Language of Judo

Judo is a sport that is derrived from Jujitsu, both of which originated in from Japan. As such, they were invented using the Japansese language and to this day all the techniques are taught in Japanese.

While this is understandably frustrating (as most of us are not fluent in Japanese), it does have a purpose. The original idea of this was designed to ensure that it was an internationally inclusive sport. in other words, the intention is for any student from any culture to be able to enter a dojo anywhere in the world and train; when the sensei says "O-Goshi" you will know what he wants. Additionally it means that all judoka when competing internationally are already familiar with the required language and do not need an English interpreter to tell them when to start/stop or the scoring etc.

Ok so we have established that there is a good practical reason for learning the techniques in Japanese, so why not just learn the names of the techniques for themselves as you would do a name or a noun, and not bother learning how to translate them. While you can do this, it can also be beneficial to learn the translation so as to be able to figure out what is being asked of you. For example: if your sensei asks you to perform O-Uchi-Gari, and you are not sure which technique it is, then knowing that the english translation is "major inside sweep" can help you determine which throw he is asking for.

So there is a practical reason for learning the japanese as well as the english translation but for some unknown reason, it is actually quite difficult to find a definitive list of words from which to refer to, either as a means of study or as a reference guide.

When teaching new students, one of the most common complaints I get is "I don't understand / will never understand the language". Now the latter is obviously quite defeatist, but I do understand the frustration, as we do not generally go to a sports club to learn another language. furthermore, the majority of students are realistically not going to train or compete internationally. Rest assured that whilst I do believe learning the language is relevant, I do not believe it is something that should have any major bearing on a students progresion through the sport and will not be significantly peanalised for not knowing the language: I would rather you know how to do the technique than know how to pronounce it. Much like the sport itself, comprehension of the language is something that will come with time and sufficient repetition.

That being said, for those students who have a particular interest in learning the language I have put together a collection of the most commonly used words that are used when you first start out. These words are grouped based on the area (body part, action, movement etc) and are colour coded depending on which belt they first appear in the sylabus. Currently it is just a google drive link however i will update this article to include it directly

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18IN0K72WNwNbzfmbgSAhZFxMD5Ro93cL6tDkXE8VEhc/edit?usp=drive_link