A long time ago, a small, rather bookish and unathletic boy came home from elementary school with a leaflet that he showed to his mother.
There were judo lessons at his school!
His mother was an extreme pacifist, but she had heard that judo involved 'redirecting energy' and 'using your opponent's strength against him'. She didn't have a huge budget, but she saw her son was interested, so she shelled out the money.
The small, bookish boy went to his first lesson.
The Sensei was Huge and Angry, and shouted a lot. The first thing the boy learned was that you had to bow when entering the dojo, bow before walking onto the mat and bow before walking off the mat. You also had to bow at other times.
The next thing was breakrolls! Well, he didn't actually get taught them, but he was able to (clumsily) imitate the other students who were doing them.
Over the next few months he learned a few more things about Judo:
You get shouted at a lot.
If you made mistakes, Angry Sensei would hit you.
The orange belts liked bullying the yellow belts. They were allowed to, because they were orange belts!
There were lots of belts. And you had to get strips in between belts. He actually got two yellow strips, although he never got a full yellow (he was sick that day). He once saw a guy with 4 brown strips on a blue belt.
Getting thrown on your face tends to result in bleeding lips and gums.
Eventually the boy quit. He didn't see Angry Sensei again, until he randomly encountered him 6 months later. Angry Sensei sneered at him and called him a baby.
Fast forward some 16 or so years. The boy has grown up to be an unathletic adult. He moves to Japan to teach English, as a bit of a laugh after university. And, hey, one of the teachers, Kato-sensei, invites him to learn some Judo.
Kato-sensei doesn't shout. He's a lot older than Angry Sensei, and he also seems a lot happier. Kato-sensei seems to enjoy Judo for reasons that don't involve hurting people. He also doesn't insist on bowing all the time. Before randori, and at the beginning and end of the lesson. That's plenty.
Unfortunately, the Kato-sensei has a heart condition, so he can't teach the foreigner forever. But, he gives the foreigner his old gi, and the foreigner enrolls at a local BJJ club that a friend told him about.
And, that more or less brings me to where I am now. I have to admit, I wonder what would have been if I hadn't had such a dick of a judo teacher when I first started, but that's the way these things work. McDojo's not only make money, they put people off martial arts, sometimes almost for life. If it hadn't been for the offer from Kato-san, I probably would never have tried judo, or any other martial art again. And I'm having a ball so far, so I'm really glad I didn't end up missing out on it.
I have to say, if there's one thing that really sticks out about the contrast between Angry-Sensei and Kato-Sensei is the sheer difference in attitude towards their belts. Angry-Sensei strutted. He was awesome, because he had a black belt. Black belts are boss.
By contrast, it was 7 or 8 lessons in that I found out that Kato-sensei was 7th dan, and had a referee's certification from the Kodokan. It arose when I asked him about the white and red belt that he had in the locker room. He told me, but sort of waved it all off, and then I went and looked up the dan rankings on Wikipedia.
So, that's my history with martial arts. I'm having a great time, and I'm really enjoying learning new things. If there's one thing that I find fantastic, it's the way I always seem to see new wheezes or ideas or little points that I can improve on.
There were judo lessons at his school!
His mother was an extreme pacifist, but she had heard that judo involved 'redirecting energy' and 'using your opponent's strength against him'. She didn't have a huge budget, but she saw her son was interested, so she shelled out the money.
The small, bookish boy went to his first lesson.
The Sensei was Huge and Angry, and shouted a lot. The first thing the boy learned was that you had to bow when entering the dojo, bow before walking onto the mat and bow before walking off the mat. You also had to bow at other times.
The next thing was breakrolls! Well, he didn't actually get taught them, but he was able to (clumsily) imitate the other students who were doing them.
Over the next few months he learned a few more things about Judo:
You get shouted at a lot.
If you made mistakes, Angry Sensei would hit you.
The orange belts liked bullying the yellow belts. They were allowed to, because they were orange belts!
There were lots of belts. And you had to get strips in between belts. He actually got two yellow strips, although he never got a full yellow (he was sick that day). He once saw a guy with 4 brown strips on a blue belt.
Getting thrown on your face tends to result in bleeding lips and gums.
Eventually the boy quit. He didn't see Angry Sensei again, until he randomly encountered him 6 months later. Angry Sensei sneered at him and called him a baby.
Fast forward some 16 or so years. The boy has grown up to be an unathletic adult. He moves to Japan to teach English, as a bit of a laugh after university. And, hey, one of the teachers, Kato-sensei, invites him to learn some Judo.
Kato-sensei doesn't shout. He's a lot older than Angry Sensei, and he also seems a lot happier. Kato-sensei seems to enjoy Judo for reasons that don't involve hurting people. He also doesn't insist on bowing all the time. Before randori, and at the beginning and end of the lesson. That's plenty.
Unfortunately, the Kato-sensei has a heart condition, so he can't teach the foreigner forever. But, he gives the foreigner his old gi, and the foreigner enrolls at a local BJJ club that a friend told him about.
And, that more or less brings me to where I am now. I have to admit, I wonder what would have been if I hadn't had such a dick of a judo teacher when I first started, but that's the way these things work. McDojo's not only make money, they put people off martial arts, sometimes almost for life. If it hadn't been for the offer from Kato-san, I probably would never have tried judo, or any other martial art again. And I'm having a ball so far, so I'm really glad I didn't end up missing out on it.
I have to say, if there's one thing that really sticks out about the contrast between Angry-Sensei and Kato-Sensei is the sheer difference in attitude towards their belts. Angry-Sensei strutted. He was awesome, because he had a black belt. Black belts are boss.
By contrast, it was 7 or 8 lessons in that I found out that Kato-sensei was 7th dan, and had a referee's certification from the Kodokan. It arose when I asked him about the white and red belt that he had in the locker room. He told me, but sort of waved it all off, and then I went and looked up the dan rankings on Wikipedia.
So, that's my history with martial arts. I'm having a great time, and I'm really enjoying learning new things. If there's one thing that I find fantastic, it's the way I always seem to see new wheezes or ideas or little points that I can improve on.
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