Two questions about japanese judokas

1) Do Japan national team members train kata (nage no kata, katame no kata, go no kata, kime no kata, ju no kata ecc.)?

2) Do Japanese high dan judokas (6th, 7th, 8th ecc.) know Japanese ju jitsu?

1. When they come together as a team, or are competing to be chosen for the team, they're focused on competitive judo, fitness, etc. As individuals before or after, yes, they'll practice kata just like everyone else in Japan - you need to to demonstrate proficiency in the appropriate kata for promotion.

Most every year some judo champion will be asked by a journalist about kata and he'll say how important it is, how it helped his techniques, etc. Not sure how true it is, or if they're just repeating the politically correct line.

2. Other than Kime no Kata, very few Japanese judoka know jujutsu. And as KNK is now at 5th dan very few make it to that rank. And the great majority of the ones that can perform KNK don't know its jujutsu applications.

Very few are curious about traditional 'koryu jujutsu' techniques, history, etc. Most have zero interest in self defense.

Thanks, very good answers.