JudoNotes

At the dojo-warming party, someone — I forget who — said the relocation of Oishi Judo would make a great news story, and that he was going to try to get someone to print it. I wonder if this article was due to his efforts.

Oishi did indeed fit the description of “a big kid” during a recent Monday afternoon class as he bounced around his new dojo. The students were men who devotedly use their lunch breaks to get thrown on the ground instead of eat. Oishi was right in the fray, stopping the group from sparring to demonstrate the proper way to do a certain throw. As his foil, a student decades younger and inches taller than Oishi crashed to the mat, his class of grown men beamed like children at his flawless technique.

I know that feeling, the "beaming like a child." A few days ago, Sensei stopped what we were doing to say a few words — literally, just a few words. He reached over to a black belt standing next to him and effortlessly slammed him to the mat without any footwork or, it seemed, much of a grip — just a deep understanding of balance and the efficient use of force. "Tai-otoshi means 'body drop,'" he explained.

I try not to be too awed by Sensei, because I know he doesn't care for over-the-top admiration, and I think that's a healthy thing. But at that moment I think my eyes got as big as saucers.

“Judo is educational,” Oishi said. “It’s repetition, it’s practice. You learn safety. You get strong, but you’re not trying to hurt anybody.”

Around him, men wrapped their hands around each other’s necks and tripped each other to the floor, but nobody got up angry or screamed in pain. In fact, they would hop up smiling through their sweat, and bow to each other, happy to have taken the spill.

Also noticeable in the group of 15 loyal students, many whom had already earned their brown or black belts, was the diversity that an activity like judo allows. Some were young and fit, others paunchy, others over 60. They were a mishmash of sizes, athletic abilities, income brackets and ethnicities, each grappling with his classmates and getting his daily workout.

Between you and me, my eyes kind of misted over when I read the article. It's a great story of our dojo's survival against difficult odds, and the author clearly "gets" the spirit of Oishi Judo. I am so proud to belong to a club where our camaraderie, "happy face," and love for the sport come across so clearly to an outsider.

Also, I was very impressed with Sensei's impeccable English.

Many thanks to Sonam for passing this along. It made my day. Sonam came across it from a link somebody posted at mma.tv.

Here are photos of Jeff and Owen at Iguazu Falls, relaxing after the 2007 World Masters.

There's no judo in these photos, but there's a ton of judo in the people in the photos.

My favorite is the one with the huge thundering waterfall in the background, all noise and chaos, and in the foreground there's a man-made walkway, all straight lines and angles, and poised in the middle is Jeff. It's very, like, yin and yang, or something.

As usual, click on any of the thumbnails to go to the Flickr page.

Hot off the press — I just got this from Jeff:

Well, the judo was superlative.

Owen had three fights, one win and two losses. His pool was seven or eight.

I had two losses. The pool was twenty. The other kids had better days.

Beyond judo, we spent a few days in Sao Paulo. We also flew to Iguazu Falls overnight. Breathtaking.

Update: Thanks to Sandro for the URL for Judo Brasil, which posted the shiai results.

The following are links to PDF files.

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4

Jeff and Owen went to Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the 2007 World Masters. As far as I know, nobody's heard from them.

I've been hoping some other judo blogger would be live-blogging the event, but Google hasn't turned up such a person. I did find a list of US players who placed. The only names I recognize are Teimoc, who played at Oishi many years ago, and Clyde Worthen, whom I know by name only.

I also found an interesting thread on the kata part of the tournament, but Jeff and Owen didn't participate in that part, as far as I know.

Our dojo has another newlywed. Zuri and Reiko got married this morning at the Buddhist Cultural Center on Chrystie St. It was the first Buddhist wedding I'd ever attended. Will and his girlfriend were there as well.

I don't remember the full sequence of the ceremony (I'll review my videotape later), but there was a lot of bowing to elders, there was the exchange of rings, the priest made some pronouncements, and there was chanting. Good-luck gifts were presented to the couple by a procession of grandmotherly ladies. I thought that part was sweet.

After the ceremony tables were set up and a vegetarian meal was brought out from the kitchen. I especially liked the dumplings. The cake was excellent and there was lots to go around, but I limited myself to one small piece, because, you know, the weight thing.

Mazel tov, Zuri!

On Friday night, Sensei presented Austin Young with his black belt. Austin's wife was there to share the moment.

I completely spaced on getting her name. I'll update this entry when I find it out.

Click below for the Flickr page with the full-sized photo:

I just got off the phone with Jeff. I'd called to ask about yesterday's kata tests.

Austin made shodan, Evan made nidan, and Matt made sandan.

In other news, Austin got married a week earlier, on Saturday, June 2. And yet I hear he found time to contribute his carpentry skills to the dojo move.

A few weeks ago, I heard a story about an old French bakery. The COO at my company was telling this to somebody, and I was eavesdropping. Right now, I'm waiting for photos from last night's party to upload to Flickr. So I'll take a moment to pass the story along, because it relates to the move.

There was a very old bakery in France that was famous for its wonderful bread. Their bread was so good that the business grew and grew until they had to move to a bigger facility. They built a brand new bakery up on a hill. Everything was big and shiny and new.

But their bread wasn't the same. They tried and tried, but they couldn't get it quite right. The thing is, although they brought all their recipes and techniques to the new location, they couldn't reproduce the exact combination of temperature and humidity, and minerals in the water, and bacteria and mold spores in the air, that had developed over the years at the old place. And so they lost their reputation and the business suffered.

I thought about this story in the weeks leading up to the dojo move. Sensei told us we were going to have a beautiful new facility, designed by an interior designer, everything brand new — but that a dojo is not the place; it's nothing without the people in it. We — you and I — are the bacteria and mold. It sounds unflattering, but you know what I mean.

Sensei used a couple of metaphors of his own, in his special Sensei way. The one I remember also involves bread. He said a dojo without people is like opening a sandwich and there's no meat inside.

Judging by the outpouring of affection at last night's dojo-warming party, I think we will have no problem with sandwich meat.

Okay, the photos finished uploading a little while ago. Below is a link to the Flickr page. You know what to do.

Update: I've pruned the photo collection down to a dozen.

We finish taking up the mats. We do some packing. We find some old artifacts.

Click below for full-size photos, with captions.

After our final class at the old location, we start taking up the mats.

Click below for full-size photos.