Ju-no-Kata

Quick Facts

About the kata

Ju no kata is practised in pairs: uke attacks and tori responds. The Kodokan describes it as an expressive, gymnastic series of attacks and defences in slow, restrained movements. It consists of three sets – dai ikkyo, dai nikyo and dai sankyo – of five techniques each, fifteen in total. The first set begins with Tsuki dashi and ends with Ago oshi, the second runs from Kiri oroshi to Katate age, the third from Obi tori to Ryogan tsuki. No throw is completed, so per the English Wikipedia it can also be practised without a judogi and outside the dojo. DC Judo notes it is gentle only in name: attacks and counter-attacks at a slowed tempo with many atemi waza strikes, including a jab to the eyes. Judo-encyclopedia.com writes that the kata teaches lifting and moving uke economically, with appropriate force and calmly, practised smoothly, without interruption. The same source says it gives good insight into breaking balance and emphasises control, achieved through economy of movement.

The kata in different styles

Meaning of the name

The name is written 柔の形. The character 柔, also read yawara, is the same as in the word judo; Carl De Crée and Llyr Jones (Archives of Budo, 2009) interpret it as "yielding, soft", the opposite of go 剛, "hard". The English Wikipedia translates the name as "forms of gentleness" and writes that the kata is meant to teach the basic principles of judo, especially the principle of ju – yielding, or gentleness. Judo-encyclopedia.com compares this principle to a willow: the roots hold firmly in the ground while the branches bend in the wind.

Creator and history

According to the English Wikipedia, Jigoro Kano compiled the kata around 1887, when so many people practised judo that he could no longer advise everyone personally during free randori practice. The year 1887 is also given by the Kodokan New Japanese-English Dictionary of Judo, cited by the De Crée and Jones study; the authors add they have not been able to verify the original source of this date. The same study gives, as one of two conflicting hypotheses, that Kano created go no kata as a complement to ju no kata. Kotani et al. (1968) and Otaki and Draeger (1983) place ju no kata, with Seiryoku zenyo kokumin taiiku, among rentai no kata, forms of physical education.

In competition

At the IJF Kata World Championships, competition takes place in five katas: besides Ju no kata these are Nage no kata, Katame no kata, Kime no kata and Kodokan goshin jutsu (IJF, 2021). The same five are given by the rules printed in the 2015 Kata World Championships programme in Amsterdam.

Competition status

• Judo IJF (International Judo Federation) – Judo — Official kata list ↗

In grading syllabi

• IJF system (dan grades): 5th dan