| The Japanese martial art of Judo gets very little | | | | self-defense uses as well. |
| attention in the media nowadays, and that's a | | | | Judo can be learned by men and women aged |
| pity, because of judo still has much to offer | | | | from adolescence to geriatric. It is not uncommon |
| anyone, young or old, who is thinking about | | | | to have kids of 10 years or younger doing Judo, |
| learning a martial art. | | | | and old men in their 70s or even their 80s still |
| Judo isn't flashy, you don't see movie star heroes | | | | coming to training classes. In fact, it's an |
| beating up the bad guys on the silver screen using | | | | understood that once you start to learn judo and |
| judo techniques, and you are very unlikely to find | | | | get hooked on it, that you will continue to train |
| a judo dojo anywhere near your local shopping | | | | pretty much for the rest of your life. |
| mall. Why? This is because the martial artists, who | | | | Judo was founded one hundred years ago in |
| actually do Judo train at the martial art because | | | | Japan by Jigoro Kano Sensei, who blended several |
| of their love of the sport. | | | | old styles of Ju Jitsu and turns them into a new |
| The same applies pretty much for the men and | | | | martial Way with a strictly formulated method of |
| women who teach it. Some may earn a modest | | | | teaching. This new style of Japanese wrestling |
| living from teaching Judo, but nobody I know of | | | | spread around the world in the 1920s and 30s, |
| has done it for the money. There isn't any money | | | | but took off in a big way. When it became an |
| in it. It's just a good thing all round, in my humble | | | | Olympic sport in the 1960s. |
| opinion at least. | | | | You may not see judo at the movies or on TV |
| Therefore you are more likely to find a Judo dojo | | | | nowadays, but if you ask anybody who's ever |
| in places such as high schools and universities, | | | | tried to push a judo player around... these guys |
| YMCAs and not for profit community halls or | | | | may not act tough, but they are certainly no |
| youth clubs, this is because the hall-hire fees in | | | | pushover in a fight. |
| such places tend to be more modest, and the | | | | So if you are thinking of getting your child into a |
| governing bodies who decide who may and may | | | | martial art, or learning one your self, it will be well |
| not run classes in their premises tend to | | | | worth your while to find a judo school and go |
| appreciate judo as a good character-building sport | | | | along for a look. |
| and martial art... and one with very good | | | | |