Ten grappling arts from around the world

There are pretty much as many different forms of grappling arts and sports as there are people who like to grapple.  Here are ten of the many.

1. Judo
2. Aikido
3. Japanese jujutsu
4. Brazillian jiujitsu
5. Glima
6. Greco-Roman wrestling
7. Freestyle wrestling
8. Shuai jiao
9. Malla-yuddha
10. Sambo

But even with all this variety, there are only so many ways that one human can effectively twist or throw or crush another human, so you are bound to see interesting similarities.


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Patrick Parker
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Ogoshi compilation

Ogoshi, though an effective, fundamental technique, is not as prolific in competitions as some techniques.  You might argue that a few of these throws were something other than ogoshi, but the examples that were clearly ogoshi were majestic!

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Patrick Parker
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Tokio Hirano's seoinage

A couple of weeks ago I did a post talking about several of my heroes in martial arts - people whose special sparks I want to emulate and develop in myself.
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One of those judo superheroes is Tokio Hirano.  Unfortunately Hirano sensei passed away years ago and most of his adherents are in Europe so it's hard to lay hands on them, but fortunately he left us a ton of (often confusing and cryptic) video records.
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Here is a little tidbit of Tokio Hirano that I want to work on with my judo buddies and students and partners for a while - a really elegant seoinage (shoulder-carry throw).

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Patrick Parker
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10 pro-tips for deashibarai

1. Deashibarai is a going-down throw.  It happens when uke is trying to put his foot down on the ground - not when uke is trying to pick his foot up. 
2. Do not try to kick uke's foot to the moon.
3. Try to get the feel of grabbing a sock with your toes - that is, grasping as if your foot were a hand.
4. Grasp uke's foot below and behind the ankle near where his heel touches the ground.
5. Grasp uke's foot with the bottom of your foot - not the side
6. Point your sweeping foot and turn your sweeping hip outward
7. Pull with your hamstrings (bend the knee) instead of sweeping from the hip with a straight leg.
8. Pull uke's foot directly toward your own standing foot
9. Pull directly along the plane of the mat as if scraping gum off the bottom of your toes.
10. You can use deashibarai as a connector to create a combo out of almost any two techniques.

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Patrick Parker
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Sasae tsurikomiashi compilation

Sasae tsurikomiashi, the foot prop, is one of my favorites.  I can reliably get a lot of people down with this even though I usually don't get this much amplitude out of it.  The first example on this video is spectacularly beautiful, and the last example is impressive not for the throw but for how tori was stuck so well to uke at the end of the fall.

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Patrick Parker
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10 politicians who were judoka

Judo has been a popular pastime for politicians and political leaders all over the world for the last century, including...

1. Theodore Roosevelt (United States)
2. Angela Merkel (Germany)
3. Pierre Trudeau (Canada)
4. Vladimir Putin (Russia)
5. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Colorado)
6. Ulla Werbrouck (Belgium)
7. William Hague (United Kingdom)
8. Albert II (Monaco)
9. Battulga Khaltmaa (Mongolia)
10. Curtis LeMay (United States)

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Patrick Parker
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Nick Lowry's okuriashibarai

A few days ago I mentioned that one of my judo heroes is Nick Lowry - particularly when it comes to  developing my double foot sweep technique (okuriashibarai).
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Okuriashi is a thing that I have put a fair amount of practice into and I can get an okay effect with it occasionally. But if I'm going to grow up to be a judo superhero, it is something that I'd better put even more thought and focus and practice into.
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Here is a handful of short videos of some superheroes demonstrating, explaining, and expounding the action of okuriashibarai - the double footsweep.  Stuff for me to work on for the next few years.

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Patrick Parker
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Hizaguruma compilation

A compilation of very nice competition knee wheels.  These are all very fine but the first one is so exquisitely perfect that I could watch it all day.  I think the 3rd or 4th one (where tori steps on uke's lead foot) is my favorite!

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Patrick Parker
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Judo is a brand name like Xerox

Judo is a brand name of Japanese jujutsu just like Xerox is a brand name of copiers and Frigidaire (or "fridge") is a brand name of refrigerator.
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What makes Judo special that separates it from other brands of 19th century jujutsu is the randori and shiai system that allows practitioners to try their skills and techniques out on trained, suspecting, resistant opponents with force and speed without necessarily harming the participants every time.  In the late 1800's, the ability to pressure-test techniques and theories caused Judo to rapidly surpass the other contemporary brands of jujutsu in popularity and effectiveness.
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Xerox machines certainly have some competitive features that make them special but there are certain things that all copiers do that Xerox machines also have to be able to do in order to be called copiers.  For instance, pretty much all copiers (in USA) use standard 110volt 60hz AC power and standard-sized paper and produce crisp copies so Xerox machines have to be able to do those things too.

Judo is a specialized modern form of jujutsu but it is still jujutsu. so that suggests that despite Judo's special distinctive competitive brand advantages, there are things that judo-ka have to be able to do because they are also jujutsu-ka.
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What are those things that koryu jujutsu does that Judo has to be able to do (besides randori and shiai) to be called jujutsu?

• Self-defense?
• Arresting/tying techniques?
• Weapons?
• Resuscitation techniques?
• Horseback riding (or the modern equivalent)?
• Some old jujutsu schools even had a swimming in armor component.

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Patrick Parker
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Joys and frustrations of teaching your own

Check out this tiny 5yo Quin Parker putting a nice kosotogari on his older brother!
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There are joys and frustrations associated with teaching your own children.
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Eventually kids all get to the age that they'd rather chew their own arms off than have to do anything that dad thinks would be fun or good for them.  There is the endless litany of excuses about other stuff they would rather be doing, the endless eye-rolling that you're afraid is going to sprain an eyeball muscle, the loud sighs whenever you try to suggest there might be a better way to try a technique.
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But then years later there is the son that joins the Marines and when he goes off to boot camp at Parris Island he says, "Hey Dad, guess what I think prepared me for the Marines more than anything else in my life?"
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"What?"
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"All those times you made me practice judo with you."

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Patrick Parker
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10 judoka with superpowers I want to develop in myself

We all have our tokuiwaza, our special techniques or abilities or attributes.  Here are 10 martial artists whose special sparks I want to develop within myself.

1. Nick Lowry's okuriashibarai and ability to gather a community around the dojo
2. Kyuzo Mifune's outstanding effortless floating counters
3. Bob Rea's empty jacket feel
4. Karl Geis' amazing tewaza
5. Zdenek Matl's gentle but relentless control throughout techniques
6. Chad Morrison's vigorous, active teaching style
7. Pat Little's positive, encouraging, empowering teaching style
8. Dr. John Kirby's amazing ability to translate theory in the dojo to functional ability in shiai.
9. J.W. Bode's ability to apply fundamentals to self-defense situations
10. Eric Pearson's off-the-hook creativity and synthesis
11. (I know I can't count) Tokio Hirano's ability to create a rhythm in uke then insert techniques into that rhythm.
12. (11 and 12 are lagniappe) Henry Copeland's ability to use kuzushi to make a fast opponent slow down to manageable speed indefinitely.

When I manage to steal all these masters' superpowers, no one will ever be able to stop me! Mwahaha!

Seriously though, I know that in order to do the things they can do, I have to do the things they have done.  Sounds like a few decades worth of material to keep me occupied.


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Patrick Parker
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Deashibarai compilation

A compilation of instances of my favorite technique done successfully (in come cases, magically) in competition.  This sort of thing turns me on!

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Patrick Parker
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Pat-isms and loose translations

Since I recently re-launched my judo classes after a 2-year sabbatical, several of my students and judo buddies have expressed their amusement and/or delight at what they have called my "Pat-isms." 
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Those who know me know that I have a touch of a chip on my shoulder about American martial artists who try to out-Japanese the Japanese guys.  People who know me also know that I have a passive aggressive streak about a mile wide, so I'm not afraid to turn a sacred cow into a cheeseburger just to frustrate a pseudo-Japanese grammar-Nazi.  I also find it just plain funny that people think of Mississippi residents as ignorant yokels, so I enjoy wallowing in that stereotype. 
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But you know what's really interesting?  I have found over the years that I can communicate martial arts ideas better using portmanteau, malapropism, puns, and poetic terminology than I can using the martial-Japanese equivalent of pidgin, Spanglish, or Engrish.
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So, my classes end up being a celebration of colloquialism and loose translation such as,

• "This technique is called, shomenate, which in the ancient Japanese language, means, 'Grab the other guy by his face.'"

• "Tonight we're working on koshiwaza (that is, crack-of-the-butt throws)."

• "Now let's do the drinking bird exercise."

• "First thing you do in this move is get out da way (because you do not have time to get...out...of...the...way) and throw both hands up like a cow-catcher."

• Y'all move around and get all swoovely so you won't pull a muscle.

• This move is named, "Snow Resting on a Willow," because it was named by an old dead poet and we don't have any better name for it.

• Scooting instead of shrimping.

• "He might bust me and kill me and do all sorts of stuff to me - but he's going to have to do it with my arm spearing through his head."

My students have laughed and marvelled at this sort of Pat-ism for years, and it doesn't look like my storehouse of stupid is going to run out any time soon, so if that makes me the Yogi Berra of judo, so be it. 
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But if you enjoy a friendly, colloquial judo practice full of people who actually realize that they are not, in fact, Japanese, then come on down to Mokuren Dojo and play with us!



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 ____________________
Patrick Parker
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What is 6-jo kata good for anyway?

You thought I'd completely shifted my focus to judo, didn't you?  Not so!  Here's some of the other stuff I've been thinking about and playing around with lately.
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For jo folks that are not used to this sort of practice, watch with fresh eyes and think about it as similar to the foot sweep to control exercise that Nick demonstrates here - that is, simple set of paired techniques that repeats infinitely and provides a basis from which to riff and expound - a basic framework to insert other techniques, jodori, jo no tsukai, etc... And a framework to begin varying toward something like randori.

Or think about it as similar to a hubud drill - as this instructor calls it, "a generator." That is, a basic sequence that spawns all sorts of opportunity to delve into other techniques or aspects of the art.

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Patrick Parker
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