Kosen judo

Kosen judo (高專柔道) is the name given to the Kodokan Judo practiced at kosen schools in Japan at the turn of the 20th century. Their training is famous for the extra focus given grappling and wrestling techniques. It is also called "newaza Judo."

History: An Expansion of Kodokan Judo Newaza

Kosen [Kosen is sometimes spelled "Koshen"] Judo was the style of judo practiced before the rule changes in 1925 and is simply one style of Kodokan Judo today. Kosen Judo has the same throws and other techniques as Judo but it emphasizes "newaza" (ground techniques) such as controls, joint locks and strangles more than Kodokan judo, having greater latitude permitted for ground techniques. This style of Judo is still practiced today.

The small students of the Kosen Universities were commonly pitted against larger opponents, as weight classes in Judo did not exist at that time. So, it was much easier for larger Judo players to throw smaller ones. In essence, the training that the Kosen teams utilized was groundfighting, as a way to gain points by stalling, submitting or wearing the opponent out for a pin.

The Kosen Taikai was an inter-school contest based on teams. In the case of a team draw, a lottery was used to decide the winner. Newaza training was useful because it is easier to get draws in newaza, and faster to get a beginner trained for team competition. Thus, techniques like "Hikikomi" (laying on the back) and Sankaku Jime (triangle choke with the legs) were popular and well researched.

The Rules Of a Kosen Judo Match

The rules of a Kosen Judo match are a cross between a Judo and a modern-day Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu match (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu did not exist during the Kosen Judo years). All Kosen matches started standing however unlike judo today the Judoka could drag his opponent down while falling straight onto his back (called "pulling guard" in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.) Once on the ground, chokes or joint locks to the arms and legs were legal. The matches had no time limit and were usually contested on a mat 20x20 meters in total size. A starting zone 8x8 meters was marked on the mat as well as a danger zone which ended at 16x16 Meters. If a Judoka went out of the danger zone the match would be restarted in guard, half guard, or side control depending on where the top positioned judoka was at the time. The match could be won by submission, by stoppage due to a joint break, by choking the opponent out, or by using a pinning hold to keep the opponent down and controlled for 30 seconds. (A pin could only be done from a mounted position.)

The Kodokan Steps in

Newaza effectiveness and ease of learning by smaller opponents started to change the way judo matches evolved. It was easy to train a Judoka in newaza and have him stop the most fit opponent from a rival school, so Kodokan Judo started to be dominated by newaza fighting. Over time there was so much emphasis was on newaza, due to its success in competition, that Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, introduced new rules limiting the amount of time the judoka could stay on the ground. It was stipulated that techniques had to start from tachiwaza (standing stance) and if you pulled your opponent down more than three times he was declared the winner. In 1914 Kano organized the Kosen University Championships at Kyoto Imperial University. This sportive style of competition was formally called the "Kosen Taikai." Kosen Judo is being still practiced at some Japanese universities, particularly at the seven ex-imperial universities of Japan. Sometimes it is called shichitei-judo (七帝柔道). There is an annual competition held among those seven universities.

Eventually, in 1925, Jigoro Kano decided to re-vamp the rules of competition judo. One of those changes was to limit the time that competitors could spend grappling on the ground. This effectively stopped the trend that was going on in judo; however, the Kosen Schools were allowed to continue their matches and train the way they had been since the turn of the century. Kosen judo followed its own course, and continues under the old rules even to this day in the Seven Universities Tournament. Kano was careful not to obliterate Kosen judo when he introduced the new rules. He did this for several reasons:
* There were relatively few judoka doing "newaza"-only.
* He wanted "newaza" specialists in judo.
* He could not convince himself that doing only "newaza" was in itself bad.
* Kosen judoka also did "tachiwaza" despite their emphasis in "newaza".

The new rules were devised as a means to emphasize "tachiwaza", while maintaining "newaza".

Bibliography

* Osaekomi by Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki
* [http://www.kusu.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~judo/history-e.htm History of Kosen Judo]
* [http://www.kobukaijujitsu.com/sensei6.html Kosen Judo]
* [http://www.geocities.com/ibfaustralia/kosen.html A Kosen Judo posting]
* [http://members.lycos.co.uk/fight/judo/judo.html Judo History Archive] (excellent background and hard to find judo history information)

References