Bhassler wrote:While he was alive, Kano never allowed Judo to pursue inclusion in the Olympics, because he felt it would lead to all the sorts of changes mentioned in this thread and ultimately ruin the art.
Yeah I remember reading that one time after a randori session at the Kodokan, he bemoaned his students' obsession with 'winning' at the expense of technical efficiency and skillful use of energy. He was much more into the whole 'maximum reward for minimum energy' and 'mutual benefit' than sportive competition, from what I understand.
GrahamB wrote:
It's a strange situation where what we do in BJJ is often closer to the original judo than Modern Judo is these days. However it's all trade offs. Not being allowed to grab the legs does have some positive benefits - it means you have to really be able to finish off a throw to a very high level. So you practice it over and over and over... in BJJ we can be much more lazy.
Take Uchi Mata for example - in Judo you need to really know how to finish off that throw, so it has to be perfect, whereas in BJJ if it doesn't work first time we just reach down and grab their ankle (ankle pick) and they fall over. It's a really easy follow up that you're just not allowed to do in Judo.
Haha ankle picks are one of my favourites in newaza - I have very long arms, and love getting into a clinch then hooking the bottom of a pants leg while driving forward - exactly like the thumbnail, just on knees. Working for an actual ankle pick seems like it would be a better approach though, perhaps I should look to change to that.