Sunday, July 31, 2005

Judo vs. Shotokan Karate

I passionately practiced Shotokan Karate (SK) for a while. The training (overseas) was great, and I loved every moment of it. After I moved to US I looked for a good SK school for a while, but without success. All the schools seemed to teach either TKD, or some other "ninja" like styles with weapons, and funny uniforms.

Not being able to find a decent SK school I started looking for another reputable combat sport/martial art Judo. I found one where the head instructor was a internationally recognized 7-th Dan judoka. I started practicing Judo ...


First big difference (a cultural shock) I felt going from one art into another was:

Class and Learning Strutcture

Judo is far less structured compared to SK. As you start learning Judo you understand that Judo format is a good thing.
There is no standing in a row and practicing perfectly executed techniques "on empty" just for the form sake many, many times.
You grab a partner and you do things many times. At first very sloppy, later you get better.
Learning in Judo is very multi-dimensional, and you can not do it just by practicing on empty. You need many different ways of learning, almost all full contact to truly learn Judo.

Full Contact

In SK you do three types of training: kihon (basic technique learning, usually solo),
kata (form of fighting with imaginery oponent) and kumite (semi-contact or full contact sparring).
In Judo (except for basic Ukemis (falling practice) ) everything is done with the partner.
Judo has its repetitive, technical learning part (uchi komi, nage komi), but even that is still very contact oriented, and it can often be (as you grow in ranks) very intense, and rough.
Randori (free sparring) is one of the central parts of learning in Judo and it is as full contact, as full contact can be. Judoka (judoists) do randori all the time. Everything Judoka learn is really validated in Randori - how well can they apply their skills against the fully resisting, and combative oponent.
(That "validation" principle is the same in every major fighting sport/MA )

Judo kata is very different from the SK kata.
Judo kata is practiced and executed with the partner, and the only similarity with the SK kata is that Judo kata is pre-arranged.
You can argue that it is probably less formal than some SK kata, mostly due to the fact that the form/appereance of the technique is so important in SK where in form is always matched with the immediate effectiveness.

In Judo there is only one (Nage No) kata required for the black belt. It contains many popular throwing techniques, and it takes quite a while to learn it well.

Ranks and Grading

Judo founder Jigoro Kano was the inventor of the modern belt and ranking system. As such it was adopted by SK, and in a very similar form.
The big difference between Judo and SK is a grading criteria. Judoka do not need to know as many techniques for a belt, as he/she would need in SK. The emphasis is on the
quality and applicability of the techniques learned. Judo throws are hard to learn, so it takes a while to learn most of them. For most part it is life long process.
Where in SK good demonstration of a technique is very important, and it is very formally treated, in Judo it is competition/sparring ability and
applicability that matters. Very often Sensei will award a belt based on the observation of the student's progress and how well he/she does Judo, and not based on
some 3 hour long testing process. Again, how well one do Judo can be easily observed in the Randori practice because it is all against the resisting, fully combative oponent.

Mentality

SK has attracted lots of intelectuals, people interested in spiritual side of MA, … where Judo is a down and dirty "blood and guts" sport. That does not mean that in Judo one will be dealing with ignorant thugs in Judo. It just mean that philosophy of Judo will be instilled through the chokes, arm bars and throws ...
Speaking of which - sport mentality is extremly strong and present in Judo where in SK it really varies. I personally like "sport" side of Judo.
It keeps things down to earth and "healthy". I am really against any kind of ideology - specially martial arts ideology. That is why I like Judo a lot.
It is very healthy in terms of any kind of brain washing. There is no much voodoo to it. It is all about the hard work, and runners high.
You will find most of the good Judoka to be simple, tough and friendly people. No BS.

If you really want to take yourself seriously, and to have others take you seriously too - Judo is the right way to go. It may not look like that at first, but
more you do it - more you will love it. In SK, you spend infinite amount of time perfecting the form of your Geri(s) (Kicks) and Zuki(s) (Strikes) to make it
look correct. You also do grueling repetitive standing excercises to "harden" your character.
In Judo you will not do one thing to make anything look right, or just for the character purposes. You will spend all your time to make it work right. All the character building comes from the hard work with your training partners.

Injuries

In SK you can get injured. I did - many times. Lose teeth, pulled muscles, broken ribs, ...
In Judo you can get really hurt. Much more severe than in SK. Be careful, learn breakfalls well, and learn proper technique.
It is way easier to get seriously hurt in Judo than in SK.


Finally, I still think that SK is great cardio-vascular exercise, and pretty good for self-defense if you have a good Mawashi Geri, etc and if you work on makiwara.
Judo, on the other hand, is in a completely different dimension.
It is an extremly effective fighting sport closely matched to other fight sports like BJJ, Muai Thai, Wrestling or Boxing and it can be used and applied for no holds barred style of extreme fighting to a very good degree, and it enjoys major respect among other serious fight styles.