Page 74 - ISSUE 2

GRAPPLER Fall 2018

“Any art is a way of doing something. Its principles can be
applied to other activities. When the principles of an art are
applied to a person’s general behavior, the method of that art
becomes for that person a way.”

The copy I had been handed was threadbare. I was movement so swift and smooth it seems a continuation
warned to treat it gently and honestly, I enjoyed reading of the first, the Judoka swings his leg hard against the
most of it. However, the book’s layout was a challenge. redhead’s legs. The stick is still following its original path,
The book starts as a narrative which follows a young but now the redhead is following it.”
man, the Judoka, as he lives a very Judo way of life. Every
other chapter delves into some philosophical treatise Or this explanatory gem from the following chapter:
that informs the action of the previous chapter. At the
time, back in 1997, those following chapters were like any “Any art is a way of doing something. Its principles can
chapter in Moby Dick after Ishmael gets off Nantucket... be applied to other activities. When the principles of an art
too deep for me. are applied to a person’s general behavior, the method of
that art becomes for that person a way.”
Before 2015, the year it was reissued, it was virtually
impossible to find. Or if it was found it would have cost The Judoka is one of my favorite books. Not one of my
hundreds of dollars. I ordered the book and started to read favorite martial arts books, just one of my favorite books.
and I was right back there with the Judoka on the beach in It sits next to Tarzan, Alive! on my bookshelf. I don’t think
chapter one kicking ass. But by chapter two I was drowning it’s for everyone though. Stan “The Man” was right on
again. I need to learn how to swim. Or perhaps I should hire about mass appeal. In fact, I was only lent the book initially
out on a whaling ship. because I had recently earned my sankyu, a brown belt
rank, in Danzan ryu. It wasn’t an elitist move or anything;
Consider this excerpt from the aforementioned beach it was like sharing a good wine with someone who could
scene in chapter one wherein The Judoka is attacked by a appreciate it.
man with a heavy piece of driftwood:
Look for The Judoka the next time you want to read into
“The Judoka throws his hip into the redhead’s deep waters.
midsection and clamps an arm around his neck. In a second

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