Judo: Heart and Soul

By Hayward Nishioka
2000 Ohara Publications

"It's an Olympic sport. It's an art form. It's a character-builder. It's cultural. It's self-defense. It's aerobic. It's anaerobic. It's healthy. It's technical. It's spiritual. It's recreational. It's philosophical. It's mental. It's physical. It's a fraternity. It's a microcosm of life."

Review by Jonah Ewell

From the very first paragraph, you can tell Hayward Nishioka is a guy who's fallen head over heels in love with judo. As you might be able to guess from the title, Judo: Heart and Soul is not too concerned with technical instruction. In these five chapters, each with twenty to thirty short sections (some just one paragraph), Nishioka shares a lifetime of judo experience. He was a member of the original U.S. judo team, a Pan-American champion in 1967, and earned a fourth place finish in the 1967 World Championships. He has a master's degree in physical education and seems to have dedicated his life to judo.

Nishioka has lots of advice on the mental and psychological aspect of judo, including the necessary mindset for competition and daily practice. He extols the virtues of repetition, visualization, and of course, gi-soaking, muscle-burning, sinus-clearing workouts.

This book has been an inspiration for me as I adjust to the workouts at Oishi Judo after a long period of inactivity. My first few times there, I experienced the lung-stretching, heart-pumping, wow-I-really-might-pass-out feeling, coupled with the jeez-I'm-so-rusty-I-can't-throw-anybody feeling. Disheartening, to say the least. Then I came home and read this: "How hard have you worked out? How hard have you really worked out? ...Have you worked out until you could not even stand up? Have you worked out until your body no longer had energy and you felt like your opponent sloshed you around like a wet towel mopping up the floor? Well, have you worked out?" Nishioka's stream-of-consciousness poem about hard workouts gave me the mental lift I needed, and assured me the feelings I had were natural.

Nishioka is not afraid to speak his mind on controversial issues, taking on koka judo, judo politics, and even racism in this slim volume. One section sure to raise a few hackles with the purist crowd says: "Like it or not, koka judo is here to stay... you can win if you're fair defensively. Many a World or Olympic championship has been won on a well-protected koka lead. Perhaps we should, as judo coach John Ross pointed out, 'Practice koka techniques.'" As someone who was always taught to 'go for the ippon,' I was a little leery of this philosophy at first. But the reality is, you can be beaten by an opponent who goes for the koka, gets it, then stalls successfully. That's sport judo, and if you want to be successful at high level tournaments you have to learn these tactics. When the match is over, complaining about koka judo sounds like whining. And whining is definitely not something a judoka (or any serious athlete) should ever be caught doing.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in judo. Beginners and black belts, coaches, competitors, and recreational judoka will all find something of interest. There are photos on every other page, many from the author's personal scrapbook, and the short-section format makes it an easy book to flip through and read out of sequence.

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