The Judo Mcdojo

One handed Ippon Seoi Nage drill

I am going to attempt to explain this as simply as I can; I am all about teaching, learning and promoting only good judo. Doing Judo to the best of my ability. I am writing this article so that anyone who is potentially looking to get involved with judo doesn't get the wool pulled over their eyes and fooled.

 Judo is pretty well regulated It is regulated to keep and hold the standard high. Judo is one of the few styles that don't have too many mcdojos. Thank God! However, there are some judo mcdojos out there. There are so few Judo mcdojos that the good news is that they are pretty easy to identify. 

First and Foremost

If your instructor or his dojo isn’t recognized by one of the official Judo organizations, USA Judo, United States Judo Association, or the United States Judo Federation you might want to take a harder look and question some things.

The recognized Organizations - There are only three! 

USA Judo, the USJA and the USJF are the only National Governing Organizations that are recognized as such by the Kodokan, the Birthplace and headquarters for Judo in Japan. 

Other things to look out for   

If the same instructor is teaching or claiming to teach several martial arts; judo, karate, jiujitsu, and aikido, etc. then I would suggest that you start trying to learn more about their actual judo accreditation and history make sure it comes from one of the NGBs.

Be careful of phrases like, “we don’t do sport judo” or “we only do self-defense” or "the NGBs (USA Judo, USJA and USJF) are all about sport" These phrases should automatically get your “spidey” hairs up. 

Questions you should ask;

1.) What governing body is the club associated with? USJA, USJF, USA Judo are the only recognized NGBs in the US. AAU is for freestyle judo which is also good though not as widespread. So be leary of any judo organization not mentioned in this article. If they don't have any association with any of these, you should look elsewhere or leave if you are already a member. 

There are grass root dojos and programs out there however they should be affiliated with an NGB. 

A legit judo instructor has no problems with being a member of any of the NGBs if they do you should consider this a red flag. (National Governing Bodies). 

2.) What rank is the head instructor, where/who did he/she train and how many years of experience? If they don't give you any information on clubs and names that you can confirm on the internet, that could be a little concerning, but not necessarily a red flag so long as they are accredited with one of the above organizations.

3.    3.) Do their students compete in tournaments affiliated with USJA, USJF, USA Judo, etc? Some schools teach judo mainly as a hobby which is fine, however Not being affiliated with one of the National Governing bodies, and not being involved in competition even at a recreational level should be a big red flag.    

Attaining rank In judo

Judo rank isn’t easy to come by and this is simply because it is one of the hardest martial art styles to learn. Judo takes years and it should. If the instructor is testing students every few months this should be a red flag. If you have gone from white belt to green belt in less than a year chances are your judo is total bullshito.

Advancing in black belt rank is even more difficult and often takes years in grade between each rank. If your instructor is advancing in his black belt rank every year or two chances are you are not dealing with a legitimate black belt judoka.

The NGBs are there for a reason - to regulate and uphold the standards put forth by the Kodokan. Is it easy to get rank in judo? Absolutely not, it isn’t supposed to be.

Randori and willingness to Randori

There can be no judo without randori. To randori is to do judo.  According to the founder of Judo there are two methods of practice, Kata and randori. Of the two, Jigoro Kano stated that Randori is the most effective means of judo training.  Practicing throws on a compliant and non-resistant partner is not judo. Not even close. Throwing someone who doesn’t want to be thrown in randori/free sparring is judo. Judo is the act of applying judo principles on a partner who is 100 percent resistant and trying to throw you..... you are not actually doing judo until you are doing that.  

The same thing applies when practicing judo for self defense randori is a must. Learning to execute throws on a person who is fighting back and moving is a skill set in and of itself. A good judo instructor can perform his techniques with and without a gi. 

Ippon Seoi nage from armpit grip

It is very rare to find a good Judo instructor who is unwilling to randori or spar with white belts or any of their students or anyone else for that matter. If there is an absence of randori and only just kata style training this is a red flag as well. 

I have given a simple rundown of what you might encounter when dealing with Judo Mcdojos and Judo Bullshito instructors. All Judo is not equal, by any means! There are bad legitimate judo instructors just like there are good teachers and bad teachers. Fraudulent instructors however, don't even come close to performing good judo. Most legitimate yellow belts are technically better than the Judo fraud. Most of these bullshito judoka move like a pregnant giraffe that's trying to traverse a frozen pond. 

Bottom line is if they are shunning the NGBs or bad mouthing them, and staying away from practices explained in this article they are covering something up so get as far away from them as you can. Nuff said!