WAZA

 Jiujiteiros who lament the deterioration of the art's martial prowess in the face of the sport revolution would do well to commiserate with their Judoka cohorts! 

While Kodokan Judo is known today primarily as a throwing art, the original style and curriculum in fact contained three inter-related but distinct technique types - throwing techniques (standing and sacrifice), grappling techniques (hold downs, joint locks, and chokes), and striking techniques - and a competent practitioner would have been expected to possess knowledge of and display proficiency in each. 

It was this style of Judo that Mitsuyo Maeda brought to Brazil and taught to his students there, one of whom was the young Carlos Gracie. It was this complete form of the art that lives on in the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu core curriculum. 

Nowadays a student hoping to avail him or herself of a "mixed martial arts" education might find him or herself hard-pressed to find a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu school that provides sufficient training in throws, or a Judo school that specializes in groundwork. At neither is he or she likely to discover the kind of striking training that he or she requires! Their best hope is one of the modern conglomerates offering Judo, Wrestling, BJJ, and Muay Thai. But what would Maeda say, to learn that many Jiujiteiros don't train throws? That many Judokas don't train ground fighting? That neither knows how to throw a punch or a kick?

Train the art, know the art, rep the art. All Waza.

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