Kodokan Goshin-jutsu
講道館護身術 · Kodokan goshinjutsu
Literally: „Self-defense skills of the Kodokan“
Also known as: Kodokan Goshin Jutsu, Kodokan goshinjutsu, Goshin Jutsu no Kata, Goshinjutsu-no-kata
A 1956 judo self-defense kata: 21 defenses against unarmed attacks and attacks with a knife, stick and pistol. Unlike the older Kime no kata, it has no sword attacks.
Quick Facts
About the kata
The Kodokan established the Kodokan goshinjutsu kata in 1956, and until the introduction of Kodomo no kata it was its newest kata. According to the English Wikipedia it is a more modern self-defense set than Kime no kata: instead of sword attacks, tori defends here against a stick and a pistol. The same Wikipedia notes that the kote hineri and kote gaeshi locks from this kata are commonly known aikido techniques, and judoinfo.com sees in it the influence of Kenji Tomiki, Kano's student, who studied aikido under its founder. The kata has 21 techniques in two unarmed and three armed parts, which judoinfo.com calls toshu no bu and buki no bu. The first seven defenses address close grabs, the next five address strikes and kicks from a distance, followed by three knife attacks, three stick attacks and three pistol attacks. Most of the defenses tori uses in the kata are banned in competitive shiai and in randori, so they can only be practiced in the kata. Judoinfo.com nonetheless stresses that all of them follow judo's principle as a way of gentleness and yielding. The same source describes that with longer practice uke attacks faster and tori's reactions sharpen.
Meaning of the name
The English Wikipedia translates the name 講道館護身術 as self-defense skills of the Kodokan. The technique names describe the attack: ryote dori a two-hand grab, ushiro jime a rear strangle, kakae dori a rear bear hug, tsukkake a knife thrust, furioroshi an overhead stick strike, and haimen zuke a pistol at the back.
Creator and history
According to the English Wikipedia, Kenji Tomiki was appointed in 1952 to the Kodokan committee tasked with establishing goshinjutsu. Aikidosangenkai.org states that the committee worked for roughly three years and that Tomiki played a leading role; the same source says the first public demonstration was given by Tomiki and Tadao Otaki at the New Year's Kagami biraki in 1956. In 1958 Tomiki published the book Kodokan Goshin-jutsu, which Wikipedia calls the most important book on this kata.
Bunkai – applications
Judoinfo.com describes how tori resolves each attack. Against a two-hand grab (ryote dori) tori breaks the grip against the attacker's thumb, strikes the temple with the palm edge and finishes with an elbow-and-wrist lock. In a rear strangle (ushiro jime) tori tucks the chin, pulls the arm off the neck, steps under it and finishes with te gatame. A diagonal head strike (naname uchi) and an overhead stick swing (furiage) both end with the osotogari sweep, a straight face strike (gammen tsuki) with a strike to the floating ribs and the hadaka jime strangle. Against a forward knife thrust (choku zuki) tori uses waki gatame, against a downward thrust (naname zuki) the kote gaeshi throw, ude garame and disarming. A pistol at the stomach (shomen zuke) is gripped from above and turned into the attacker's armpit; with a pistol at the hip (koshi gamae) the attacker's finger stays in the trigger guard and breaks.
The hardest part
According to judoinfo.com the intent differs from ordinary judo training: in this self-defense kata both partners mean to hurt each other. Execution is controlled so uke is not injured, but the defenses can easily be adapted to disable the attacker. The source shows this in the defense against a side kick (yoko geri): in the kata tori pulls uke onto his back and drops to the left knee, whereas in reality he would leave the right knee behind the attacker so uke falls back onto it. In the first knife defense (tsukkake) the attacker hides the weapon from tori's sight, and per the same source the kata can eventually be practiced with real weapons too.
In competition
At the 2021 World Kata Championships in Lisbon, Kodokan goshinjutsu was one of five competition katas alongside Nage no kata, Katame no kata, Ju no kata and Kime no kata. It was won by the Japanese pair Koo Ikeda and Fumitaka Sakamaki, ahead of the French pair Claude Jaume and Brice Benard and the Portuguese pair Pedro Goncalves and Paulo Moreira.
Competition status
- Judo IJF (International Judo Federation) – Judo — Official kata list ↗
In grading syllabi
- IJF system (dan grades): 4th dan
Key Tip
Against a pistol pressed to the stomach (shomen zuke), judoinfo.com says tori raises hands slowly, watches the attacker's eyes and acts only at the right moment; when the pistol is at the back (haimen zuke), tori first looks to see which arm the attacker raises.