http://www.fightline.com/one-one-judo-gene-lebell-part-1-exclusive/ You need everything, top and bottom, passing, leg locks, and a solid guard game, no one thing is a magic bullet, even uncle gene says so!
I wholeheartedly agree, assumption is the mother of all mess ups, so you gotta have a contingency for everything, granted, i was lead to believe Gotch trained people to immediately go for the feet in some way, be it an ankle lock or heel hook when ever someone pulled guard, but that doesn't mean i subscribe to the theory, even though i firmly believe if he was still alive today, he turn me into a human pretzel regardless.
Doing JJJ without learning anything about weapons, is like trying to learn to drive without a car... In JJJ, everything, let me emphasise that point, EVERYTHING relates back to the use of weapons... This is something many in the 'western JJ' systems like WJJF miss, and it really shows. Do you practice defenses from wrist grabs in your club? It's weapon training that will really make you understand that. Is there any emphasis on your hip placement in your training? If yes, it's weapon training that will make you understand that, if there's not, then you certainly aren't doing anything related to JJJ.. And so much more................ Do you have to be an expert? Hell no... you don't need to know the history of the motor car to pass your driving test, if you wanted to be an expert swordsman for example you'd go and join a sword Ryu - but does a knowledge of the basics make an impact on your JJ training? Most definitely! Without getting into a WJJF isn't really JJJ debate (although I've actually just said it) you mention the first few grades having all that is relevant. At the level you are currently, it would be very difficult for you to be able to accurately define what's relevant or not - the techniques you've learned, will not work in the real world, period, if you don't have the structure to back them up, if you practice with a straw man attacker, etc - sure they can look cool, but in a real fight your attacker will be responsive, you have to factor in what happens when the body is in motion - very different to the normal dojo training you see in WJJF type schools - no matter how tough the guy looks demonstrating it, or how much it hurts when he applies a technique - anyone can do that when their partner lets them... You've learned techniques, and have a basic understanding of them, that's what black belt / Shodan (Beginner Level) is really about, after that it's about you really understanding them inside and out, different applications, understanding how to escape them and counter - you never stop learning, especially not at Shodan level... What you said about revisiting the basics is spot on IMO, but it shouldn't be a case of revisiting, it should just always be a part of training, but never let yourself think you know it already, as that's when you will stop progressing... When doing weapons training, look for where you see similarities in your JJ training, where the same concept transfers across, once you start spotting them and understanding them, your JJ will get better! So why practice sword, stick, whatever it is in your club, when there are so many guns in the world? You might not have a gun when your attacked, or might not be able to get to it if you do, in general you are not allowed to carry a gun in any case - Samurai were allowed to carry swords, but they still practiced JJ and similar things, granted you hopefully wont have a sword on you either, but the concepts you learn through the training can apply to most items you could grab, or even if not will make your empty hand that much better, and that could be the difference between walking away or not...
Regardless of their practicality, weapons force you to be perfect. You can eat a punch to take someone down. You can't eat a sword strike and function at all, most likely. Using weapons like swords and staves make you very aware of angles and timing. Perfecting "true time" as George Silver describes it takes a long time for a beginner. Longer weapons force you to pay attention to a wider field of vision too. The likelihood is, you'll never have to defend yourself in a "real" situation. Thus training self-defence is not very practical either in as far as "will you ever use it". Even though I spend a fair of time on SD and unarmed in general, I actually use my sword arts much more outside of class since I fight in HEMA tournaments.
