is a wonderful thing and deserves study.

But it is still just judo. ;-)

I've heard the alternative before... I think over ...

2008-10-06T20:18:00.000-05:00

I've heard the alternative before... I think over in the forums on Judoinfo, if I'm not mistaken. It's funny, but from what I've read, modern judo and BJJ are two sides of a coin. We have several judoka who crosstrain in BJJ with us. We benefit from them as they benefit from us.

Glad you liked the Basically Just Judo post. :)
2008-10-06T06:08:00.000-05:00
Glad you liked the Basically Just Judo post. :)

Rhadi's description of BJJ and judo just being too different rulesets for groundwork strikes me as correct. I don't see them as different things, but they do have different cultures. and these two arts now have a lot to learn form each other.

But seriously doesn't 10 years to get a BB for what is essentially ne-waza seem a bit extreme? Ten years and they don't even have throwing?