Jigoro Kano: May Badass of the Month - May 2009

**johnbarnes** · Posted On: 5/20/2009 9:18pm

Originally Posted by 100xobm

It reminded me of experience points a little. Which seemed a little ironic. Good article, just kinda wondered if you were going to mention 'mana' somewhere.

Also, to the spelling bee warriors, this is very unbadass. You all lose some BP and all of your mana.

Go Osoto a tiger for Kano's sake.

But if someone is already a badass, and spells extremely well, does that make them more or less of a badass?

See, clearly being a brilliant scientific mind like many superheros just makes them more badass. Breaker Morant's fairly good poetry and beautiful singing voice made him more badass. A surprising number of fictional detectives cook well. The Saint and the Shadow were both terrific dancers.

Knitting, writing children's picture books, interior decorating, on the other hand, probably not.

So ... if a guy holds championships in a couple kinds of serious fighting and in the national spelling bee, is he an upclassed or a downclassed badass?

**100xobm** · Posted On: 5/20/2009 10:44pm

Originally Posted by johnbarnes

But if someone is already a badass, and spells extremely well, does that make them more or less of a badass?

See, clearly being a brilliant scientific mind like many superheros just makes them more badass. Breaker Morant's fairly good poetry and beautiful singing voice made him more badass. A surprising number of fictional detectives cook well. The Saint and the Shadow were both terrific dancers.

Knitting, writing children's picture books, interior decorating, on the other hand, probably not.

So ... if a guy holds championships in a couple kinds of serious fighting and in the national spelling bee, is he an upclassed or a downclassed badass?

Good points, I believe a downclassification of badassitude will occur.
Let me elaborate
Skills in life can be distilled into three categories

That which shall get ye laid
Cooking
Dancing
Sometimes Poetry
A Big Brain (especially combined with spidey string or some kind of green lantern)

That which ye need to survive
Driving
Judo (Judo can get ye laid if you train enough to get muscly)

That which shall not get ye laid
Interior Decorating
Knitting
Sewing
Spelling

This shows that spelling will not get ye laid unless you make allowances for extreme outliers like the elderly population, or emotional cripples like educators.

Not really sure why I chose to use 'ye' there...

**passerby** · Posted On: 5/22/2009 9:32am

I study a Japanese influenced system (strikes, throws, locks, grappling & weaponry for 10+ years) and Jigoro Kano is a major influence in the training. It isn't the techniques taught but how he showed they should be trained that is a great part of his legacy.
He wanted his students to experience high resistance training without crippling them so compiled techniques that wouldn't constantly snap necks, knees or other joints, he encouraged control and wanted results to be based on technique and skill, not brute strength (you will always find someone stronger than you), then had them go at it with full force.
Sporting events were not a part of the original intent so the Competition Judo of today shouldn't reflect on his bad-assery. He covered the throwing and the ground game originally but people seeking to win contests narrowed their focus - mostly gaining points on a good throw in a weight class division. The Jujutsu(sic) of his day had 'deadly' techniques but they would be practiced in formal patterns, with high partner complience, this played a huge factor in his students success when being tested by the police academy. BJJ brought his resistance training and strategy back into the ground game that was slowly being lost in Judo. Watching a BJJ video doesn't provide many surprises, the pins, choke and locks are not 'new', but the intensity and strategy has been brought back, it makes one want to grab a friend and start rolling about.
To my mind a large part of his toughness comes from his ability to train against a non-complient partner but keep his mind in control. He could do a powerful Hip-Throw and ensure the Uke lands on his back, not their head. Some people I've trained with can certainly throw but lose track of the world around them in the process.
Jigoro Kano, took centuries of Martial Tradition and improved it, while still a young fellow. FREAKING BAD ASS!!

Just my two cents, the third cents free.

**Tommymomo** · Posted On: 5/23/2009 12:15pm

Hes talking about real jiujitsu, not jujitsu LOL

**vaquero de las nalgas** · Posted On: 5/23/2009 9:04pm

"At some point afterward he was one of the participants in a Jiujitsu demonstration for US President Ulysses S. Grant. We only mention this because including Americans in a story geared at an American audience is always a good strategy. Plus, Grant was probably drunk out of his goddamn mind which would explain why Jiujitsu didn't really catch on in the US until many years later."

Grant, however, redeems himself by getting 1000 badass points for winning the War between the States.

**TheMarquis** · Posted On: 6/06/2009 10:49am

"Jiujitsu didn't really catch on in the US until many years later." - mind you There's aa couple of people thought some of the methods were a good idea....

Fairbairn & Applegate

BTW, has either Fairbairn, Applegate or both ever been given B.A.O.t.M. status?
Just checked the search function, it seems not....?

sssurely some mistake?!!

**Mtripp** · Posted On: 6/06/2009 11:00am

It is interesting to note that this is a very small part of a larger movie on this subject. It was made in WW2, and was directed by the Great John Ford when he worked for the movie office of the Army.

**TheMarquis** · Posted On: 6/06/2009 11:51am

Originally Posted by Mtripp

It is interesting to note that this is a very small part of a larger movie on this subject. It was made in WW2, and was directed by the Great John Ford when he worked for the movie office of the Army.

Yeah, noticed that there's a few snippets on youtube - which all seem to be from the same film....

Sorry for the slight derailment of the thread... or at the very least a detour.

So, yeah
Jigoro Kano

badass... (do you like the smoothness of bringing the topic back there did you?)

**TheLordHumungus** · Posted On: 6/07/2009 11:42am

Originally Posted by TheMarquis

"Jiujitsu didn't really catch on in the US until many years later." - mind you There's aa couple of people thought some of the methods were a good idea....

Fairbairn & Applegate

BTW, has either Fairbairn, Applegate or both ever been given B.A.O.t.M. status?
Just checked the search function, it seems not....?

sssurely some mistake?!!

I love the "gentle art of murder" quote.

Made me think of this:

**Dagon Akujin** · Posted On: 6/07/2009 1:05pm

I had to make my kids study inventors for the last few weeks of school (don't ask me why, wtf). The inventors all had to be from Asia. They had to pick from a list that included:

Momofuku Ando (the raman noodles guy)
Alhazen (magnifying glass)
JC Bose (radio)
Hongzhi Emperor (toothbrush)
Al-Jazari (robots!)
Cai Lun (papermaking)
Daisuke Inoue (karaoke)
-and-
Jigoro Kano (Judo)

Only ONE FREAKING KID in all of 7th and 8th grade thought Kano was cool enough to do a project on. And Jaylin is a blackbelt in Choi Kwang Do or some bullshit, so he didn't even think Kano was a big deal (since obviously he could beat him up or something). I should've had our resident Judo blackbelt (the kindergarden teacher) come woop some ass.

Anyways, Jigoro Kano has to lose some major badass points for getting beaten by both Momofuku Ando and Daisuke Inoue.

+ >

Dagon