So I (Stu) am in Japan for 2 months and am training at the Kodokan. Training at the Kodokan is available everyday but the people there can vary from day to day as so many people like to drop in. On Tuesday I was lucky enough to do Ne-waza and Tachi-waza with  Caludio Calasans . He is both a Judo and BJJ black belt and smashed me both on the ground and standing up. He is over in Japan to do a series of seminars and is a very nice and humble guy. He didn't even seem to mind that much when I didn't know who he was. Needless to say I was embarrassed to find out he is both the current IBJJF U82kg Champion and the Winner of the 2015 ADCC Absolute category!!!! I guess I really need to start paying more attention to my sport :-(

Success 5 out of 5 So our second chance to get a shodan rolled around at Osaka Castle Martial arts hall on the 7th of September. This grading Shiai has been very good to the Auckland University club as in 2012 Khan, Wayne, Lucas and Andrew successfully got there black belts here. In Osaka adults only need 3 shiai wins to get a black belt so as we only had one chance at it Chris, Henry, Igor and Vladimir needed to win 3 in a row (I only needed 2 as I had wins from 2012). We all succeeded. Thanks to Matsuura Sensei of Daishen club for enrolling us and Brian Shaw for helping us out on the day. I won one fight by Wazari (taking it easy after I knew I was up) and one fight by ippon Tomonage. Result Caption The rewards of success.

Henry and I spending 800 yen for luck.  So Henry Chris and I took the Shinkansen to Kyoto on Sunday. This is one of the most used long distance train lines in the world and it takes 2 hours to travel the 250 km in air conditioned comfort and with more legroom than business class. In Kyoto we are staying at K's house hostel which has to be one of the cleanest nicest and cheap hostels around. We got a 4 person dorm room as we are waiting for Igor to come on Tuesday. Our first training was Monday 10:30am at the Kyoto police dojo. Look at how nice this place After some trouble finding the entrance to the dojo we were welcomed and escorted to the best mat area I have ever seen . 4 full sized judo competition areas long and on a sprung floor, down stars is kendo and upstairs is shared between judo and taiho jitstu. The police were all very nice and didn't smash us as badly as the could but we all spent a while looking up at the ceiling. Chris getting his shoulder fixe...

Obviously, I didn't want to show them up with my six pack. Before Henry, Chris and I left Tokyo for Kyoto we visited our sister club in Ashikaga. We where hosted by Kristy and Tomohiro Naito, who our club members had met competing in the All Japan Masters 2 years ago. They had hosted the Auckland University Masters team last year and had invited us to train with them this year too. After some delays caused by Chris coming down with a day long case of the Roppongi flu we took an hour long train to Ashikaga station were we were met by Kristy Tomohiro and their two sons (Tomo and Hiro :-) The weather was better and we actually saw some blue skies in Ashikaga during Henry's first car ride in Japan (we have been using the train system all through Tokyo). We visited Tomohiro's parent's Buddhist temple then hung out at their house before Judo started at 8:30 pm for the senior class. Henry had a good workout but I was still recovering from the same aliment as Chris and ...

This was our first grading competition in Tokyo. The aim was to win 3 fights in a row to directly grade to Judo Black Belt. So we were put on the list and Henry was at 11, Chris was at 12 and I was 15 out of 15 (which meant I could only win one fight :-( ) Henry beat two Japanese and then lost to Chris with a Harai Makakomi. Chris then fought a Frenchman living in Thailand to a draw. I then fought the Frenchman, tried a flying armbar and then pinned him for the win.

Post training warm down Henry, Chris and I (Stu) from the University Judo club are visiting Japan and attending some competitions here hoping to earn our Shodan in Judo. First up is a grading in the Kodokan (the home of Judo) in Tokyo. To help with this we were hosted by Marunouchi Police Judo club (despite the name it is composed of successful Japanese business men) for a Randori session. In this club they let you do your own warm up, then 6 people put on red belts and fight for as many 4 minute rounds as you can take, you then swap your red belt with someone. How I explain that I am vegetarian in Japan

Hi, Do not forget that our club members (that is the ones that are on automatic payments) have free access to all the Judo classes as well (held on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday). Please note there are in need for sparring partners on Friday night class. See below link for details. http://www.judokong.com/#!/2014/02/judo-beat-copauckland-police-club.html

Congratulations Igor (Judo green belt) and Matt who were the winners of our informal internal comp so I can give away some souvenirs I got from the Kodokan . We divided the 9 players into a heavy (5 players) and a light (4 players) division. Matt (Judo black belt) who showed up to compete won the heavy division, and Igor (Judo green belt, but at least he has been training with us for a while) won the light division. Here is the heavy division final fight, Luan and Matt. And a minute after this fight we asked Matt to compete in an overall final with Igor. Then training continued with randori and technique till 7:30.

Well the team and I decided to get out of Tokyo and see A local district club. This really was the definition of local as were hosted by Tomohiro san who we had met at the masters. His family also run the local Buddhist temple and preschool. The training was good japanese tradition dictated that they gave team nz red belts and threw high school students, senior and masters players at us for 5 rounds. After that it was free practice but we tried to keep 2 new zealanders on the mat all times. Luckily, for us they kept us on a masters time table of 2 minute rounds. Unfortunately, at the end of randori Dmitry hurt his leg fighting one of the top high school u100 players in japan. But he did get a black belt in return.

 View from the top Well that was a good two days for Auckland University Judo and aucklandbjj.com. We got two gold medals Vitaly Alileuv in M4 u100 and Alan Greene in M6 u100 and I got a sneaky silver in M2 u100. The day started at 9am at the kodokan with all of the 730 athletes lined up on the 7th floor mats. It was impressive seeing all the judoka up to M11 (that's 85) still competing and having fun with judo. The kodokan is a fantastic venue with the 5th 6th and 7th floor all containing matted areas. In fact, to access the competition area on the 7th floor you take the lift to the 4th floor, leave your shoes there and walk up 3 flights of stairs to the 7th, which is quite a feat if you are 85 (or even 37!) My first fight was at 14:45 so I had plenty of time to look at all the other fights. I was very lucky with my draw and had a bye straight into the semi finals. The draw was strange as the Russian in my division needed to win twice to get to the semi finals ...

Well here I am in Tokyo to compete in the 2013 Asian masters. Today we decided to weigh in in the morning as some people were worried about their weight and wanted a chance to eat something. Weigh in was at 9am at the Kodokan, the home of Judo. It was a pretty cool building with 3 floors of mats each 4 competition areas big. I easily made weight at 97kg for the under 100 category. And everyone else made weight too, though some people had not been eating for 2 days. Then we went and rode the roller coaster near Tokyo Dome. Where Dmitry caused a security alert because he snuck his camera onto the roller coaster. After all the mall cops were scrambled to move people out of the way of the falling camera the sent someone up to remove the camera from him before they let us continue the ride. After that brush with the law we went to Roppongi to check out the view from 50 floors up. I went back to the hostel to do some work and to have a nap. I turned up to the Kodokan at 1...

American Travis Stevens will be competing at the famous Copa Podio de Jiu Jitsu. It will be for the Middleweight Grand Prix on Saturday 8 September 2013. Compatriot American Keenan Cornelius will also take part. Australian Kit Dale from Check Mat will complete the trio of talented foreigner competing in Brazil. I don’t think that making a new sport is a good idea,” Stevens answers. “Each sport needs to have its own identity. You get BJJ and judo any closer, we wont know the difference. But there are things a judo player can take from BJJ and things a BJJ player can take from judo. If you’re going to be great at one sport you need to take things from both, otherwise there will be holes in your game that people can exploit.”. http://mmafrenzy.com/91644/blending-judo-back-into-mma-bjj-a-visit-with-travis-stevens/      

BJJ scout has some fantastic videos where he breaks down the specific games and techniques of famous BJJ competititors. I suggested you become familiar with his youtube account. See below link for more information on Rodolfo http://www.bjjheroes.com/bjj-fighters/rodolfo-vieira-bjj-wiki In the following video, he breaks down Rodolfo Vieira throws. Rodolfo is re known for his throws and how he applies them successfully of BJJ competitions. In this video, BJJ scout covers: Morote Seoinage Kouchi Gari Ouchi Gari. If you want to read more info on throws from BJJ scout. https://bjjscout.wordpress.com/2013/07/07/rodolfo-vieira-takedown-study-part-1-a-study-of-planes/

Stu and myself were invited to their mid-winter party. It was hosted at the Tanuki restaurant on queen street. For $45, I had prawns, oysters, tuna and salmon sashimi, chicken, steak, dessert and one large beer. Brilliant deal.  I spent the evening discussing techniques and learning strategies.  I learned an interesting kimura grip which was taught at the kodokan.  Be a good mate and don't let your team mate fill up his own beer glass. Such tradition must lead to some epic drinking session.