The unguarded moment is set up by two steps: first, by taking advantage of your opponent's long reaction time and, second, by breaking his posture before he can react. Once his posture is broken, he is certain to give you enough time to attack him success- fully. In broken posture he cannot change his position and his direction of motion conveniently, and he takes a longer time to react to your attack.
Nevertheless, even a black belt judo man sometimes makes the mistake of
trying to apply a throw before breaking his opponent's posture. If the opponent is
also a black belt holder, he will react quickly to prevent the other man from
applying a throw directly. Therefore the problem of how to break your opponent's
posture is the first thing that must be studied.
Break your opponent's posture before applying your throw:
kuzushi (unbalancing opponent).
It was Dr. Jigoro Kano who discovered this principle. In reporting his
discovery, he said: "Mr. Iikubo was over fifty years old at the time, but he was still
strong, and I used to work with him often. Although I practiced my technique
industriously, I could never vie with him. I think it was about 1885 that I found,
while practicing randori (free practice) with him, that the techniques I tried were
extremely effective. Usually it had been he who threw me. Now, instead of being
thrown, I was throwing him with increasing regularity. I could do this despite the fact
that he was of the Kito-ryu school and was especially adept at throwing
techniques.
"This apparently surprised him, and he was upset over it for quite a while. What I
had done was quite unusual. But it was the result of my study of how to break
the posture of the opponent. It is true that I had been studying this problem for
some time, together with that of reading the opponent's motion. But it was here
that I first tried to apply thoroughly the principle of breaking the opponent's
posture before moving in for the throw. Afterward, at the Kodokan, I taught this
principle as the happo-no-kuzushi (breaking the opponent's posture in eight
directions) and the roppo-no-kuzushi (breaking the opponent's posture in six
directions).
"In short, the crux of the study was that a human body would lose its balance if it
was only pushed backward or pulled forward. A carelessly standing man, however
large and strong, leans backward if pushed from the front and forward if pulled to
the front; his posture is broken. A strong opponent, however, may be able to resist
your pushing and pulling. Even so, you can easily break his posture backward if you
push him backward when he pulls you forward, or pull him forward when he pushes
you backward. It must be emphasized that the throw to be applied is effective only
when the opponent has lost his balance.
"I told Mr. Iikubo about this, explaining that the throw should be applied after one
has broken the opponent's posture. Then he said to me: 'This is right. I am afraid
I have nothing more to teach you. From now on, you should continue your
study with younger men. I will no longer practice with you.' And he has refrained
from practicing with me since. Soon afterward, I was initiated in the mystery of
the Kito-ryu jujitsu and received all his books and manuscripts of the school." About
The Author...
At Last! You Can Learn Judo from The Great Master Jiichi Watanabe! Long-Lost Manuscript Resurfaces with the Secrets to Judo for Any Teacher or Student. Visit www.judo-secrets.com now!
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