On Better Judo – Introduction

by Moti Nativ – 2017

Better Judo is a series of 5 articles, published from January 1948 until January 1949, which Dr. Feldenkrais wrote for the quarterly bulletin of the Judo Budokwai Club.

“A true secret is still a secret even when it is revealed to all.”
– Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz,
Preface to The Thirteen Petalled Rose¹

Judo concepts and techniques had a significant impact on Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais’ development of the Feldenkrais Method for improving a person’s abilities in action. We can see the results in many Awareness Through Movement (ATM) lessons, although the judo component may not always be obvious to those without the proper background.

Feldenkrais became involved with judo when he met its founder, Professor Jigoro Kano, in Paris in September 1933. This was not merely a meeting between two giants; it was an event that would lead to a dramatic change in the direction and trajectory of Feldenkrais’ thinking. In his famous 1981 interview about martial arts, Moshe recalled that Kano had said to him that judo is “the efficient use of the mind over the body.” At the time, Moshe had thought that this was a funny way to describe a martial art. During their initial meeting, Moshe was introduced to the concept of seiryoku zenyo (minimum effort, maximum efficiency). Kano challenged Moshe with a judo choking technique. Moshe attempted to free himself using the technique that had always worked for him, but this time it did not help him.

As Kano described in his diary, “I grabbed him in a tight reverse cross with both hands and said, “Try to get out of this!” He pushed my throat with his fist with all his might. He was quite strong, so my throat was in some pain, but I pressed on his carotid arteries on both sides with both hands so the blood could not get to his head, and he gave up”². Imagine a small Japanese man, at the age of 75, subduing a strong young man of 29. This incident impressed Feldenkrais and changed his approach to the use of his own body.

Feldenkrais began to study judo and, in a relatively short time, was promoted to black belt. Feldenkrais became more than a skillful practitioner of the art; he proved to be a unique judo teacher of the highest quality. Kano had a great deal of faith in Moshe³. Supported by Kano’s authority and through his own considerable abilities, Moshe became the leading judo teacher in France. Moshe’s influence on the development of martial art in France was extraordinary, earning him the title “Pionnier du Judo en France”⁴.

As Moshe became more expert at Judo, he learned from and cooperated with the Judo master Mikinosuke Kawaishi. This partnership gave Feldenkrais the background to later write two Judo books. He wrote in the forward of Higher Judo, “I wish to express my gratitude to my friend and teacher of many years, Mr. Mikinosuke Kawaishi, 7th Dan. The figures in the illustrations in this book represent him and myself”.

After escaping Paris during the Second World War, Moshe served five years in the British Admiralty. He continued to teach judo and also trained the soldiers on his base (Unarmed Practical Combat, 1942). After retiring from the service (1945), he moved to London and joined the Budokwai Judo club, where he studied judo there under the great master G. Koizumi⁵. Moshe admired Koizumi’s skill. He often mentioned Koizumi in later years while teaching Awareness Through Movement. Moshe was, in turn, recognized as a judo expert by top judokas and researchers who knew him well, including Koizumi⁶, Leggett⁷, and Brousse⁸.

In my research on Moshe during the years 1920-1950, I did a detailed study of his judo⁹ and self-defense books¹⁰. As a martial artist, my study was not just theoretical. It involved experiencing the techniques myself and teaching them to others. Through this study of Moshe’s work, I believe that I better understand his way of thinking about self-preservation and how this relates to an understanding of the Feldenkrais Method in general.

Recently, with the help of Dr. Mike Callan¹¹, I managed to obtain a series of five articles titled Better Judo, which Feldenkrais wrote for the quarterly bulletin of the Judo Budokwai club¹² in 1948–1949. In this essay, I will share my thoughts and insights on those articles. I refer to these years as the “turning point”¹³. During this period, Feldenkrais labored on writing Higher Judo (1952) concurrently with Body and Mature Behavior (1949) and The Potent Self (published posthumously in 1985). It can be clearly seen that Feldenkrais was already carrying, in his mind and body, his Awareness Through Movement method, which did not yet have a name. In this period, Feldenkrais was at his peak as an experienced judoka. From then on, Moshe decreased his activity as a judoka as he applied his experience and knowledge of judo to lay the foundations of the Feldenkrais Method.

In Better Judo, he reveals his thoughts about Judo, digging deep into the means of mastering judo. Moshe goes through a complex process, applying his ingenuity and skilled body, which already understood the foundations of the Feldenkrais Method.

Before the discussion of Better Judo, it would be helpful to remind readers about meaningful milestones of Moshe’s unique approach to judo. The first milestone relevant to this article is Moshe’s work in Tel Aviv at age 16 as a member of the Baranovichi group. At this time (1920), the Haganah, a paramilitary organization in British-mandated Palestine, was established. At that time, Moshe helped protect the properties of the Jewish pioneers and was engaged in real fights for survival, fights in which some of his friends were injured or even killed. Although the Haganah fighters were trained in jiujitsu, they were not always able to make practical use of it in actual combat. Moshe was troubled by the results of these fights. He wondered why his friends could not use their skills to effectively protect themselves.

From this point, we can clearly follow Moshe pressing on with his fighting spirit and intelligence toward the next important milestone. Feldenkrais published the first Hebrew self-defense book, Jiu-Jitsu and Self Defense (1930). He based this work on a behavioral study of human beings that gave rise to the concept of using unconscious or instinctive responses for self-preservation. In other words, he wanted to design a self-defense system for the Haganah, based on “a movement someone would do without thinking” that would protect them. Feldenkrais mentioned this concept in his translation of Autosuggestion by Emil Coué (1929). He used this idea to promote efficient learning of self-defense techniques, thus building the ability to retain a skill no matter how long ago it had been learned¹⁴.

Feldenkrais’ background as a survivor gave him a unique perspective on judo, or rather on another dimension of judo, the practical use of judo in an emergency situation outside the dojo. At that time, he was one of the first judokas who thought about the use of judo for self-defense¹⁵. He applied the same attitude towards survival in the development of the Feldenkrais Method, and this approach manifested itself in his teaching. As he said years later, “The most drastic test of a movement is self-preservation”¹⁶.

On the other hand, we can discern Feldenkrais’ innovative thoughts from Better Judo “In those days, judo/jujutsu was an art of self-defense. Thanks to Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, it gained a scientific and more sophisticated facet. Japanese art was then seen as a science of combat practiced by intellectuals, university students, and scholars…Moshe played a pivotal role in this evolution from a utilitarian practice to a scientific one.” (Dr. Michel Brousse)

Returning to Better Judo – the editor of the Budokwai Bulletin invited Dr. Feldenkrais to compare the judo practiced in their club to the judo practiced elsewhere. Moshe started his writing by saying, “I do not think that such criticism would serve any useful purpose. Criticism leading to no improvement is wasted effort and, as such, is contrary to the spirit of judo. I prefer, therefore, to present to you another way of looking at things you already know…” (As we Feldenkrais practitioners would say about his choice of words, “This is Feldenkrais.”) Reading Moshe’s writings, I find them sophisticated and not easy to follow. At the time of their publication, others must have felt the same. We should remember that Moshe wrote Better Judo for the judo community, so the judoka must have understood the judo terminology he used, but we Feldenkrais Practitioners might get lost. I will try to present his chain of thought. At the same time, I will highlight points that provide basic knowledge about judo and martial arts.

Better Judo – Part One – January 1948 >>>

End Notes

1. Translated from the Hebrew edition.

2. Mind over Muscle (writings from the founder of judo), Gyaku-juji (pages 47-50).

3. Pro. Jigoro Kano, Introduction to Moshe’s Jiu-Jitsu La Defense du Faible Contre L’agresseur (French version of Jiu-Jitsu and Self-Defense) “At that time, a Jewish scholar named Feldenkrais happened to be in the audience. His remarks to me after the lecture were very enlightening. He brought a book he had written about judo with him and asked me to take a look at it … I realized that though this book does not exactly confirm the concept of my Judo, it is the best publication in another language than Japanese…I feel assured that the author, by a study of the true Judo, will progress rapidly towards a perfect possession of this method”.

4. Brousse, M. (2002), Le Judo, son Histoire, ses succès, préface de Jacques Rogge, Paris: Liber, 212 p. Édition revue et augmentée. This book was written for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the French Judo Federation.

5. Gunji Koizumi (1885 –1965) was a Japanese master of judo who introduced this martial art to the United Kingdom and came to be known as the ‘Father of British Judo.’ He was the founder of the Budokwai.

6. G. Koizumi knew Dr. Feldenkrais as a Judoka – a student, a teacher, and a scientist. He appreciated Moshe’s contribution to the Judo community. Quoting from Koizumi’s forward to Higher Judo: “Dr. M. Feldenkrais has made a serious study of the subject, himself attaining Black Belt efficiency. He has studied and analyzed Judo as a scientist in light of the laws of physics, physiology, and psychology. He reports the results in this book which is enlightening and satisfying to the scientific mind of our age. Such a study has been long awaited and is a very valuable contribution to the fuller understanding and appreciation of the merits of Judo. Dr. Feldenkrais, with his learned mind, keen observation, and masterly command of words, clarifies the interrelation and the intermingled working of gravitation, body, bones, muscles, nerves, consciousness, subconscious and unconsciousness and opens the way for better understanding.”

7. T.P. Leggett – The first Chairman of the European Judo Union. Notes from the First General Meeting of the European Judo Union – July 26th, 1948: The election of officers resulted in Leggett being appointed Chairman and Lt. Thieme of Holland as Vice-Chairman. The next move was to form a Judo Council (a technical body as opposed to the General Committee). Those elected were: Mr. G. Koizumi, Dr. M. Feldenkrais, Mr. P. Bonnet- Maury, Mr. E. Mossop, Mr. T.P. Leggett. France intervened with the suggestion that each of the important judo countries should be represented on the Council. As Chairman, Leggett pointed out that the purpose of the Council was not to represent national interests but to be composed of real judo experts. At that time, Moshe was a man with no country (Moti Nativ).

8. Dr. Michel Brousse, “The encounter of these two men [Kano and Feldenkrais] is a decisive moment in the history of Judo in France. The relationship of mutual esteem united the two men. Feldenkrais reoriented the teaching of jujutsu in France.” (Translated from French).

9. Judo books by Moshe Feldenkrais: A.B.C. du JUDO (1938), JUDO – the Art of Defense and Attack (1941), Higher Judo (1951)

10. Self-defense books by Moshe Feldenkrais: Jiu-Jitsu and Self-Defense (1930), Practical Unarmed Combat (1942)

11. Dr. Mike Callan (m.callan@chi.ac.uk) – Holds the judo grade of 7th Dan. The President of the International Association of Judo Researchers and a Scientific and Didactic Expert for the European Judo Union. He founded the Richard Bowen Judo Archive at the University of Bath.

12. The Budokwai (武道会 The Way of Knighthood Society) in London is the oldest Japanese martial arts club in Europe and the first judo club in Europe. It was founded in 1918 by Gunji Koizumi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budokwai

13. “Turning Point” – foreword by Moti Nativ to Higher Judo: Groundwork (2010).

14. Foreword to Thinking and Doing (2013) are chapters that Feldenkrais added to the original. These chapters were published in the English translation in 2013 and appeared in the original translation into Hebrew in 1929.

15. Kōdōkan Goshin Jutsu (講道館護身術)is the Judo skill of self-defense. This is a set of prearranged self-defense forms in Judo. It is the most recent kata of Judo, having been formally created in 1956. It consists of several techniques to defend oneself from unarmed attack, attack with a dagger, with a stick, and with a gun.

16. M. Feldenkrais, The Master Moves, Lesson One: Twisting to the Floor, page 38.