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.
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.
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.
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 (USYA) was incorporated and in April 1998,
formal approval was given for the installation of the USYA 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 USYA.
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. Grandmaster Connolly is the
National Director for Yudo of the United States Martial Arts
Association.
It is the intention of the USYA 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.
