Judo Unleashed by Neil Ohlenkamp

A lot of folks in the Judo world thought this book would become the new basic, standard text for Judo. Old stand-bys like Kano’s Kodokan Judo and Mifune’s Cannon of Judo were starting to show their age. These books suffered from the deficiencies of the photography of their time and their technique descriptions were not always clear – most of the classic texts were written in Japanese and translated into English. It was time for a new, modern, English-language text for the Judo world.

Neil Ohlenkamp certainly has the credentials to undertake the creation of such a new text. He is a long-time respected coach and the originator of jundoinfo.com, a kind of on-line home for all things Judo. So, did he succeed?
It terms of production quality, the book is tremendous. All the techniques are rendered in clear, full-color photographs. There are plenty of colorful diagrams and other beautiful photos, including some beautiful shots of Judo on the beach. The pages are all clean, well-designed and easy to read. It’s just flat-out pretty.

In terms of content, Judo Unleashed puts itself into strange territory in two important ways.

First, the text largely pulls the information collected on judoinfo.com… which is free. There are more throws described on-line and they are often described in wider variety. The book shows each technique in great pictures, but on-line you can find pictures, drawings, animations and articles on the same techniques (and a few not in the book). This doesn’t make any of that content bad, it’s just, under the circumstances, I’m more likely to recommend the website instead of the book.

Second, it doesn’t really stake out an audience and cater to them. It appeals to beginners a lot, but not completely, and shows lots of techniques but not a lot of advanced material. The book’s own promotional website explains it as such:

“There is no other Judo book like this, but of course, Judo Unleashed will not be everything for everyone. Although it is an excellent choice for beginners since it will guide them for several years, it does not demonstrate how to do falls, explain class safety rules, or other basics usually learned in the first few months of Judo training. It is not full of new ideas for high ranking black belts or advanced competitors, focusing more on the basics needed to earn a black belt, although it does have plenty of useful information for anyone.”

Those oddities aside, there is some good material in the text. Each throw is rendered in detail with a series of color action shots. The key points are outlined in a bullet list on each page, including a breakdown of other throws that are often used as combinations or counters. Most of the throws have a foot positioning diagrams that, at first, looks like a real aid to learning the throws. After a few pages it’s clear that most of the techniques use a similar arrangement and the diagram is largely useless.

The real gems of the experienced Judoka are some of the variations pictured, including Japanese names. Some of my favorites include a double sleeve grip version of Ippon Seoinage that feels amazing when you pull off.

The grappling section is limited, with only a few techniques and most of those depicted with a single static photograph. The kata section is limited to listing the names of the techniques found in a few katas.

Overall, the book is a good intro for beginners or as a reference for instructors. I would recommend it to anyone just starting in Judo or those who want a reference text for the wide range of throws and Japanese terms. Otherwise, unless you just have to have another very good-looking book in your martial library, you can skip it.