Myoyu Dojo Home Page

Welcome to the new Myoyu Dojo home page. Myoyu Dojo is a judo club in the Washington, DC, suburbs. We're a traditional club with modern techniques.

News

We Have Our Own Domain Name

Previously, our site was hosted by AOL Hometown. Apparently, AOL decided that they didn't want to be in the webhosting business anymore and discontinued AOL Hometown. So now http://members.aol.com/myoyudojo/ takes you to a page announcing "AOL Hometown Has Been Shutdown". That happened sometime around late September, 2008. But now we have our own domain name, myoyudojo.org, for about the same price, so no harm done.

Classes at St. Paul's CDC are temporarily on hiatus.

We have been holding classes in a back room at St. Paul's Community Development Corporation in Camp Springs, MD (hotlink to map).

However, classes are temporarily on hiatus. The St. Paul Church has had to move into the space where we would normally lay down the mats. When classes resume, this page will be immediately be updated. So please keep checking back here and hitting Refresh / Reload to get the most recent version of this page. Your patience is appreciated.

Overview of the Club

On hearing that we run a traditional club, someone once asked, "Do brownbelts have to wear white belts at your club?". No, we're not that traditional! In the American belt rank systems, all ranks above rokkyu now wear colored belts, and American judoists have come to expect this early recognition of accomplishment.

But we are traditional in the sense that we line up by rank, everyone is expected to bow to one another, Japanese terms are used, breakfall practice is mandatory, uchikomi (= "fitting", technique drills) are used extensively, the teachers may behave like drill sergeants from time to time, disobedient and/or lazy students will be punished, and we meditate at the end of every class. In addition, when 2 people work together, the higher ranking student always has the prerogative to decide who should be tori or uke first. (When the lower ranking person is still learning a technique, the higher ranking person is expected to pick being tori first, so that uke will learn the feel of the technique before being expected to do it.) Last but not least, our adherence to the samurai tradition is evidenced in the meaning of the word "myoyu".

But we're not traditional to the exclusion of modern techniques. For example, we practice yoko tomoenage, roughly 20 different versions of taiotoshi, the whole gamut of crossgrip throws and extensive matwork. For the more intellectually inclined, especially at the University of Maryland branch of the club, we analyze what make techniques work in terms of physics and mechanics, especially torque, composition and decomposition of forces, all 3 of Newton's laws of motion, and all of the simple machines (type 1, type 2 and type 3 levers, pulleys, inclined planes, wedges, etc). We use wrestling techniques freely, without disparaging them as base or crude compared to judo techniques. In fact, 4 of our people are current or former wrestling champions.

Myoyu Dojo is open to all judoka from all national organizations, but our primary club affiliation is with USJF. Judoka from other organizations will not be pressured to join USJF, and, to whatever extent possible, belt rank promotion via other organizations will be supported (preparation for examinations, promotional tournament information, etc).

Where We Are

We have worked out at 5 sites since 1974, and currently work out only at St. Paul's Community Development Corporation:

• St. Paul's Community Development Corporation
  • MapQuest map
  • Address: 5813 Allentown Way, Camp Springs, MD.
  • Classes are Mondays and Wednesdays, 7:00-9:00 PM, except on Federal Holidays, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
  • If you arrive after 7 and there's no one at 5817 Allentown Way to let you in, knock on the side door (5813 Allentown Way).
  • Membership is FREE OF CHARGE, but a liability waiver is required.

Who we are