Playing Judo with the Japanese Police

Kyoto is easy for a Judo player to navigate. Ichi, ni, san, Shi, etc... and you’ve got all the main streets sorted. Add a bike to the mix and you have total access. Fortunately, Sensei Rick hooked us up. Dennis and Khan got the good bikes. Kong got the lame white one (and he remained sour until he handed the bike back and only had to pay 250 yen for 3 days bike hire).

October is a great time of year to be in Kyoto. Not too warm, not too cool. Kong wore his shorts; his NZ winter-white legs beaming at the locals. Only gaijin wear shorts and only gaijin run the gauntlet of the main street of downtown on old bicycles with less than adequate brakes (apparently a no cycling area).

Our second Judo session in Kyoto was at the Police College Dojo. Technically it was not the Police Dojo proper but a high school club run by police for the local kids. What this means is that a large proportion of the seniors on the mat are police – big ones.

The Judo was superb and everyone had a great time. Everyone except Clayton (whose ribs were still broken) and Wayne (whose wrist still hasn’t mended properly after Akita) because they had to stand on the side of the mat when they would rather have been playing.


[Jack sweating a little bit]

As per all the Judo sessions we encountered in Japan there was no instruction. There was a warm-up (following a closely prescribed pattern -- it was almost exactly the same as what we had encountered in Doishisha). Then there was some newazza (which was considered to be part of the warm-up), and then there was randori, followed by more randori, followed by more randori. And then there was getting smashed by the guy who had the fastest yoko-tomoenage on record...followed by more randori.

[Dennis Vs. young Japanese man destined to be police judo thug]

What made the randori even more exciting was all the noise being made by the kids kendo class in the background. Apparently the local judo players hate it for precisely this reason. Kong felt it added atmosphere. Either way, it was great to experience what you’d probably call grass-roots Judo in an every-day club. The Police Judoka were very hospitable and I think it is safe to say that everyone there felt honored to have the opportunity to play Judo with them.

[Andrew Vs. police judo thug]

After training, after helping lift and stack a third of gymnasium worth of mats, and after sweating several litres of beer, it was time to go. True to form Sensei Rick tried to lose us all again by giving us 3 minutes to get fully changed, out, and on the way back to the train.

Next: A visit to one of the strong-holds of Kosen Judo and a brief explanation as to why we should have punched out an American Aikido player.