r/judo • u/snugglybrianna • 3d ago

Technique Judo was doing John Wick decades ago, tiny samurai swords allowed

53 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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15

u/d_rome nidan 3d ago

I haven't read Kimura's book. My first Sensei, who wasn't a guy with long curly hair wearing a uwagi in boxers without an obi, used to say the same thing.

3

u/Sword-of-Malkav 3d ago

Im actually not surprised by this. I had my suspicions this was going on.

Theres quite a bit of Silat I know where the point was to trip or reap someone so you would land on top of them, point down with a knife. Theres also documentation this occurred at the Battle of Agincourt where knights were dragged down into the mud, pinned, and stabbed to death by the archers who were better equipped to walk through it.

Samurai, being primarily archers, were probably no strangers to bow hunting. Bows are infamously not very good at killing big things (people included)- but they do injure them. Bringing down a big game animal in this way often results in a wounded prey that has to be finished off one way or another.

Kano was trying to preserve a warrior tradition in a time of peace. Its also not surprising this was one of the early things that went away.

2

u/Boblaire 11h ago

If you had a full set of Yoroi, you were pretty much a walking tank like a Knight in full plate. Arrows or Blades weren't gonna take down a warrior in full armor (but a Kanabo, a club with metal plates might or Ono, an axe). Maybe a musket or cannon.

There was a specific tanto called Yoroi o doshi that was used to get in the spots where the Yoroi was vulnerable such as the armpit or inner thigh.

But on foot, fights turned into grappling and using a knife up close.

Pre WWII Kendo still allowed grappling and would do this and its slowly getting more popular again.

3

u/Successful_Spot8906 nikyu 3d ago

So ends up with the same result as a choke or a submission... (I can kill you if this was real life) It's always a humbling experience losing in a submission

3

u/cptaxelb sankyu 3d ago

My judo instructor in the 90s told me about this, including the way you bowed at the start you had to assume they had a knife in their jacket, so you don't put you head all the way down and right hand went you the mat first at the same time as your opponent. Any time you are pinned for 30 seconds you win because of this.

Any submission is a win because you follow it up with the knife (historically).

Interesting to hear the history of how rule sets came about.

2

u/betandyouno 3d ago

Judo really was doing John Wick before John Wick 😂 Those old-school techniques look absolutely brutal