Kokushi Midwest Judo

The only thing heavier than commitment is 3 person uchikomi! KokushiMidwest.com

Resetting the mats at the dojo…. Clean mat = happy mat. The amount of crap that accumulates underneath the mats is gross!!!🤢

Olympic Champion Satoshi Ishii Judo Seminar

📅 September 12, 2026
📍 Champaign, Illinois

Join us for a special day of judo training with Olympic Gold Medalist Satoshi Ishii.

More details coming soon — registration information and seminar details will be announced shortly.

Don’t miss this opportunity to train with one of the world’s best.

Kashiwazaki Sensei teaching his first kids' class....... and probably his last. He said that he never teaches kids. So we ran class as normal. He stood at the side just to observe, but he was very impressed with the kids' warmups and their ukemis. Then he whispers, maybe I can teach one thing. He taught the kids how to time deashi barai, the taisabaki for ogoshi, and then a 1-second turnover. And they all got it!!

I think he liked teaching the kids. Thank you Sensei!!!!

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to support our first weekend with Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki. It meant a lot to see friends traveling in from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas AND Japan —your presence made the experience even more special.

Hearing Sensei say that our ability to learn his tomoe nage and newaza was strong is something we’ll carry with us for a long time.

He encouraged us to become great at our own techniques and to just have fun. He even saw one of our dojo's new techniques - tomosoto!! He approved!!

We’re incredibly grateful to United States Judo Federation for their tremendous support, as well as to Konan Judo and the Shufu Yudanshakai for standing behind us at Kokushi Midwest Judo.

We’re already looking forward to reconnecting with everyone in Washington, D.C. at Kogaion Judo Academy for the Jimmy Takemori Clinic.

Opportunities to train with Kashiwazaki-sensei are incredibly rare, especially in a setting where you can learn his tomoe nage and newaza up close. If you’ve ever considered attending, this is one of those moments you don’t want to let pass by. We’d strongly encourage you to make the time—you’ll take something from it that stays with you for years.

Sign up here: https://shufujudo.org/event/2026-takemori-memorial-clinic-with-katsuhiko-kashiwazaki/?instance_id=1770