WHAT IS COMBAT JUDO?

ALAMO SCOUTS TRAINING IN JUDO DURING WWII

Article by Barron Shepherd

History brings perspective to how and why things are done, because of its combat proven effectiveness, Judo became the basis for most of the hand-to-hand combat skills taught to soldiers in basic training throughout all branches of the U.S. military.  When it comes to what Combat Judo is one need not look further than the hand to hand combat manuals of the United States Military. Since WWI this style of Judo has reigned supreme. My own personal collection of Military combatives Manuals stems back to the 1940’s and Combat Judo techniques are prevalent throughout these manuals even in the current ones.  Since WWI, COMBAT JUDO (though not called combat judo at the time) was developed to address the needs of US military personnel facing new hand-to-hand combat challenges as a way to ensure a streamlined, tested, and uncomplicated method of self-defense.

Combat Judo is the name utilized by the military primarily during WWII. What was referred to as Combat Judo began in WWI with CPT. Allen Corstorphin Smith of the United States Army. Smith trained at the Kodokan in Japan and earned a judo black belt from the Kodokan. Cpt. Smith was the hand to hand combat instructor at the Infantry school at ft, Benning Georgia. Though it was brought out late into WWI the Judo techniques taught in basic training at Ft. Benning proved to be extremely effective in trench warfare and had become wide spread through the branches of the US military by the start of WWII.

There are some fake instructors online who have dubbed their system of self-defense as “combat judo”. These charlatans, claiming to be “subject matter experts”, even glum onto the reputations of the various WWII military units who were known to have trained in combat judo. These unscrupulous internet vultures attempt to pass these systems off as “top secret, lethal fighting techniques” but this is a complete and utter fabrication used to cover up the fact that what they doing is not remotely authentic. Their use of the term combat judo is very loose and what they try to pass off as combat judo is hogwash to say the least. 

In reality combat judo is/was based upon a solid background in more formalized systems, a combination of judo, boxing and the use of weapons such as the knife and stick/baton. This method was basically recast as “combat judo” to distinguish it from any of the classical/traditional martial art approaches to self-defense. 

Judo from its very beginning has been a self-defense and combat discipline.  Judo served well as an official system of Japanese Imperial armed forces and Japanese police. The original Judo from Jigoro Kano was and still is a full featured combat discipline which formed the basis for many Military and Police tactics around the world. The throws are especially effective because your fist will never hit as hard as the concrete that you can forcefully propel your opponent’s body or head into. If he's still conscious from that, judo is a sport but is much more "combatives" oriented... Break an arm, choke him till he stops wiggling. 

To put it in the simplest of terms Combat Judo, unlike the sport, is Judo at it’s most brutal, it is solely about defending yourself, taking your enemy out of commission as quickly as possible.