r/judo • u/SheikFlorian gokyu • May 06 '25
Other Why most dojos follow competition rules?
I completely understand why the competition rules exist the way they do.
I understand dojos focused on training athletes and honing talents following competition rules.
But, afaik, most dojos want to teach people The Way; the philosophy, the techniques, the lifestyle, etc.
Wouldn't it be natural that most dojos taught a more complete version com the art? With leg grabs and a slight bigger focus on newaza?
(Just to be clear: I don't want judô to be another BJJ, just that the dojos would teach us, commercial students, a less competitive focused version of the art)
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u/Uchimatty May 06 '25
I dispute the idea that “commercial students” want to learn weird techniques that can’t be used anymore. I trained at a gym once that had different senseis every day. One would always do these odd Japanese jujutsu and kata drills, and everyone hated it. While nobody complained obviously, that class was by far the smallest of the week.
In general all judo students want to get better at judo. They want to be able to throw people in their gyms who compete. So while not all judokas compete, all judokas are competitive because randori with competitors is their benchmark for skill.
Shiai itself was also firmly baked into judo by Kano sensei. So much that I would say competition focused gyms are traditional and gyms focusing on whatever else there is are non-traditional. The most brutal and competitive judo gym I’ve ever been to proudly advertised itself as “traditional kodokan judo”.