“Ssal Shin Jo” translates from Korean as “Rice Principle”.
“Rice Principle” judo was inspired by a story my Father
told me once after practice one day, when I was young and felt
particularly proud of myself. It was for something I no longer recall,
although I remember that I was boasting a bit, and my father said, “Do
you know how rice grows?”
“No,” I said, “I don’t. Why?”
“When it’s young and green, it grows like this,” he said, holding one hand in the other, and pushing his fingers slowly upwards, “the head is up and straight.
“But when it gets ripe, and the rice is ready, the head is heavy and bows down.” As he said this, the fingers and hand of the growing rice bent until they were completely bowed forward.
“Remember this, ok?”
And I have.
