Kobayashi Yasuo

Kobayashi Yasuo wrote:I hadn’t yet quit practicing Judo. The Judo dojo was in Suidobashi, and Hombu Dojo was not too far away in Shinjuku. For a while I would go to morning Aikido practice and in the evening practice Judo. But more and more I was pulled toward Aikido. One reason why was that I had reached the limit of my ability in Judo. Of course, in Judo big, heavy people couldn’t be defeated. I was not that big, so I could not prevail very often. Being thrown all the time wasn’t that interesting, to tell the truth. At practice, there always seemed to be a frenzied atmosphere, to which I was not very well suited. In a typical Judo practice there would be over 160 people on the mat, so that even the 500-mat dojo seemed full. Another thing I didn’t take to very well was the relative lack of instruction; you just grabbed a partner and practiced various techniques, and you were free to go home at any time-a style encouraged by the Judo Association.