Often I am asked to recommend various books on Judo. This is hard to do because I kinda need to know what you are trying to accomplish with your study of Judo.
That said, I wanted to find a couple of good standard works that should be in everyones collection, then I can direct you from there.
First, if you are only going to have one Judo book, this is the one:
I have these books, one or both of which was recommended by you upon my asking. What would you suggest I should be looking to do in order to get the best out of them?
[quote=MMAMickey;2376488]I have these books, one or both of which was recommended by you upon my asking. What would you suggest I should be looking to do in order to get the best out of them?
[quote=Tom Kagan;2376541]Since it goes against the philosophy of some other grappling arts treating Jacket/No Jacket more on par with one another …
Out of curiosity, why do you feel it to be necessary to become proficient with the Judogi before removing it?[/quote]
Well, several reasons…
Less bang on the body. The gi gives you much better control over the person landing. We ignore that most times because we are focused on the thrower. However, if our throwing partner is taking less of a beating we can throw him more often.
Judo is complex. In many cases there are several body actions happening at the same time. It is easier to get the feel of that complexity with the Gi on first.
Off balance is easier to learn with the Gi on because you have a better handle and better control.
I simply believe if the idea is to apply Judo somewhere else, its best to master Judo first…
Less bang on the body. The gi gives you much better control over the person landing. We ignore that most times because we are focused on the thrower. However, if our throwing partner is taking less of a beating we can throw him more often.
Judo is complex. In many cases there are several body actions happening at the same time. It is easier to get the feel of that complexity with the Gi on first.
Off balance is easier to learn with the Gi on because you have a better handle and better control.
I simply believe if the idea is to apply Judo somewhere else, its best to master Judo first…[/quote]
i agree with everything coach tripp says above and as a person who trained all his grappling no-gi before judo i would like to add two more reasons why i think the gi is important:
conditioning. i really sweat a lot in judo, and the gi is a big part of it. it’s a lot harder to roll in a double-weave judo gi than in a rashguard and shorts, and i notice that i gas out more quickly in judo than i have in any other martial art. i also have been able to drop a few pounds playing judo, despite eating more and increasing my beer intake.
i’m forced to be more technical. most of my issues with judo come from having to deal with uke’s grips before i can move and attack. this was much easier without the gi, so i have a lot of trouble and am having to re-learn a lot of stuff now. i think it’s easier to go from gi to no-gi than the other way around.
Less bang on the body. The gi gives you much better control over the person landing. We ignore that most times because we are focused on the thrower. However, if our throwing partner is taking less of a beating we can throw him more often.
Judo is complex. In many cases there are several body actions happening at the same time. It is easier to get the feel of that complexity with the Gi on first.
Off balance is easier to learn with the Gi on because you have a better handle and better control.
I simply believe if the idea is to apply Judo somewhere else, its best to master Judo first…[/quote]
I agree with Mark 100% on this matter. Judo as an art and sport uses judogi. If you want to get good at Judo, no gi is not optimal.
It’s much easier to learn no-gi ties and gripping than to learn no gi Judo.
From the descriptions I have read, Attacking Judo seems to be similar to Vital Judo, which is a book about competition applications and combinations. If you have read this book, how would you compare it to Attacking Judo?
If Vital Judo was still in print, I would put both books (standing and ground) where Best Judo is.
Problem is they are not in print. I wish Okano Sensei would push for them to be reprinted; I wanted to go with books easy to get. The first two are almost at every Barnes and Noble I go to.
I think Attacking Judo is the best book ever written that will show you how to create an personal attacking set for YOUR Judo.
My instructor said the same thing about Vital Judo – it’s by far the best Judo book ever written. And out of print! And that Okano is essentially a Judo god in tachi waza, ne waza and kata.
He suggested the masterclass series books as worthwhile. Thoughts?
I think the Okano books are still in print in Japanese, not that that does us much good. I was at a Senior Nationals one year and someone was selling them. Several of us tried to convince them to get them back in to print, but to no avail.
I like Toshiro Daigo’s book, “Kodokan Judo: Throwing Techniques”. It is a very good reference book, and has variations of throws, not just the basics.
The German and Japanese versions have much more extensive historical information in them. English version got abridged for some reason.
Well I’m convinced. Attacking Judo is going to the top of my ‘to buy’ list of martial arts books.
I’ll second Kodokan Judo: Throwing Techniques. It’s my go to book as a reference for throwing mechanics. I’d also like to recommend The Cannon of Judo by Kyuzo Mifune, which went back into print several years ago. The photos aren’t very good, since it’s such an old book, but the sections on counter throws and throws that aren’t in the gokyo more than make up for it. The sections on katame-waza are also very interesting
My problems with the books you speak of Ben has addressed. They are just not as good as the Japanese. The Mifune book was edited incorrectly and in many places the pics are not in the correct order.
IF after the three I speak of, a person wants to go further into Judo then I think the masterclass series is vital, as well as the new Diago book.
I don’t think the editing is so bad. At most I’ve experienced some momentary confusion with the pictures that’s solved by reading the text more closely. Compared to other general Judo books like Kodokan Judo by Dr. Kano and Judo Unleashed it still has a lot to offer.
[quote=Mtripp;2376911]Well, if a person is going to do Kodokan Judo, that is the classic work on Nage No kata and katame No Kata. Its important to have it.
Judo training methods is another good book, mainly because it was “radical” in its day because it said judoka “HORRORS” should lift weights…[/quote]
My Judo instr does Kodokan Judo (one of his teenage sons is going to San Jose State & has already been accepted to their Judo program) but he also does BJJ and “Self Defense Judo”. I like it because he’s not just into the sport training, he likes to balance practice of forms with randori, we do ground work along with standing… I just like the balance of everything we do.
I think I’ll pick up that Judo:Formal Tech book, I’d like to be able to teach Judo someday so having a good working knowledge of the waza will be necessary I suppose.
These are the Judo/Jujutsu books I have right now (I’m adding the books you suggested to my “wish list” :icon_mrgr)
Falling Hard (Mark Law)
Judo Training Methods (Draeger)
Grappling: Effective Groundwork (C. Braun)
Jiujitsu Training (C. Braun)
Street Stoppers (Mark Mireles)
Drills for Grapplers (Steve Scott)
Foot Throws (H. Nishioka)
The Secrets of Judo (Watanabe & Avakian)
Encyclopedia of BJJ vol 3 (Machado)
Chin Na in Groundfighting (Arsenault) (not Judo but still good)
But that sounds like too much work. You’ve taken videos of your clinics before. I think that I’ve already suggested that you compile them and sell them.
Your knowledge has value. Some of us players can spare a few bucks to learn. Just a thought…
[quote=2groggy;2377507]From the title, I thought that you WROTE a book.
But that sounds like too much work. You’ve taken videos of your clinics before. I think that I’ve already suggested that you compile them and sell them.
Your knowledge has value. Some of us players can spare a few bucks to learn. Just a thought…[/quote]