I agree with this. When I studied judo, I was used as uke for the kime no kata. It was painful! The techniques in that kata (and others) are very effective and hurt just as much as some of the classical jujutsu kata I've felt. Nick
Well there must be a number of schools who practice it for there to be kata competitions featured at a lot of tournaments, including large competitions like the Pan-Am games.
i've trained at two different judo schools and they both taught the katas. Also newaza was taught as an essential part of the curriculum at both schools. I must be lucky to never have gone to a Mc Dojo!
Just because a judo school doesn't teach the kata doesn't make it a McDojo. What it means is that that school puts more emphasis on the individual techniques and their uses in competition, rather than the flowy, ritualised form. These same clubs rarely emphasise self defence either, again because they prefer the competition side. Judo is many things in modern society. If a club doesn't conform to your idea of normality, it is not automatically a McDojo.
Is there an agreed definition of a McDojo? Are they limited only to frauds, or can genuine arts also fall victim to McDojo status?
McDojo was originally a term used to describe dojo where you paid a fair bit of money for very poor quality instruction, and could usually get very high rank with minimal ability (hence the phrase "Welcome to McDojo, would you like fries with your black belt). It now seems to apply equally to anywhere where you get bad tuition, pay large bills, get rank quickly, don't compete, do kata, don't do kata, have a questionable lineage, don't have any lineage, have a fully tracable lineage, etc, all depending on the point of view of the person using the phrase.
OK, I wasn't sure if it also included legitimate styles. I would guess though that being a McDojo goes hand in hand with a fraudulent lineage.
If you ask me, a school which puts more emphasis on competition, than it does on Kata; is a school I would rather attend.
Two points: 1) I agree with Yuki, personally. 2) I've heard many people use the word "McDojo" to describe anything that isn't completely hardcore, not just the kind of bad schools Aegis is talking about. Shame really.
My dojo doesn't teach katas so I attend another club for kata tuition. But I would never refer to my dojo as a mcdojo. It just doesn't have an expert in kata's in its ranks.
Personally, I don't care for the katas either. I think the throws and training methodology are sufficient for self defense, but some people are hung up on those deadly moves you can use on the street. I was just pointing out that the self-defense katas are still practiced today. I enjoy kata, but only as a historical reference and a demonstration of control. I don't think you need to do kata to be a legitimate judo dojo.
I think that if the students (and the instructor) at a club are good at what they claim to be able to do then they are, by definition, not a mcdojo.
