Blog Mission Statement

What does “Making your judo work” really mean? We all know, from personal experience, that judo is a very challenging endeavor. Beginners who have stayed with judo for several months get very thrilled when a single challenge is won. They have done something that helps make their judo work. Advanced judoka discover a heretofore unknown method of achieving a judo goal, and they are again appreciative of judo’s ability to offer a lifetime opportunity for challenge and refinement. This happens when something has made their judo work.

I am a writer, and I have been writing about judo since forever. I covered the Pan American Games Trials and the World Judo Championships of 1967 for Judo Illustrated Magazine. For a couple decades wrote and published Judo Development News, a hard copy newsletter monthly covering events in Minnesota judo. Following this, I published the Judo Compass, online essays on many aspects of judo, still available on my website, www.cronejudo.com. Not bragging, just confessing a compulsion. 

The goal of these blogs is to make a contribution to your judo life.  They also give me an opportunity to tell some tales and pontificate. I will tell you about the things I’m interested in, about the “inside” secrets that make certain techniques work more easily, and experiences I’ve had that improved my judo.

This is intended to be of lasting interest and use for everybody, young, old, beginner or veteran, guy or gal. Since all judo techniques are the same, no matter who is trying to do them, the things that make them work apply across the board. 

• One post might be about something that will improve a single technique, Such as “3 Ways to Improve Tai-Otoshi”.
• Another might be about an overall application, such as “Kuzushi is Down”.
• Perhaps an event, “When the 1977 USA World Team Coach told me The Four Words That Changed My Judo Forever”. 
• Some might be a bit esoteric: Leverage, Torque, Momentum, Rendezvous.
• Then, a favorite category, "Things I Learned by Losing".
• Randori no Kata, as it relates to randori and how to make it functional will have some moments.

The famous samurai, Musashi, the “Sword Saint” of Japan, said, “Know one thing, know 10,000.” It has been said, "Every small world harbors a big world".  I learned over time that often what looks like a small sub-sub-genre of judo actually contains all the great thoughts and concepts that are the essence of judo. I haven't come close to discovering "all" of them. I am certain there exists a lifetime or two more to uncover. This is all the more reason why knowing "the one thing" is so important. 

Judo  presents a lifetime opportunity for challenge and enlightenment. Indeed, this is true of many personal pursuits, from playing an instrument to bird calling. I feel badly for those who only dabble at endeavors that could bring them such ongoing and golden rewards, then abandon them, never finding one that suits their tastes. On the bright side, facing challenges and learning how to win them can carry on into many other endeavors, and the rewards remain. I still experience new judo discoveries after sixty-plus years as a judoka. In my daily life, I try to follow the two foundational principles of Jita Kyoei and Seir Yokuzenyo. 

By reading and hopefully enjoying the content of Making Your Judo Work, you might simply halt and consider the given contribution as sufficient in and of itself; or, you could use it as a launch pad to explore the “galaxy” it leads to. Therefore, the project is as simple or complex as you grok it to be. 

If you received this via email, you will very soon be invited to my first blog, More Pull - Get Lower. The subject line will be: Crone Judo Blog. 

So, let's Hajime!