Globe and Mail, 20 May 2008
By JAMES CHRISTIE
Tradition may be the most important part of judo, but the sport known as "the gentle way" is undergoing a renewal thanks to the rising interest in new, aggressive forms of fighting.
"Judo is not really more mainstream than before, but it has seen greater popularity since the MMA [mixed martial arts] craze," says Mitchell Kawasaki, chief instructor at the Kawasaki Rendokan Judo Academy, a Hamilton facility celebrating its 50th anniversary on May 31.
"With the increased awareness of MMA and UFC [Ultimate Fighting Championship] fighting, many athletic young adults have realized the benefits of learning judo as a fundamental basis to success in MMA. Judo, however, does not encourage injuring one's partner and, as an Olympic recognized sport since 1964, it encourages and helps to develop flexibility, endurance, conditioning, self-confidence, understanding anxiety and stress, and helping to cope with daily issues."
Judo is as much a philosophy as a form of combat, said Kawasaki, a seventh-degree black belt who operates the dojo begun by his father, Harry Masao Kawasaki, in 1958.
The elder Kawasaki had been confined to a Canadian internment camp near Vancouver during the Second World War. The origin of the academy can be traced back to that time, Kawasaki said. Thousands of Japanese-Canadians were rounded up, taken from their homes and businesses by the Canadian government. The elder Kawasaki and many others reached for tradition and immersed themselves in the study of judo "usually in secret or at night by flashlight," Kawasaki said.
"Many of them grew to be very passionate about the sport, my father being one of them."
After the war, Kawasaki's father boarded a train, made his way to Hamilton, and began working as an auto mechanic and auto body technician. In the late 1940s, his father and Mas Ishibashi founded the Hamilton Kodokan Judo Club, which worked out of a garage. They helped the sport gets its foothold on the Ontario sports scene and, in 1958, the elder Kawasaki began a separate club.
Three generations later, the dojo still is producing top judokas, and athletes from at least 10 other countries have registered and trained at Rendokan. The club played host to the 1992 Pan American judo championships, and brought the powerful Cuban women's judo team to use Kawasaki Rendokan as a training base. In 1993, the younger Kawasaki was part of a delegation that brought the world judo championships to Copps Coliseum.
"We hosted the Japanese and Korean world teams at our dojo," Kawasaki said.
While having an international role, the grassroots work at the club remains important to Kawasaki.
"In my particular instance, I have seen a greater awareness and interest by whole families. Our dojo encourages complete family participation, with father, mother and children practising side by side," said Kawasaki, who competed in the 1976 Olympics, not in judo, but in Greco-Roman wrestling. The judo skills helped him finish in sixth place.
Now 58, Kawasaki is also celebrating a half century in the sport as athlete and instructor.
"I remember my beginnings at [the garage] location ... especially the cold winter days when we had to trudge to the dojo from the street in the deep snow up to our knees. The dojo was not heated very well and so we had to run in circles on the small area of mats [straw tatami] with used car tires underneath plywood to allow a softer landing from impact. Sometimes we would have to run for more than 20 minutes just to begin our regular warm-up, which usually consisted of stretching and push-ups, several hundred at a time," Kawasaki said.
The dojo subsequently moved to the Jewish Community Centre in Hamilton and, instead of cold, athletes dealt with extreme heat. "I remember the hot, sweaty training due to the proximity of the dojo to the sauna."
By JAMES CHRISTIE
Tradition may be the most important part of judo, but the sport known as "the gentle way" is undergoing a renewal thanks to the rising interest in new, aggressive forms of fighting.
"Judo is not really more mainstream than before, but it has seen greater popularity since the MMA [mixed martial arts] craze," says Mitchell Kawasaki, chief instructor at the Kawasaki Rendokan Judo Academy, a Hamilton facility celebrating its 50th anniversary on May 31.
"With the increased awareness of MMA and UFC [Ultimate Fighting Championship] fighting, many athletic young adults have realized the benefits of learning judo as a fundamental basis to success in MMA. Judo, however, does not encourage injuring one's partner and, as an Olympic recognized sport since 1964, it encourages and helps to develop flexibility, endurance, conditioning, self-confidence, understanding anxiety and stress, and helping to cope with daily issues."
Judo is as much a philosophy as a form of combat, said Kawasaki, a seventh-degree black belt who operates the dojo begun by his father, Harry Masao Kawasaki, in 1958.
The elder Kawasaki had been confined to a Canadian internment camp near Vancouver during the Second World War. The origin of the academy can be traced back to that time, Kawasaki said. Thousands of Japanese-Canadians were rounded up, taken from their homes and businesses by the Canadian government. The elder Kawasaki and many others reached for tradition and immersed themselves in the study of judo "usually in secret or at night by flashlight," Kawasaki said.
"Many of them grew to be very passionate about the sport, my father being one of them."
After the war, Kawasaki's father boarded a train, made his way to Hamilton, and began working as an auto mechanic and auto body technician. In the late 1940s, his father and Mas Ishibashi founded the Hamilton Kodokan Judo Club, which worked out of a garage. They helped the sport gets its foothold on the Ontario sports scene and, in 1958, the elder Kawasaki began a separate club.
Three generations later, the dojo still is producing top judokas, and athletes from at least 10 other countries have registered and trained at Rendokan. The club played host to the 1992 Pan American judo championships, and brought the powerful Cuban women's judo team to use Kawasaki Rendokan as a training base. In 1993, the younger Kawasaki was part of a delegation that brought the world judo championships to Copps Coliseum.
"We hosted the Japanese and Korean world teams at our dojo," Kawasaki said.
While having an international role, the grassroots work at the club remains important to Kawasaki.
"In my particular instance, I have seen a greater awareness and interest by whole families. Our dojo encourages complete family participation, with father, mother and children practising side by side," said Kawasaki, who competed in the 1976 Olympics, not in judo, but in Greco-Roman wrestling. The judo skills helped him finish in sixth place.
Now 58, Kawasaki is also celebrating a half century in the sport as athlete and instructor.
"I remember my beginnings at [the garage] location ... especially the cold winter days when we had to trudge to the dojo from the street in the deep snow up to our knees. The dojo was not heated very well and so we had to run in circles on the small area of mats [straw tatami] with used car tires underneath plywood to allow a softer landing from impact. Sometimes we would have to run for more than 20 minutes just to begin our regular warm-up, which usually consisted of stretching and push-ups, several hundred at a time," Kawasaki said.
The dojo subsequently moved to the Jewish Community Centre in Hamilton and, instead of cold, athletes dealt with extreme heat. "I remember the hot, sweaty training due to the proximity of the dojo to the sauna."
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