Review: Higher Judo: Groundwork, by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais

**Dr._Tzun_Tzu** · Posted On: 1/13/2011 7:55pm

Reprint of the classic Higher Judo: Groundwork by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, with three new forwards and a series of original photographs.

http://books.google.com/books?id=G6g...page&q&f=false

On Higher Judo: Groundwork itself in light of the new forwards and content in the reprint.

In 1952, Higher Judo: Groundwork was published in English, with 300 lined illustrations, depicting how to work judo submissions, joint locks, chokes, and pain compliance on the ground.

There are a certain few Martial Art text that are recommended study for a Martial Artist. There are the obvious basics like The Art of War, or Book of Five rings, and I recommend to all of my students R. L. Wing's “The Art of Strategy” workbook. Higher Judo: Ground Work (1952) by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais is another must own for the educated practitioner of any Martial Art and I consider it required reading. Not only is the original work a masterpiece in itself, but it is also a historical reflection on how beatifically information can be transmitted and refined in the form of publication. It is a work that can be and should be reread and shared with others, and this is best served in a printed form. Consider that this book has been reprinted after 58 years, then reflect on how powerful a document that must be to get reprinted on paper as the world of hard copy is fading away.

Moshe Feldenkrais was a pioneer in the development of Judo, as well as being a phenomenal bad ass, scientist, physicist, and founder of one of the worlds renowned somatic body therapy systems. Having walked for 6 months from Ukraine to Palestine in 1918, Moshe helped create and combat test more practical and effective Jiu Jitsu techniques and training methods there. In the 1930's he moved to Paris, France. After showing Kano his own manual written in Hebrew for Jiu Jitsu fighting, the founder of Judo took interest in his ability. Kano both personally and through other Judoka such as Mikonosuke Kawaishi, guided Feldenkrais refinement of Judo. Together with others they established Judo in Europe before WWII. In 1940 he fled Europe to Britain and deepened his Judo development there with Gunji Koizumi and others. In his life Moshe often referred to these great Judoka as the most developed “individuals” and fully mature humans he had known. It is mentioned that when referring to his own therapy method he was always humble and never called it a Way, but in Higher Judo: Ground Work he is able to call Judo itself a Way.

Moshe Feldenkrais was a Physicist and had begun working the physics into his application of Judo, both in practice and in education. He was also in agreement with the mission of Judo being a development system for growing boys into men. As he nursed an injury himself, and fled the cultural climax of WWII as a Jew in Europe, he must have noticed most adults are still emotionally children, and so he also developed the Feldenkrais Method of motion and human mental health. While in Japan Judo has continued to this day to become a tool for youth to become adults with honor and integrity, the Feldenkrais method is instead used for cultures who's people do not develop proper movement patterns from their youth.

from:http://www.scribd.com/doc/5362905/Hi...do-Ground-Work

Dr. Feldenkrais wrote 4 Judo books, with Higher Judo: Ground Work being the last. He was also writing his master work Body and Mature Behavior (1949), at the same time he wrote Higher Judo and they share a core value system. The reader of this Judo textbook begins with 42 pages of writing, a body of philosophy, about turning when pressed, and how to use leverage and the laws of motion to defeat strength, and how use Judo to develop into mature adults. He presents the idea of being afraid to fall, and the posture imbalances that result from this stiffness in adults. Children do not fear the ground but instead roll naturally. They only learn to fear the pain of falling. This is a small example of what Dr. Feldenkrais was looking at, and Judo is a vehicle to treat many of these conditions: fear of contact, fear of violence, fear of achievement or failure, fear of working with others, etc. Readers are presented with the idea that they too are not a full adult yet, they they have more development to do to become fully human. One of the new forward authors suggest we can substitute the word “Judo” with “the Feldenkrais Method” in these pages and it can be taken straight from Body and Mature Behavior,

Considering that this book is about pulling a stronger opponent into a mat game, and then training to dominate them here in new territory, it is already addressing the rule changes in Judo sports that will remove much of the ground work training, creating this vulnerable area. This itself proves to be true for martial arts in general until the 1990's when the Gracie BJJ system introduced to the world and then dominated the MMA sport, and they dominated by using much of the material presented by Dr. Feldenkrais. Remember, it was published in 1952. When you also consider it is prefaced with a philosophical scientific treatise about maturity and emotion control, and that this attitude is reflect all through the text and drill instruction, it again proves groundbreaking and far ahead of its time. It treats Judo as a scientific endeavor, and is the culmination of years of research into the mechanics of Judo by a physicist over the 1930's and 40's. When you consider what the author then went on to create with the Feldenkrais Method for personal healing, we can understand that this was no mere Jiu-Jitsu handbook.

Higher Judo uses some interesting terms for things we take for granted today. The mount is called “astride” and the closed guard is considered a “submission”, but much of the illustrations can serve side by side with Jiu-Jitsu University or other high quality text of today. The philosophy, strategy and tactic, and training methodology is nearly identically to a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu beginner coarse I did in 1997 and what I have recently begun to train again in BJJ in 2010. This is not surprising since Moshe's training partner and fellow in the illustrations is Gunji Koizumi, a 6th Dan. Judo of the 1930's was very different then the separate BJJ and Judo tournaments of the modern era, and this is reflected in the content.

In this reprint we are gifted with three new forwards, to accompany the original forward by G. Koizumi, 6th Dan. Each author is an expert on Dr. Feldenkrais, but also on both Martial Arts and the Feldenkrais Method. Micheal Brouse is a seventh degree blackbelt in Judo, Dennis Leri is one of Moshe's original students of the Feldenkrais Method in the U.S.A. and also a Martial Artist, and Moti Nativ is an Israeli Method practitioner and leader of the Bujikan Shiki Dojo. From them we learn about the life of Moshe Feldenkrais, how he walked for 6 months to Palestine as a 14 year old boy! We learn about his meeting Jigoro Kano himself, about how he wrote both Body and Mature Behavior and Higher Judo at the same time. These authors suggest that you can substitute the word "judo" with "Mature Behavior" and many of the most important statements are identical. It is very enlightening to read about Moshe as he grew with Jiu Jitsu. I myself was lucky to be introduced to some high level Martial Arts masters and I made every effort in both finance and travel distance to go to train with them. I agree that these men have some of the highest caliber of development as Human Being. To read how Moshe traveled to meet with Kano and how he trained with and helped Japanese Judo grow in Europe, I am awed by what he accomplished. It is no easy task to travel and train and to then complied it into a repeatable system of education, with illustrations. The reprint also includes a series of the original photographs used to make the illustrations. Photography is not an easy task nor is producing arrangements that demonstrate the technical aspects. The high caliber of these photo's and the illustrations that where produced from them show that these men understood not only how to do it, but they also knew how to teach it to others.

I myself found the Higher Judo at my University library in the early 1990's. At this time books were still king as the Internet was only a few links on the lexus nexus. Kinko's had been sued to stop copying books so I had to copy it myself by hand, but I knew I had something special even then. Every time I loaned it to a friend, I worried it would never come back to me. As the Internet drove forward and the MMA revolution changed the level of modern martial arts, Higher Judo still offers something most modern Judo and BJJ books find hard to express, or any martial are textbook for that mater. Feldenkrais captured the essence of personal growth through martial arts. I often think about what other high caliber resources was available in English in 1952, and also who would buy those books? What influence can we see today from higher Judo?

It is not surprising to see the hallmarks of Feldenkrais Higher Judo in what the Gracie Family pioneered to become Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The Parallel in both philosophy and technique are to exact to be a mere coincidence. Granted the Katame-Waza game has developed since 1952, but it is hard to imagine that the Gracie Brothers didn't own this book, especially due to the famous Kimora loss the year before it was published! Moshe even advocates using this material on new clubs for a while until they get accustomed to it, trolling Judo/ Jitsu clubs with groundwork in the 1950's! But Moshe was using this Judo as the tool of a mature instructor to help stronger students overcome their power so they can grow emotionally. It is only a guess what this book may have been used for in Brazil in the 1950's, but this work can serve us much better as an example of what Mitsuyo Maeda may have been doing when he taught Carlos Gracie in the Japanese jungle colony of 1914. We do not know what he taught or how he taught it, but we know Maeda was recognized as a Judo ground fighter in Japan. We can use this manuscript like a time capsule, to look at what may have been the methods that formed the root of Brazlian Jiu Jitsu 30 years before as they should be much like the other schools of the Judokan around the world..

In the book Moshe shows a few ways to start ground work, other than just hanging and dragging them down. These are still popular and standard methods. He presents to the reader all the things an opponent can do to you when you land a throw incorrectly. But all of these are actually the main movements we want to develop from our standing sweeps and throws!! It is this reverse way of presentation that captures the essence of following the other players mistakes. His finishes are the arm bar, straight arm crank, kimora, and triangle choke, as well as a leg scissors neck strangle. He covers closed guard as a submission compression, but admits it is easy to avoid so it becomes a working position. He covers the Katse gutama, side control, etc.. and always with a methodology of taking the opponents mistake and drawing them in. A modern BJJ practitioner will enjoy this work and will recognize places were Jiu Jitsu hs moved forward from with practice and skilled opponents.

Now consider this. Moshe Feldenkrais complied this work, took photographs with a ranking Judoka to make the illustrations, created a format and vocabulary to describe the movements and reversals, wrote the manuscript and published it first in Hebrew, and then a year later in Britain in English. In this work he advocates free sparring with safety, alive training, leverage over strength, and that you can gain advantage here in using the ground and gravity as your weapons. And then he advocated trolling clubs with it!! Moshe was a pioneer in the gentle bully style of ground work! His publication has been photocopied and shared and passed around IN PAPER FORMAT like other documents currently roam the net as PDF and forum chatter. Now it is reprinted for a new generation to pour into and put on their bookshelf. Moshe published a classic in 1952 that rivals the quality of modern examples. This may have been part of what Kano recognized in Dr. Feldenkrais when he looked at his Jiu Jitsu Self Defense manual, a talent for education publications with a scientific perspective.

"Nothing under the sun is greater than education. By educating one person and sending him into the society of his generation, we make a contribution extending a hundred generations to come." Jigoro Kano, 1934

**Killbot** · Posted On: 1/14/2011 8:27am

I have this one. Its preety good for its age. Its great for anyone who grapples with a gi. The arsenal of chokes in it are very good.

**Marc Spector** · Posted On: 1/14/2011 2:48pm

Thanks for posting this. As someone who didn't really set about developing athletic ability until the tender age of 18, I've had to overcome a lot of postural problems, muscle/joint imbalances, improper compensatory movements, etc in my training. I'm always on the lookout for new ways to improve my body awareness and this seems like it would be useful for applying that to my BJJ game.

**Res Judicata** · Posted On: 1/14/2011 2:49pm

It's a good book.

You don't quite understand the development of judo ne waza. Feldenkrais wasn't really a ne waza pioneer. This is just what Judo ne waza was like back then and really until at least the 70s. Look at these very modern looking videos from Oda in the 50s:

YouTube - Tsunetane Oda - judo ne-waza 1 of 3 å°ç”°å¸¸èƒ¤
YouTube - Tsunetane Oda - judo ne-waza 2 of 3
YouTube - Tsunetane Oda - judo ne-waza 3 of 3

**Dr._Tzun_Tzu** · Posted On: 1/14/2011 3:40pm

Originally Posted by Res Judicata

It's a good book.

You don't quite understand the development of judo ne waza. Feldenkrais wasn't really a ne waza pioneer. This is just what Judo ne waza was like back then and really until at least the 70s. Look at these very modern looking videos from Oda in the 50s:

YouTube - Tsunetane Oda - judo ne-waza 1 of 3 å°ç”°å¸¸èƒ¤
YouTube - Tsunetane Oda - judo ne-waza 2 of 3
YouTube - Tsunetane Oda - judo ne-waza 3 of 3

I agree. He was more of a pioneer in the publication of the information, not so much as a ground fighter. Also I was trying to capture some of the importance of his work relative to Kano, who died in 1934. Higher Judo was really developed by Feldenkrais's teachers, he merely proved the scientific documentation of it, and possibly formed a bridge to the future from the end of Jigoro Kano's development of Judo. I imagine the Judoka would give a serious effort to continue Judo in the direction Kano wished before he died, so in a way this work might reflect where Kano wanted Judo to go?