The Shintaro Higashi Show - Judo Has A Branding Problem | The Shintaro Higashi Show

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

In this solo episode, Shintaro Higashi breaks down why judo has a branding problem—especially in the United States. He explores how judo is misunderstood by the general public and even feared by other martial artists, while highlighting how we can shift perceptions to grow the art.Whether you're a judo coach, a BJJ practitioner, or just curious about martial arts culture and business, this one’s for you.00:00 Misconceptions About Judo in the U.S.01:00 How Different Audiences Perceive Judo02:00 Judo as a Martial Art and a Sport03:00 Judo for Self-Defense and Lifestyle04:00 Injury Perception and Media Framing05:00 Competing With Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu06:00 Making Judo Easier and Safer to Learn07:00 A Call to Action for Judo Instructors and Dojo Owners🚨 LIMITED-TIME OFFER: 40% OFF 🚨The All-in-One Instructional Bundle just got even better.Every major instructional. One complete system. Now at our biggest discount yet.Grab yours now at 40% off : https://higashibrand.com/products/all-instructionalsThis won’t last. Build your game today.🔥 Get 20% OFF FUJI Gear! 🔥Looking to level up your judo training with the best gear? FUJI Sports has you covered. Use my exclusive link to grab 20% OFF high-quality gis, belts, bags, and more.👉 https://www.fujisports.com/JUDOSHINTARO 👈No code needed – just click and save!Links:🇯🇵 Kokushi Budo Institute (The Dojo) Class Schedule in New York, NY 🗽: https://www.kokushibudo.com/schedule🇯🇵 Higashi Brand Merch & Instructionals: https://www.higashibrand.com📚 Shintari Higashi x BJJ Fanatics Judo Courses & Instructionals Collection: https://bjjfanatics.com/collections/shintaro-higashi/

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Judo has a branding problem. When you go to Japan and you say judo, people think, oh, little kids. Millions of kids doing judeau. judo, academic school systems, bow, posture, kids doing it during gym class. And then you also think like Inouye, Abe, Shohei, Olympic champion, Japanese physical sport excellence. That's what you think when you say judo in Japan. USA, you say judo, they think judo chop.

Hey, buddy, are you doing that karate thing? Right? And that's just one segment of the market. when you talk to a martial artist though hey man I do judo do you want to come to judo you want to go to the dojo and learn some judo you say that to a jiu jitsu guy they immediately think oh knee injury shoulder injury getting slammed

not fun you said it to an ikeido guy you know fingers kind of being mangled and knees and trips so you know you have one end of the spectrum when you have the general population of the United States citizens. They think, ah, karate, kids thing, martial arts, judo chop, ha, ha, ha. And then you get the guys who do martial arts who are like, oh, my God, it's so very difficult. You don't really capture the essence of what it actually is. And judo is very, very special. And the way you guys talk about it really, really matters because it's mind space. It's mind sure. That's what

marketing and branding is about. What do you think when we say judo? The way I like to think about it is first and foremost, a martial art slash sport hybrid. Yes, it's definitely a hybrid thing. It is a martial art and it is a sport. And those two things can exist simultaneously. And, you know, for the people who are like, oh, it's not, you can easily criticize anything and say, oh, it's not a great martial art because, you know, X, Y, and Z. But we're talking about just protecting yourself day-to-day average. You take a guy that's never worked out before, throw him in a dojo, three years, you make it fun and easy, they stay in shape, they get jacked, they lose a lot of weight, whatever it is, that person's going to be able to defend themselves in three

years, if you do Judo. Average guy, out of shape, smoke cigarettes, causing troubles on the street, they like pick you out, and then you grab them and you slam them. That's self-defense. that's martial arts. There you go. And there's that embedded philosophy of respect, caring yourself, discipline. All those things are there too. On the discipline side, the martial side. And of course, there is the whole IJF circuit and the sports side. You can watch it. You can consume it. You can see the champions. You could interact with them. There's Instagram stars and it's a full-blown sport with superstars. So, judo is a martial arts slash sports hybrid.

That's first and foremost. Who is it for? Now, that's the thing. We really, really want to grow each segment. And yes, for kids, it's great. We all know that. We all know that. For the older people, though, that's where we sort of have this sort of issue, right? We have to stop talking about knee injuries and all this stuff and shoulder injuries. And IJF realize this. So whenever there's an injury at one of these grand slams, the camera is instructed to turn away. and we switch mats right away. Because we don't want to see people get mangled. In every sport, people get injured. And, you know, it's kind of funny because you watch UFC, like they all, look at the guy broke his leg and they show the replay. Judo they'll never do that.

Guy puts his arm down, snaps his arm. They pull away from the thing and they never show the replay on Judo TV. Because they don't want that branding of, it's a vicious, savage thing because they truly think it's not good for the education side of the sport. So they're consistently thinking

how to market this sport how do we do this thing and there's sort of like this overlapping of the martial and sports situation and we kind of have to do the same thing as well we want to be able to push

judo out to the general public and say hey this is this spectacular thing that will get you fit it'll make you strong if you want to lose weight you can do it you want to do martial arts like we got you

if you want to learn a soft defend you will grab someone slam them drag them down to the floor and you'll learn how to choke them and break their arm if that's what you want and for the jiu-jitsu guys because let's just submit jiu-jitsu has a tenfold population of the judo in the united states and they're destroying uh it when it comes to marketing and growing and businesses and you go to any town in the united states now you can jih Tzu is very accessible it's not the same with judo

and so we got to do something about that there's plenty of people now that that have no qualms about putting on a geat and grappling. So why don't we market to those guys? When I go to a jiu-too-school and say, hey, judo this and that, they think, oh, man, I'm going to get slammed and I don't want to get smoked and it's very difficult in arms and knees and legs and injury rate. We've got to change all that.

And first and foremost, we have to make judo easy. And it's our responsibility, if you're listening to this, to get that message out, that judo isn't this crazy hard thing that's inaccessible. And if you're listening to this, you're a dojo owner. You have to first and foremost make that reality come true by making judo easier in your gym so that people don't get bust it up. Okay?

And that's the number one thing. We have to make judo easier and then work on the marketing side of judo, the marketing and the branding. Judo isn't dangerous. All you jiu-jitsu guys, if you want to look good on Instagram and launch someone in an IBJGF tournament, go to your local dojo and do judo. Guarantee you, no one going to slam you. You'll learn in a very safe setting because all judo sensees

are very responsible and respective. Kind of. But that's kind of the idea. Judo has a branding problem. And I think we can all do our very best to work on it. Thank you very much for listening. That's it.