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 ringsThe Art of StrategyHigher Judo: Ground Workhttp://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 BehaviorHigher Judo 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
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 ringsThe Art of StrategyHigher Judo: Ground Workhttp://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 BehaviorHigher Judo 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
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