Kyuzo Mifune: God of Judo

Kyuzo Mifune was possibly the greatest judo technician ever.  Beginning Judo training at age 13 or 14, by 30 he was already a 6th dan under Kano,  and nicknamed "The God of Judo".   At 40, and all of 5'2" tall and 100 pounds, he defeated a 6' tall 240 pound challenger who was skilled in sumo.

Mifune wrote one of the best Judo books, The Canon of Judo: Classic Teachings on Principles and Techniques.  Out of print for many years, a new translation is out as a reasonable price.

Fortunately for us, there is reasonable footage of him as an old man throwing younger and larger opponents all over the place.  In particular, at 2:30 Mifune demonstrates utsuri goshi  (our 9th hip throw) as a counter to harai goshi (5th hip throw), which I have been working on with a couple of my students; followed by utsuri goshi as a counter to hane goshi (6th hip throw):



Isn't that wonderful?  Observe how fluid and mobile Mifune is, generating enormous power (and lift!) from motion rather than brute strength.

Inspiring stuff.  Watch it again and again: repeat viewing will reveal new insights.