The story of my encounter with judo

Me and "Judo"

The reason I started judo was my father.

My father did judo in high school and university, and was good at the ‘back-support throw’.

When he was a student, he was very active, winning third place in Tokyo.

I admired my father and started judo.

I started judo

When I started, I had just entered the second grade of primary school.

Just,

I want to be strong!

That's how I started.

I had always liked to move my body from a young age, so at first I enjoyed doing basic exercises such as forward and backward rolls, as if I was playing.

As I got more and more used to it, I learnt advanced techniques, martial arts concepts and etiquette.

Judo examinations

Every six months, there was an exam to raise the salary.

The students were divided by grade level and had matches, and teachers would, or would not, give them a raise based on the number of matches they won and the number of days they participated in training.

This determines the colour of the belt.

At first, it starts with white.

Then orange, purple, green and so on.

Gradually, as they got older, more experienced and stronger, the colour of their belt changed.

Black belt

To become a "shodan" (black belt), there is a dan promotion examination.

I started taking this test when I was in the second year of junior high school, but I had to face high school students who were more than twice my age, and there were written and kata tests, so I had a lot of difficulties.

Finally, I achieved Shodan.

For some reason, just by changing the colour of my belt, I felt that I had become stronger.

What is the "Kata" of judo?

I was better at kata than at competition.

In kata, I was sometimes runner-up or champion in the Hida regional competitions, but in the prefectural competitions, I only lost in the second round.

In kata, on the other hand, I was runner-up in the prefectural competition two years in a row, and I think I achieved some surprising results.

(I still regret not winning the championship, but...).

Furthermore, the level in the Hida area (my hometown) was high, and both the girls and boys won the prefectural championships and were runners-up every year.

My analysis is that the reason for the win is that there are fewer people challenging themselves in kata (form) compared to competition, and the level of teachers in the local area was very high.

Digging a little deeper, I feel this is the same in society.

Sun Tzu's Art of War teaches that ‘If you want to win, fight in conditions where your opponents are few and you can easily win.’ This is a teaching.

This was an experience that made me realise exactly that.

Conclusion

The sport of judo is said to be attracting an increasing number of parents who want to teach their children martial arts, as they can learn important things for their children to grow up.

In fact, my teacher, a French entrepreneur, also said that he wanted his children to learn martial arts. I also want my children to be exposed to this sport when they have children, and I consider it to be one of the best ways to educate them.

Finally.

I continued with judo for eight years, took my first dan and finished my judo career when I graduated from junior high school.

I also hope to be able to participate in training and teach my children, as I have learnt a lot from judo.

And I am grateful to my teachers.

From my point of view at the time, they were very cool, strong in body and spirit, and even in their way of thinking they were warriors.

I still admire them.

Back then, when I was in pain and wanted to run away.

When I felt I couldn't beat my opponent.

When I felt like defeating myself.

Even now, the memories of those days help me.

And they make me challenge myself.

Don't lose. Don't beat yourself.’

That's how it is, isn't it?

The real enemy is me.

Since then, I've become my own rival.

I have to surpass yesterday's self, even if it's only by a millimetre.

If you are aware of this, you will naturally grow.

You naturally stop worrying about others and you can live with your core.

Judo was a fundamental experience in my life.

And I feel that it is still alive in me today.

That's all for now.

Thank you very much for reading!。