Kudo in Details: Useful Information on Beautiful and Young Martial Art

Kudo is one of the youngest martial arts that have ever existed in the world. Nowadays, this combat sport keeps developing dynamically. In addition to that, it is becoming more and more popular with every passing day not only in Japan, but also in many other world countries.

General Rules

As soon as this martial art is the combination of a few combat sports, it is governed by peculiar and specific rules. There are various competitions for athletes of different age groups, while it is allowed both for men and women to participate in these events. All the athletes’ movements and actions must not violate the kudo general rules. As for them, they allow using almost all wrestling holds, painful and submission holds, kicks and hits with all the limbs, knees, and heads aimed at all parts of opponents’ bodies except for back, throat, back of the head, and joints. What is more, specific limitations are applied to fighters according to their age and a current position.

It is interesting that kudo has 10 student’s and 10 master’s degrees. The particular degree determines the color of a belt that is given to every kudo fighter. It is this color that helps distinguish between experienced and beginner fighters at first glance. All these belts have the same width, and one of their ends should bear a special kudo logo.

General Principles

Practicing kudo can help develop perfect physical and mental characteristics. Kudo fighters learn who to educate themselves and sophisticate their brain possibilities. Furthermore, kudo shows people how to communicate and behave with others as well as enrich one’s emotions. Consequently, the given martial art provides its fighters with perfect opportunities to develop their personal qualities in order to make a positive contribution to society.

Equipment

Kudo training sessions happen in traditional wrestling gyms where the floors are covered with mats. When it comes to official competitions, they should be held on special tatami mats with particular marking. To tell the truth, kudo marking is not very different from that for karate and judo events. To participate in a competition, every fighter should have the protective equipment that consists of the following elements:

• a mouth guard;
• a protective mask;
• a pelvic guard;
• special gloves;
• shin guards;
• a chest pad (obligatory for novice fighters, women, and children);
• bandages for hands.

As for the uniform, kudo fighters should wear either white or blue kimonos. In addition to that, it is prohibited put on protective elements over the kimono.

Technique

It should be clear that kudo is not that same as karate; there are particular differences between the two. The most principal among them is that kudo fighters do not have any formalization of their movements (i.e., there is no specific succession that kudo athletes should follow). Instead, these fighters are free to perform varies kicks, throws, and their combination both at training sessions and during official competitions.

It is necessary to give credit to Takashi Azuma who revised a lot of martial art techniques and chose the most effective kicks and holds that could be useful to beat an opponent in a few seconds. It is quite easy to determine elements that were borrowed from other combat sports:

• hand hitting technique was borrowed from boxing;
• hits with knees and elbows – from Muay Thai;
• submission holds and throws – from judo and sambo;
• kicking technique – from kyokushin kaikan karate.

Another kudo peculiarity was represented by the fact that it allowed participating representatives of different martial arts if they met the condition of having the necessary qualities and abilities that are specified by the kudo official rules.

History

As has been mentioned, the new martial art was created thanks to the activity of Japanese master of martial arts, coach, and philosopher, Takashi Azuma.

From a practical point of view, he created a combat sport on the basis of existing martial arts: karate, boxing, judo, and Muay Thai. From a philosophical point of view, however, the master filled his creation with the ancient Oriental wisdom. He emphasized that there were no easy paths that would lead to successful results. That is why every warrior should overcome pain and fear to find his own road to success. Faith and truth were considered the most important elements of the new martial art.

When the new combat style was presented to the public in 1981, it resembled a bombshell effect. It was positively appreciated by journalists, experienced masters, and representatives of other martial arts. This combat sport obtained its modern name only in 2001.