IMAF (International Martial Arts Federation) - Why Judo?

Why judo in IMAF?


The Judo Division has been led by some of the greatest names in Judo, including Kazuo Ito, Meijin Judo 10-dan, Tokuji Oshita, Hanshi Judo 9-dan, and the current Chief Director, Shizuya Sato, Hanshi Judo 9-dan.

IMAF strives to maintain the true character of Kodokan Judo emphasizing balanced development of Budo, rather than sports and championships. Additionally, IMAF preserves the kata nage ura no kata, form of counter throws, devised and perfected by Grandmasters Kyuzo Mifune and Kazuo Ito.

Isn't Kodokan, All Japan Judo Assosiation, IJF and all National Judo Body's doing this too?

Sadly Shizuya Sato died in 2011, so you are reproducing something that is old.

The IJF is certainly NOT striving to maintain the true character of Kodokan Judo - and the All Japan Judo Fedration (not Association) is the IJF accredited NGB in Japan.

The Kodokan is walking a fine line between tradition and modern perspectives on judo. The Ura-waza kata have never been part of the Kodokan syllabus though.

For me, there is certainly room for the IMAF. Perhaps NBK who posts here can say more about what IMAF is up to judo wise these days.

This could be interesting ... c'mon folks, don't hold back. This forum is getting boring.

Jonesy wrote: The Kodokan is walking a fine line between tradition and modern perspectives on judo.

Can someone explain exactly what that means? What is the fine line? Is it technical in addition to political? Or just political?

afulldeck wrote:

Jonesy wrote: The Kodokan is walking a fine line between tradition and modern perspectives on judo.

Can someone explain exactly what that means? What is the fine line? Is it technical in addition to political? Or just political?

I would imagine that what is meant is exactly what Jonesy wrote. The Kôdôkan is aware of some of the nonsensical things the IJF does whether it be in shiai or kata. However, being Japanese, the Kôdôkan is also concerned about its reputation. After all, Japan is a country where shame rather than guilt or the avoidance of it at least, is what dominates conflict. Thus, they come up with 'solutions' that fit that approach. Basically, the Kôdôkan argues that it does not care what the IJF does, literally, so it also does not really criticize the IJF publicly. From the other side, the Kôdôkan is not very consistent in applying its 'solutions', in a sense that in reality they are hardly as realistically as they like others to believe, and when money or awards come in the spotlight, they may act rather ambiguously. An example of this is Daigo being present as part of the judging the first year when the EJU included koshiki- and itsutsu-no-kata in the European Kata Championships, or the International Kata Course it teaches since 3 years in Europe. Is it a surprise ? Naaah, even for the Kôdôkan the factor idealism is weak when compared to materialism. Getting a free roundtrip ticket to Europe, free hotel stay and wining and dining, and a couple of paid-for excursions along the Italian riviera and the welcome feeling of being consider the expert again, a reputation they had largely lost since the 1980s with most national federations not really interested anymore to send staff to the Kôdôkan as by then they had their own high-grades. However, knowing that the Kôdôkan was involved in the drawing up of the first IJF kata contest rules, and that its own DVD are the supposed standard (irrespective of what is on there being nonsense or not), you also clearly see its nontraditional side and its maintaining of IJF links for the purpose of commercial profit.

In other words, the fine line is not so much defined by its subject area (politics, technical). Instead it applies to anything jûdô as far as there are differences in how the IJF does it and how the Kôdôkan does it. In practice, the Kôdôkan continues to resist IJF things particularly when it exerts little effect on Japanese jûdôka's preparations for shiai and kata contests. For example, by allowing jûdôka to practice only in white gi you do not decrease someone's chances for winning a bout just because that person in his next IJF contest might be wearing a blue gi.

Jonesy wrote:Sadly Shizuya Sato died in 2011, so you are reproducing something that is old.

The IJF is certainly NOT striving to maintain the true character of Kodokan Judo - and the All Japan Judo Fedration (not Association) is the IJF accredited NGB in Japan.

The Kodokan is walking a fine line between tradition and modern perspectives on judo.  The Ura-waza kata have never been part of the Kodokan syllabus though.

For me, there is certainly room for the IMAF.  Perhaps NBK who posts here can say more about what IMAF is up to judo wise these days.

Jonesy is correct - Sato Shizuya sensei died in 2011.  He is missed. The meijin list should be updated to include him among so many others IMAF Meijin

After Sato sensei's death, a couple of folks pitched in at the US Embassy Judo Club to keep things going until a decision as to which direction.  The Judo division had atrophied in the aftermath of the deaths of so many of its founding members - Mifune Sensei, Ito Kazuo sensei, etc. - as well as the essential disappearance of Mifune sensei's faction in the Kodokan - and some other politics.  Also, it seems that in most countries the national governing bodies are now almost all-encompassing, given the modern realities of insurance, the limited availability of dojo outside of the approved NGB in many countries, etc., and there are more KDK seminars overseas.   That was apparently not the case decades ago when IMAF was established, and there was a great hunger for its judo instruction.  (CK writes of some of that)

IMAF continues to maintain the Nage and Katame no Ura Waza, the techniques explored by Mifune sensei and organized by Ito sensei.  These aren't taught much outside Japan because you really need to understand the basic kata before tackling the ura waza, and that  seems to be a mixed bag.

In Sato sensei's U.S. Embassy Tokyo dojo, we recruited a former All Japan Enterprise Judo champion, Natori Hiroto sensei, KDK 6dan, who also formerly taught in Colorado.  He has a strong competition focus that was very welcome with a number of members who happened to be college wrestlers (as much younger men).  But there continues a strong focus on basics, techniques, and the appropriate kata, rather than competition for the sake of points and promotion; despite the interest in randori and newaza, we got 7 adults with zero background in judo through KDK shodan promotion, and they all did very well in their kata demonstrations.  Most of the former wrestlers are moving away soon, and Natori sensei is grumbling about retiring, so I predict the training will settle down back into the more normal IMAF structure.  

One of the regular highlights of training is instruction by Sato Tadayuki sensei (no relation to Sato Shizuya sensei), shihan of the Waseda Univ. aikido club and a key member of Shodokan Aikido, and a remarkable judoka.  For several months we have explored the origins and applications of koshiki no kata techniques, and it has been some of the most interesting martial arts training I have ever seen.  He apparently reads old martial arts texts voraciously, and has drawn out the koryu jujutsu roots of many techniques and can track them through various schools and eras, and we do so during the training.  Fascinating stuff.  

The fall IMAF Europe seminar is in Budapest, Hungary, but there will be no judo instruction, rather Nihon-den Jujutsu (plus iaido, aikido, karatedo).  

Regarding the Ura Waza not being part of the Kodokan, someone said something interesting, in that Uemura kancho has a very different view towards some of the typical lack of action on the part of the Kodokan.  The upshot was that some might imagine that certain kata show back up in the KDK - there have been demos of kime shiki etc recently if the story I heard was correct.  

NBK