Judo as Self-Defence

Although ability in a judoman to throw, strangle or put an arm lock on an adversary makes him somebody to fear in a brawl, judo itself is not a complete system of self-defence. The judoman, although practising some form of kicking or striking in kata, is not thereby made completely efficient.

All the combat arts are deficient in one way or another. A boxer is vulnerable to attacks at a low level or in close quarters. The karate man is weak on the ground or perhaps due to the continuous pulling of his opponents' punches and kicks is not able to take punishment in the way a boxer does. A judoman is vulnerable to kicks and punches. It takes a combination of all the combat arts to acquire a complete defence.

The ideal would be a judoman who boxes and does karate for the kicking techniques. However, a practitioner of any one of these combat arts will be fit, will have good reflexes, will be strong and without dithering will be able to attack instantly with his particular techniques. This puts such men at a huge advantage over the average untrained man.