[fodive]

Figured I would give a brief synopsis for anyone who was interested...

Judo is a relatively new school of Martial Arts, founded in the 1880s by Jigoro Kano. It combines aspects from other martial arts, including jujitsu and aikido.

Most of the moves in Judo are based on physics and other scientific principles, mainly using your opponents strength and momentum against them; and keeping your body in a position that allows you total control over the movement.

You "win" a Judo match with submissions or pins, and use many similar techniques used in more modern Brasilian/American jujitsu - such as arm bars and leg locks, as well as a variety of different choke holds and techniques. Judo is a very balanced martial art, as it teaches technique in both a stand up and grapple form giving you a more well balanced knowledge as compared to something like Tae Kwon Do which only features standup techniques (and is more worried about looking pretty then being efficient, honestly).

Judo is said to translate as "The Gentle Way" and the focus is to get your mind and body to work as one in order to gain an advantage in a real fight, or even in randori (practice sparring). I think that about sums it up, let me know if anyone has an questions.