Last night I reread the foreword to Kyuzo Mifune’s classic The Canon of Judo (1954). It includes this:

“Judo is now looked upon with a sense of hope and expectation, not only in Japan but throughout the world. The reason for this expectation and support can be found in the fact that judo embodies in its clear and rational movements the basic conditions for the most natural and unfettered human activity. The techniques and even the essence of judo are made possible solely by its fulfillment of these basic conditions.”

And this:

“Independence has been restored to Japan, and yet world peace still eludes us. True peace is the desire of all mankind, and this means working toward a world free from all forms of evil. Judo contains many aspects of this truth; it knows no borders, and is loved by spiritual people regardless of their nationality.”

A little over the top? Sure. But only a little.

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Who is the best P4P fighter in MMA? It’s worth arguing about.

Perhaps you’ll recall from our Judo Primer last week that one of the stories headed into these Olympic games was the almost complete lack of faith the Japanese press had expressed in captain Keiji Suzuki ever since he crashed out in the second round of the world championships in Rio. Unfortunately for the 29-year-old former Olympic and world champion, he’s done it again. And probably for the last time. Suzuki was upended by a morote gari for ippon in his first match, and faired no better in the repechage.

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In a recent special report on the business of sport, The Economist wrote:

“The Olympics will allow broadcasters to show off their ability to present lots of sport simultaneously. They used to be limited to one event at a time. Now they can put several on at once, using digital channels and websites, as well as making highlights available online for days afterwards. Fans of judo should thus be as easy to satisfy as those of the 100-metre sprint.”

And that really speaks to me.

While the early mornings are starting to get me, a little — I haven’t been up this early for five consecutive days since I gave up my paper route, which was not yesterday — I remain thoroughly impressed with the availability and quality of the streaming judo. The CBC is showing only the finals of the women’s -70 kg and the men’s -90 kg, so we join the competition very much in progress.

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The first thing to say about the fourth day of judo competition in Beijing is oh my lord what a throw. Ayumi Tanimoto’s uchi mata counter to French world champion Lucie Decosse’s ouchi gari attack, that is. You can see that here. And you really should. It was slick.

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OK, now Japan can start losing it. Three days and six divisions into this tournament, and only one gold? Add in the two bronze, which gives Japan the medal lead, and it’s not as bad as it could be, but at this point this has the makings of a minor national disaster. Both Japanese athletes were out of the main draw and into the repechage early, while some slightly obscure judo nations came out on top.

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The Japanese can breathe a little easier after day two on the mats. After the disappointment of Hiroaki Hiraoka’s first-round flame out and Ryoko Tani’s failure to capture a third-straight Olympic championship, Mastao Uchishiba did everything expected of him en route to Japan’s first 2008 judo gold.

I should point out that Judovision.org has been doing a great job of assembling all of the most important matches — sometimes clipped, sometimes in full. The site has been up and down the last couple of days due to the increased Olympic traffic, but it is definitely worth a visit. I am told that the NBC site makes many of the matches available to US viewers through their “Rewind” feature, which is probably worth your attention as well. Certainly any of the medal matches can be seen at Judovision, but you might need to dig around the NBC site if you’re after something particular from the prelims.

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As the strains of an elevator music rendition of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” fill the University of Science and Technology Beijing Gymnasium between the completion of the gold medal matches and the commencement of the medal ceremonies, let’s talk some judo. Some great judo, actually.

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From August 9th through the 15th, 386 men and women from virtually every country you have ever heard of will compete in fourteen divisions at the University of Science and Technology Beijing Gymnasium for the most prestigious title in one of the world’s most widely practiced sports: judo. And it will almost certainly be really, really awesome. Japan is coming off perhaps its best showing since it introduced to the Olympics in 1964 at the Tokyo Games: in Athens, Japan took home eight gold and three silver medals. This year, however, things are comparatively wide open — at least if you listen to the Japanese press, who have virtually no faith in the men’s side of their team. There is an uncommon amount of turnover on the Japanese squad as the old guard fades away and newcomers try to live up to the enormous pressure of representing the sport’s founding nation.

Let’s take a look at some of the big stories to watch for over the next week. But let’s begin with what you can expect out of Olympic judo if this is your first exposure to the sport at its highest level.

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How have you weathered these thirty days since Kazuhiro Nakamura’s untimely release from his UFC contract, friends? Have you felt adrift? I admit that I have, a little. But I have found some measure of comfort in this disproportionate career retrospective of ours, and I hope you have as well. Disproportionate career retrospectives comforteth like sunshine after rain, it is said, and I hope this has been as true for you as it has been for me.

When we began our look back, we proceeded from three essential Kazuhiro Nakamura truths: (i) that he came to mixed martial arts from a fine career as a judo player, holding championships in international B and C level tournaments, and an impressive third-place showing in the 2001 Japanese national championships; (ii) that he managed to adapt his judo nage waza or throwing techniques to mixed martial arts better than some others (such as his training partner Hidehiko Yoshida or Polish judo legend/walking pharmacy Pawe? Nastula) who possess far more impressive judo credentials; and (iii) that while he has competed well against the best light heavyweight competition this sport has to offer, he has always been on the outside of that group looking in, never quite able to make the leap from his division’s second tier into its highest ranks. Despite having more going for him than most on the level of technique, both grappling and striking, Nakamura has never really turned out to be what it looked like he could be. Imagine Bas Rutten’s disappointment, and what the burden of that must feel like.

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