CHAPTER 6

Judo

The Analytical Fighting Style

The Creation of Judo

Jigoro Kano’s timing was perfect. At any other moment, his obscure training system, created in 1882 as a hybrid of different schools from an older, obsolete samurai method of unarmed combat, would have been, at best, a footnote in history. But at the turn of the twentieth century, Japan found itself at the crux of two radical transformations: One was an industrial modernization process, which would in time take the country from a feudal economy to a position that ranked it among the modern nations of the world and was crystalized with its victory over the mighty Russian empire in the war of 1905, an unthinkable feat for a nation that until a few decades before had been isolated from the world for over 200 years.

The second transformation was a progressive descent of the Japanese government and society into a repressive state, wielding a militaristic national policy, which saw the expansion of the Japanese empire through China, Korea, and Southeast Asia and culminated with its defeat by American forces at the end of World War II.

When Jigoro Kano (1860–1938) completed his systematization of judo, he encountered unprecedented government support to promote it because the new discipline tapped neatly into those two transformations. It was scientific in its study of human biomechanics and its pedagogic teaching method, and it had an unmistakable martial nature that recovered the Japanese warrior tradition and, removing its more lethal aspect, created a curriculum of bodily training that could help develop the next generation of Japanese soldiers.

Kano himself was physically less than impressive. He stood 158 cm and weighted 50 kg; a bookish, quiet young man who attended Tokyo Imperial University. After graduation, he became an educator, working first as a professor and then as a principal in different institutions. Encouraged by a family friend, he started training in the traditional and often-brutal unarmed fighting style of Jujutsu (also known as jujitsu or jiu-jitsu) to compensate for his lack of size and strength. But Japan’s Edo period, what we think of as the era of the samurai, had just ended with the creation of the constitutional government of Meiji, and the warrior traditions were seen as retrograde and were quietly washed away, so Kano had trouble finding a suitable teacher. What is more, Jujutsu was far from being a centralized and organized system; each instructor he found specialized in one particular aspect of the art and the instructors often had glaring gaps in their repertoire of movements.

Kano’s educational instinct took over, and, in a few years, the young master had integrated the disparate schools into a single, cohesive new method that moved away from the aggressive roots of Jujutsu and focused on physical development and scientific fighting. He named it “judo,” the supple way.

Kano also showed shrewdness when it came to presenting and promoting his new system. He used the government relationships he had developed as member of the educational board of Japan to push judo as part of the physical education curriculum of schools across Japan. Realizing that some type of encouragement should be given to students as they progressed through the ranks, he copied it from the traditional board game of Go, which consisted of 10 levels of mastery or dan; achievement of the first dan (shodan) was symbolized by changing the white practice belt for a black belt.¹

Kano also created a standard uniform for students to wear. Before, judo practitioners, as well as any other martial arts students, had trained in street clothes. The new uniform, called judogi or Gi, had a double purpose: it was made of material resistant to all the pulling and stretching that vigorous practice required, and it also erased distinctions of class and wealth between students within the practice hall.

The widespread popularity of judo was formally established in 1964, after Kano’s death, when it became an Olympic sport. The idea had in fact been circling since the 1920s, but despite his keenness in promoting the style, Kano was surprisingly indifferent to the prospect and voiced his opinion in a way that left clear how he saw the method he had founded:

My view on the matter [of judo becoming an Olympic sport], at present, is rather passive. If it be the desire of other member countries, I have no objection. But I do not feel inclined to take any initiative. For one thing, judo in reality is not a mere sport or game. I regard it as a principle of life, art and science. In fact, it is a means for personal cultural attainment. Only one of the forms of judo training, the so-called randori can be classed as a form of sport.

The Science of Judo

Judo is a fighting system that relies on using the strength of the adversary to gain control by applying the concept of “maximum efficiency with minimum effort.” Both during drilling practice and in competition, most of its movements start from a standing position, where opponents grab each other’s sleeve and lapel and try to unbalance and throw the other person to the ground.

In competition, points are awarded depending on how clearly the technique is executed. A clean throw means an automatic victory, but if it fails and both competitors go to the ground or if one of them manages to turn the body before hitting the mat, the match continues and the objective changes. Now the winner is the one who submits the opponent either by restraining him or her with both shoulders touching the mat or by forcing him or her to surrender via one of three methods:

1. Asphyxiation by cutting the flow of oxygen in the throat.
2. Strangulation by cutting the flow of blood through the neck.
3. Joint pressure to the limbs.

Being able to apply these techniques in a resisting, dynamic opponent requires a long learning process. Judo practitioners, also known as judoka, must first learn how to fall without injury. The judo practice hall uses soft mats for this purpose, but damage is still possible if thrown energetically, so judokas learn how to roll and how to position their bodies so they can fall repeatedly without harm.

Another area that requires intensive study is the catalog of throws and submissions. Judo is a scientific discipline, which relies not on intrinsic muscular power (although this is more relevant between equally trained practitioners than the principles of judo would indicate) but on the knowledge of the principles of balance and biomechanics used to gain control of the adversary. The extensive syllabus of judo includes:

• 67 throwing techniques divided into hand, hip, and leg throws as well as “sacrifice” throws.
• 30 grappling techniques divided into chokes, matholds, and joint locks.

The same as with karate, many of these movements are counterintuitive, and getting the judoka’s body to apply them almost instinctively comes as a result of years of training and mechanical repetition.

Judo’s Business Learnings for the Analyst

The applications of judo strategies to business success are very closely related to the principles that lie at the heart of the art as a flexible and scientific fighting style. Three of them are especially relevant when talking about the analytical behavioral style because of how well they align with its methodical nature.

1. Positioning and Movement

   In judo, victory is the result of a strategic plan, which depends on moving into the correct positioning. At the start of each bout, both practitioners are in a stable, secure stance. When one of them initiates the attack, he is putting himself out of balance as he generates momentum, and for an instant, he is vulnerable to counterattack. The only way the other judoka can take advantage of that window of opportunity is if he has previously moved to a position from where he can respond. As with a chess game, victory in judo comes when one of the fighters can exploit any failed maneuver made by the opponent. If the judoka cannot react in time, the opportunity passes, the opponent regains balance, and both return to the starting position.

   The analyst behavior is notorious for its slow movement and long reaction times. The ingestion and processing of data are time-consuming, and the analyst is not comfortable issuing an opinion until they have been completed. The analyst can, however, develop a set of techniques that allow him or her to be as prepared as possible by practicing rapid movement and proper positioning. In a business environment, this does not mean physical movement but developing a default stance for those emergency cases where a quick response is necessary. This will act as a temporary measure of control and will provide the analyst time to develop a complete strategy.

2. Flexibility

   Flexibility is such an essential concept to judo that it is incorporated in the very name of the discipline. Flexibility, as it is understood in judo practice, comes in two forms:

   a. Conceptual flexibility: Refers to the core judo axiom of using the opponent’s strength in your favor, giving way to superior force so it is directed in the manner you prefer. Giving way to the assault of that force causes it to become unbalanced in a way that can be controlled from a point of pivot.

   b. Flexibility in execution: Refers to the ability to adjust a technique to a specific situation while maintaining in place the core principles that make it work. This allows to make adjustments based on variables like location, distance, timing, mass, and speed.

   One of the big disadvantages of the analytical behavioral style is an inherent lack of flexibility; the analyst is defined by setting up a framework of rules and standards, which provide a solid foundation for this type of formal, task-oriented behavior. However, this comes at the cost of reducing the adaptability to unforeseen changes and sudden upsets of the environment. The same as with judokas, analyst businesspeople need to include a degree of flexibility in their character, allowing for deviation from regulations when an opportunity calls for it. This is also a way to diminish friction when working with behavioral types
   of the informal persuasion like the supporter or the promoter, who may find the analyst’s adherence to guidelines too stifling.

   Increased flexibility in the analyst’s business applications could mean:

   • Systematically looking at every issue from an additional point of view that is not based on data for alternative approaches.
   • Evaluating project outcomes based not only on specific results but also on intangible business impact (team motivation, client/partner satisfaction, overall branding, etc.)
   • Allowing for deviance from the established process in certain qualified cases.
3. Leverage

   From a biomechanical perspective, the movements in most judo throwing techniques are divided into three stages:

   a. Tsukuri, or the set of movements made in preparation to unbalance the opponent (by using both positioning and movement, as seen under “Positioning and Movement”).

   b. Kuzushi, or the action of actually unbalancing the opponent (by giving way in a flexible manner, as seen under “Flexibility”).

   c. Kake, or the actual execution of the throw using leverage.

   It is at this last stage that the judoka turns the initiative of the opponent into his own by either selecting a point of pivot to turn his own body into an obstacle or sweeping the opponent’s point of balance from under him. And depending where this point of pivot takes place, judo categorizes its techniques into three types:

   • Te waza are the techniques that use arms, shoulders, or hands.
   • Koshi waza are the techniques that use the hips, usually by lowering the judoka center of gravity and raising it to roll the opponent.
   • Ashi waza are the techniques that use legs and feet.

   Just as it is easier to open a door using a crowbar or lift a heavy object using a lever, the judoka acts as a fulcrum to move the opponent. Leverage, therefore, is understood as the point when the judoka undermines the opponent’s attack and changes the course of action.

   Similarly, the analyst’s leverage comes from his or her organized disposition and reliance on data, very powerful tools in the modern world but which can also lead to inflexibility and unresponsiveness if not used properly. The lesson to be applied from judo into the analytical business style is to select the moment when those strengths come into play to change the flow of business. For example, when bidding for new clients, the analyst can leverage his or her organizational and data-driven abilities in three stages during the process:

Ultimately, the analyst can adopt from judo the lesson that Jigoro Kano promoted most eagerly. Since its conception, he envisioned the new martial art as a system of personal development, which was not reliant on aggressive movement but rather on a reactive and methodical cancellation of the assailant’s attacks. As a fighting method, judo does not work well when the judoka tries to initiate the action. Similarly, the analyst can learn to embrace the characteristics that define his or her behavioral style and understand that a lack of proactivity is not a negative trait and that well-timed responsiveness can be equally effective.