THE ZEN JUDO FAMILY WELCOME A NEW COUNTRY -- ZEN JUDO CANADA!
It is a pleasure for me, on behalf of the Zen Judo Custodians, after conferring with Brian Bagot Sensei, to
welcome another country into the Zen Judo family. This time we are welcoming Zen Judo Canada! And the
beginnings of Zen Judo Canada couldn't happen in a more historical setting. One of the club's assistant
Sensei, Thilo Kierdorf (ironbody1@hotmail.com), tells me their dojo is directly related to one of the oldest in
Canadian Judo history. The name of the club is Ronin Judo Club. Their website is www.geocities.com/roninsensei2.
Up until now they had practiced Kodokan Judo, but decided to consider Zen Judo as a natural development of
their practice.
The leading Sensei are Sensei Elmer Gale, who has represented Canada a few times in Judo competition (won a
bronze in the Commonwealth Championships,) and a few times in Sumo as well. Elmer was the Ontario Heavyweight
Champion for several years in succession. He's been practicing Judo now for over 30 years, having started at
age 8. Elmer had his points to test for Sandan over 10 years ago, but never went up for testing. He is currently
ranked Nidan with Judo Ontario. Elmer sensei is very well versed in Kata.
And Sensei Jim Mandia, who has been practicing Judo for over 40 years. He won't tell us exactly how long so we
won't guess his age. But Jim was slated by Frank Hatashita, to be on the Canadian Olympic Team for the Tokyo
Olympics 1964, which was the first time Judo was to be an Olympic sport. Unfortunately Jim hurt his back while
lifting Hatashita sensei's garage during some repairwork and had to bow out. Jim is also ranked Nidan according to
Judo Ontario. However, he has been asked to go up for higher gradings in the past, but Jim didn't want to
waste his money. Its very expensive to get promoted here. He saw no point in it.

The two assistant Sensei are Thilo Kierdof and Liz Santos. Both have been tested by Sensei Elmer for Shodan
and have mastered the Kodokan syllabus. The Canadian system however has other requirements connected with
the Shodan test (plus lots of money in testing fees) so their Shodan status is internal to their club.

And here is a brief historical introduction of our new members written by Sensei Thilo Kierdof himself:
"Judo in Canada started on the West coast around the early 1900's. Mostly it was taught to Japanese Canadians
who had settled there, and a few Mounties (Federal Police of Canada). Clubs were established, with mostly
Japanese students, and one club for the Mounties. All the Masters from the different Judo clubs were used for
National security protection etc, and were non-profit in their motives. They were just barely getting enough income
to support their clubs, buy mats, pay for space and heat, etc.
When WW2 started, Japanese Canadians were stripped of all their possessions, and relocated to Japanese
internment camps all over Canada. Many of the Japanese (often Canadian citizens) were relocated to Ontario, with
others sprinkled to other provinces as well. In the interment camps, some of the sensei (Like Frank Hatashita, and
Sid Kuano) asked for tatamis to practice Judo. Even though there was a Martial Arts ban in place, they were allowed
to practice in the internment camps. Judo was basically understood to not fall under the same category as other
fighting arts. Probably it was because of the excellent reputation of the sensei, and because they continued to
teach to the police as well, Judo was quietly allowed to continue to be taught to the internees of the camps.
When the war ended, the internment camps eventually released its internees. They had no money and so most
of Japanese who could not afford to return home, stayed where they were relocated. Some went to other provinces
as well in the dispersion. Many stayed in Ontario.
Sid started the first school of Judo in Toronto at the YMCA in 1946. This is our club foundation. Frank Hatashita started
his club in 1947. It still operates today under a different name as well, now called "Minuro's." Hatashita was famous for
his organization of the first Canadian Olympic Judo team, and for his work with the other Judoka in organizing
Judo Canada, and having it recognized for gradings by the Kodokan.
Our club has been offering free Judo classes up until this fall, when the City of Toronto basically forced us to allow
them to charge our students for the program, as a condition of allowing us to use their space in the community centre.
Up until then we were given the space for free. Any money that we have received thus far has been by donation
from our own members, and has been rolled back into the club for supplies like mats, club registration, etc. We are
running a deficit, paying out of our own pockets to keep it going (and we of course have no problem doing it).
Basically we support the club, and will continue to do so if it cannot financially support itself.
But that is as bad as the news gets. On the positive side, we are famous in the local community because of our
practicing in the park and offering free classes during the last summer, and many non-profit programmes, and
community based organizations, are moving in on us to offer assistance with space, and more times at other
locations around the area to teach. So I guess we are at somewhat of a turning point with the club. We have a few
hard-core dedicated members willing to push and help the club grow, and we see good things happening.
Elmer (the other sensei in the club) is/was excited when he saw the history of Zen Judo was rich with Judo
tradition, from the e-mail you guys sent. He was actually once invited to the Butokukai when he was seen at a
tournament by one of the Butokukai instructors. He is also really intrigued by the Sumo roots as well. We actually
practice some Sumo, as part of our regular practices in class. The students love it.
So thank you for accepting us. We are proud to be associated with the Zen Judo Family. I will put together a
presentation on paper for the students, and give your website address and print up the syllabus, and so on. Elmer
and I agreed we can adopt your syllabus right away. We've looked it over. We just gotta go over some of the
techniques that aren't included in the Kodokan, and get clarification (re: pictures etc.) to make sure we are not making
any wrong assumptions in the application of them. Other than that, it all looks like good judo to us."

So, now we officially have home in Canada folks. Please send Thilo Kierdorf a note welcoming the Ronin Judo club into the family. And those of you Dan grades in the UK, Spain or US who wish to be Zen Judo diplomats, feel free to plan your next holiday/vacation trip to Toronto, so we can extend our welcome to Elmer, Jim, Thilo and Liz by going over the syllabus on the mat!

THOUGHTS FROM ACROSS THE POND
John Robertson 1st. Kyu Z.J.F, 1st. Dan B.Z.J.F.A., john@zenjudo.co.uk
I have been busy this month doing some updating of the website syllabus pages, thanks are due for the hard work
that went into producing some very good photos of the syllabus at a Dan grades meeting held at Petersfield back in
1998. And to Sensei Brian Bagot for getting them on to digital format so we now have nearly the complete
syllabus covered, the only ones now missing are Yoko Guruma; Yoko Otoshi; Hana Maki Komi and O Goshi
standing version which at present are still in line drawing format. Any comments on the website would be useful.

Anyone who has been involved with running a website will know that it can take a lot of work and time so when you
get the occasional e-mail enquiring about more information it makes it all worth while. This happened this month when
I received an enquiry from Thilo in Toronto Canada, who is a member of the Ronin Judo Club, following a flurry of
e-mails I passed on his enquiry to Sensei Brian Bagot and Sensei Keo Cavalcanti and from this it looks like we have
gained a new Zen Judo Family Club. Welcome!.
For a number of years now I have had the opportunity to stand at the side of the mat and observe the lower belts
(mostly juniors) going through there breakfall routine. I have also had the dubious task of trying to teach them the
same routine. I believe that you probably learn more about a Judo technique from teaching it than you do from
performing it, this is because you have to break it down and understand what is happening and why you are
doing it. From my experience there are a few standard things which all young Judoka do wrong at the beginning
and if allowed and not corrected will continue to do, such that their breakfalls will not be up to the task when they
get to Green belt and higher.
Mae Korobi is always a difficult breakfall to learn and few people seem to be natural tumblers. It is important that
this breakfall is learnt to both right and left and the Judoka should be able to clear at least a persons width by the time
they get there Green belts so that Sutemi will not be to much of a shock. Both height and length are required for
confident and safe Mae Korobi. For both Ushiro and Yoko ukemi the biggest problem is that most Judoka will breakfall
with their arms much too high, this forces their heads back towards the mat, making it more likely that they will land
badly when thrown. They should be encouraged to keep their hands about a hand's span away from each side of
their body when breakfalling and to keep their heads up and looking towards their feet, which should be kept down
as close to the mat as possible.
Finally Mae ukemi is probably one of the least used of the ukemi in the dojo but probably the most useful in the real
world. Anyone who has tripped while running up stairs will know that if done properly it will save you from a lot of
pain. If the judoka is doing the basic Mae ukemi then they should have their heads up and be sitting back between
their feet with the arms in the proper position and not breakfalling just with their hands. There also seems to be a
tendency for the young Judoka to jump into the air from a standing position and land on their knees before hitting the
floor with there hands, not only is this a total waste of time but sooner or later they will damage their knee joints as
well. I have often said to any students that I have taught ukemi to that if they learn nothing else at Judo this will at
least help save them from damage if they do fall over. I can remember a young girl who attended one of our clubs
who was unfortunately hit by a car outside the dojo. She said afterwards that if she had not been able to breakfall
she would have been more seriously injured. My sensei has told us that most of Judo is easy, the difficult bit and
what takes the time is learning to be thrown and falling properly and safely.
The bedrock for this is laid with good Ukemi. All the very best for Christmas... John.

WADOKAN HOSTS FIRST ALL BLACK-BELT TRAINING AND PROMOTION
American Zen Judo held its first of four annual black belt training sessions this November 17, under the guidance
of Sensei Keo Cavalcanti. The session was well attended with eight Yudansha present. From the regular
American Zen Judo crowd we had Sensei Ed Stockwell, Morgan Benton, Chris Flinn, Frank Curran, Jennie Fisher,
and Mark Smith. Sensei Leo Valdes, from the local Richmond Judo club also attended the training with his assistant,
Dave. The training included drills on throwing without kuzushi, throws to joint locks, throws to chokes, throws
with pressure points. Also included were the first set of the Nage no Kata, instructions on how to teach the
progression from blocks to sweeps to reaps in the Zen Judo syllabus. The highlight of the day was the first
promotion past Nidan for the American Zen Judo family. Sensei Ed Stockwell tested for his Sandan rank,
performing a flawless Katame no Kata and the Kodokan Shimmeisho no Waza. Along with his certificate and belt
patches Sensei Ed was also awarded white oak bokken and tanto to be used for his next grading (in American Zen
Judo Judoka perform the Kime no Kata for their Yondan test).
As the head instructor, Sensei Ed has been the steady guiding hand of the Judo program in the Inner Stairway
dojo in Charlottesville (http://www.innerstairway.com/). Congratulations to Ed for a job well done. We are proud
of his contributions to the American Zen Judo family.

TRAINING
Sensei Gordon Lawson invites all Zen Judoka to his dojo's Christmas training. Gordon's Christmas training is
becoming a tradition with the Zen Judo family. Those interested in contacting him, do so by visiting his webpage
at http://gordonlawson.tripod.com/. For those driving to the dojo, feel free to call Sensei Lawson's mobile (cell)
phone -- 07976 750531. The dojo is at Dayncourt School Gym off Glebe Lane. From Nottingham head along A52
towards Newark/Grantham. Ignore 1st set of traffic lights at Radcliffe on Trent. Turn left at second set, then 2nd
right, drive into school, park on right. Walk into dojo through main doors. He looks forward to seeing everybody.