“One excellent example was Dr. Jigoro Kano, Founder of Kodokan Judo. He was also a very famous educator in Japanese Society. Many of the technical aspects and the resulting methods of teaching (as well as the taxonomy of techniques) of Kodokan Judo are a direct result of Dr. Kano’s understanding of the ‘Steps’ in the “Learning Process”. Many Martial Arts Sensei have often pointed out that before you can defend yourself with appropriate techniques, you must first ‘know your Martial Art’.”
Brian Kagen is an avid web researcher with a particular interest in martial arts. His training background includes both judo and aikido. He has contributed hundreds of article links over the years for AJ readers.
When is a martial art not a martial art?
“Every dojo has its own way of operating, but over the years I have found certain foundational concepts that lead practitioners to success and longevity in their training. I have also noticed some very common pitfalls that trap students in ways they never saw coming. It is my goal with this ebook to give students of all ages and ranks a deeper understanding of how to prosper in their chosen art.”
“The visitor was Keiko Fukuda. The highest ranked woman in judo, with a 9th degree black belt, at 96 Fukuda is a still active and vital link to both the roots of judo and Japan’s samurai era. Her grandfather, Hachinosuke Fukuda, was an instructor of Tenjin Shinyo-ryu Jujutsu. One of his students was Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo; the elder Fukuda was a mentor to Kano and there are Tenjin Shinyo-ryu movements in some of the kata developed by Kano.”
“When I was eight years old, my parents took me to watch a judo demonstration at the Ann Arbor Y. I was enthralled. Over 40 years later, I remember the demonstration as if it happened yesterday. I started attending classes and, after some minor success in shiai, I was hooked.”
“But the bullies were in for a surprise…I didn’t react the way they expected. The previous year, my PE teacher had decided to teach us the basics of Aikido, one of his passions. Deeply affected by Aikido’s philosophy of non-violent self-defense, bolstered by my newly acquired church teachings to “turn the other cheek,” I had become militantly pacifistic. So, I refused to fight. If they persisted, I’d use the Aikido techniques I’d learned to defend myself. But only that.”
“Police defensive tactics are NOT the same as self-defense. The role of defensive tactics in law enforcement and corrections is to assist the officer in performance of arrest and restraint, and to increase the margin of safety for both the officer and the suspect. Defensive tactics charge the officer with protecting others as well as themselves. The definition of “defend” as used here is neither punitive nor passive, but instead “to repel danger or harm while serving and protecting.” Meanwhile, self-defense encompasses any and all means of protecting oneself. Self-defense techniques are not meant to apprehend an assailant. Indeed, there is no regard for the safety of the attacker whatsoever. So obviously self-defense and defensive tactics are not synonymous.”
The article below has been selected from the 
“Recently there has been a lot of discussion on the Judo Listserver about a concept in the new book titled Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I haven’t read the book, but apparently Gladwell found in his research that one factor remains remarkably constant between experts in various domains – practice time. Apparently, it takes on the order of 10000 hours of practice to master a skill to a world-class level, regardless of the skill. This is something that is very interesting to me because of my interest in genius and how experts do the things they do.”
One of the main characteristics of aikido is it aim to see a peaceful resolution to conflict. It has after all been referred to the “Art of Peace” by its founder. As in our mind we do not wish to ‘hurt’ our partner, the use of atemi in training can become largely cosmetic.
Stop .. just stop trying to figure out the founder, picking apart his life, picking apart aikido history as if there was some secret hidden deep in the intersecting coincidences of fate as people come and go .. it is what it is.