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The History of Yudo
By Amaury Murgado
Archaeologists
have shown that cultural and technical advancement came to Korea through China.
In turn, these advancements were later taken to Japan from Korea. Such
advancements included unarmed combat techniques.
It
is no surprise then that Korea has a rich martial arts history that
includes all types of fighting skills. Though many people are familiar with
Korean-style kicking and punching, most are not aware of Korean strangling,
joint lock, or throwing techniques. They may not even know that the Koreans
have complete unarmed fighting systems. Yudo is one such system.
During
Korea's Three Kingdom Period, the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C. to 937 A.D.),
developed specific throwing techniques for their Hwa Rang Do Warriors.
Throwing techniques were also found in Taik Kyon, which could be considered
Tae Kwon Do's predecessor. A primary throwing system, Kagju, was practiced
in the Koryo Kingdom (918 A.D. to 1392 A.D.).
Many
of the specifics of these techniques (but not all) would end up being lost
to martial art historians. Many of them would later surface, however, in the
various styles of Jujutsu in Japan.
Jigaro Kano, Founder of Judo
Ironically,
a complete unarmed fighting art would be reintroduced to Korea from Japan,
by Jigaro Kano, after the Japanese occupation of Korea, shortly before the
First World War. Jigaro Kano called his art Kodokan Judo, and it was a
martial art based upon the application of scientific principles. A system
specifically designed for self-defense.
Professor
Kano was a distinguished educator and the Father of Physical
Education
in Japan. His martial art was unique in that it contained a
self-defense
system that allowed people to practice safely, in a form that could be
taught easily as part of the public school curriculum.
Professor Kano lecturing students at Kodokan
promotion ceremony 1907
His
intent was never to have Kodokan Judo practiced as or modified into a
sport. It is said that later in his life, Professor Kano witnessed a sport
judo tournament and was dismayed at the lack of his applied scientific
principles. Sport judo had basically become a contest of strength and
resembled wrestling, instead of his martial art. Professor Kano was quoted
as saying: 'This [sport judo] is not the Kodokan Judo that I teach, this
will be the end of Kodokan Judo." Little did he know then, that he was
foretelling Judo's future. Judo today is almost universally practiced as a
sport, not for the purpose of self-defense -- except within the Republic of
Korea (ROK) Yudo Association.
Yudo
is the Korean pronunciation for Judo and some Koreans, both in ROK and in
this country, tend to use the two terms interchangeably. Sports judo has
flourished within the Republic of Korea and Korean sports judo players have
distinguished themselves on the international tournament scene and in the
Olympics. As is increasingly the practice however, I shall herein refer to Judo
as referring to sports judo, Kodokan Judo as the teachings of Jigoro Kano,
and Yudo as that form of self-defense which encompasses all of Kodokan Judo
and incorporates additional traditional Korean martial arts techniques.
Jujitsu Masters at the Kodokan 1921
Professor Kano, founder of Judo, 4th from left
front row
Ki Pyo Lee, ROK Yudo Pioneer, Founder KMAIA 2nd
from left back row
Jigoro
Kano's teachings are the basis for the practice of Yudo within the Republic
of Korea Yudo Association (ROKYA). Those teachings were reinforced and
developed for the Korean practitioners by the teachers sent to the Korean
Peninsula, from the Kodokan, during the occupation. The ROKYA have remained
loyal to what they were taught by Kano, even when, during the Occupation of
Japan following its defeat in World War II, all martial arts training halls
were ordered closed, and when the Kodokan itself was allowed to re-open, it
did so as a sport training center.
After
liberation in Korea, the martial arts flourished, as ancient manuscripts
were dug up from the ground in which they had been buried, hidden from the
Japanese. Sport judo became very popular among the young, while the ROKYA
remained loyal to its core teachings and began to reintroduce traditional
Korean techniques to enhance its self-defense applications.
Yudo
has no attack. The size of the attacker has no bearing on the ability of the
defender to receive the attack, execute a technique, and satisfactorily
terminate the incident. Since the student learns that the response chosen,
in a given instance, must correspond to the nature of the threat
encountered, minimum required force becomes the fighting standard.
This
approach to self-defense inherently conforms to the American legal doctrine
as it applies to use of force, and confronts the growing public concern
with the level of violence demonstrated in many contemporary martial arts.
In
time, sports judo outgrew it roots. Various sports judo organization were
created to govern in the schools, colleges, universities, among the
military and general public, and among the international and Olympic
competitors.
By
the second-half of the 1990's, the greying of the ROKYA had reached the
point of serious concern, that traditional Yudo might be lost to future
generations. It was time to transplant traditional Yudo, if the art was to
be guaranteed survival.
In
1997, two senior Dans in Yudo, both Americans, were created by promotion
certificates personally signed by Kim Chul Ho, then President of the ROK
Yudo Association. In February 1998, the United States Yudo Association was
incorporated and in April 1998, formal approval was given for the
installation of US Yudo as the National Governing Body in the United States
for the martial art of Yudo by the Yudo Committee of the Korean Martial
Arts Instructors Association (KMAIA), a committee chaired by the new
President of ROKYA, Lee Hwe Yul.
At
the same time, approval was given for the rank requirements and the Yudo
curriculum which had been proposed to the ROKYA by the US Yudo.
At
a ceremony held in Seoul, Republic of Korea on November 1st, 1998
Grandmaster Joseph F. Connolly, II, was promoted to 9th Dan in Yudo by
Grandmaster Lee Hwe Yul, President of the ROK Yudo Association.
Grandmaster
Connolly is President of the United States Yudo Association. By this
ceremony, the baton was passed -- from the Old World to the New World --
for Yudo.
It
is the intention of the US Yudo that the memory and teachings of Jigoro
Kano be kept alive and that Yudo, now a uniquely Korean martial art, become
the martial art for the coming millennium in the United States.
Note:
This is an abridged version of an article that was published in "World
of Martial Arts" Magazine in the first part of 1999. For more
information on Yudo visit http://www.chungtongyudo.co.kr/
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