Mutual benefit

Not really sure whether to share this little rambling with the world or not, but I guess that's the nature of blogs. Somewhere to scribble whatever randomness you may be thinking of that no one else is interested in!


No doubt you are all aware of the basic rules of etiquette within the Judo dojo, clean kits, short nails, shoes off the mat, that sort of thing.

How often do you think about other aspects of behaviour that go beyond the written rules.
Concepts such as Jita kyoei (mutual welfare and benefit), what does it mean to you?

Is it simply "look after your training partner" or more than that?

I like to think it extends beyond that, simple things like working together to help everyones Judo improve.

That may be 2 seniors having a hard scrap and learning from each other, someone less experienced being able to train with his senior and learning from him, and of course the senior grades being able to experiment a little when practising with lower grades.

As you progress on your Judo journey, how many people have given up time from their training to help you develop?

There will come times (more and more as you get more experienced) when you are able to return the favour, not directly to those people that helped you perhaps,
but certainly you can give something back to Judo simply by giving some of your time and experience in sessions to work with those with less experience.

This principle can also be applied to simple things such as working together in doing those boring tasks that no-one wants to do, like moving mats at the start or end of the session.

As members of a dojo pitch in and work together the general feeling of mutual benefit within the club will grow and you end up with a close Judo family, it won't take long before other members of the club notice and get rather annoyed at the same player(s) that do everything they can to waste time rather than pitching in.

How many times have you had these selfish folk at your Judo club - those that are only interested in their own Judo and will try to avoid doing anything other than what benefits themselves? How do you get them to join in as everyone else does?

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