I like other sports, too, including skiing and swimming, and I am learning to play ice hockey now. But judo is definitely part of my life, a very big part, and I am glad that judo was the first sport I took up and that I have practiced it regularly and seriously. I am also grateful to Japan for this.
I'm a huge, huge lover of weaponry, of Japanese martial arts movies.
The Art of Peace is based on four Great Virtues: Bravery, Wisdom, Love, and Friendship, symbolized by Fire, Heaven, Earth, and Water.
Women who wear kimonos, when the fight, they have to keep their knees together, and when they use a sword, they have to move the sleeves otherwise it gets caught.
Wrestling in Japan is very much sports based.
I enjoy fighting here in Japan under the regular Dream/Pride rules with the ring and the whole rules criteria.
I lived in Japan for about two years. I spent my time equally between religiously studying Aikido in Shinjuku by day and hard partying in Shibuya and Roppongi by night. On more than a few nights, those subways were my own personal stage coach to hell.
Kim: Hey... There's a guy over there with a samurai sword. Scott: Really? Like a katana or a wakizashi or both?
Karate is my main martial art; that is what I train in every day. It has always been in my life. Sumo is another Japanese martial art that I got into at an early age. It is something that has helped and added to my overall stance and is a good base. It is not something I necessarily use in all my fights, though.
I've loved Japanese culture for a long, long time, from doing martial arts, to the block prints, to the music. It's a country that I love, and a culture that I love.
My dad was able to wrestle so many great Japanese wrestlers.
There is definitely a Japanese influence on my style. I spent several years back and forth training over there, training at the New Japan Dojo in Los Angeles and picking up various techniques from wherever I go.
1936 is a very important year: a golden time for martial arts, right before the Japanese invasion.
Atemi accounts for 99% of Aikido.
I have a second-degree black belt in Okinawan kobudo weapons training.
My father is a Japanese Shotokan karate master, so I have been training karate with my family since I was three years old. I got my black belt in karate at 13 and got introduced to judo and sumo shortly after.
Shihonage is the foundation of Aikido. All you ever need to master is shihonage.
It's an advantage for me fighting in Japan. I'm familiar there. I have friends there. I've been fighting so long there.
I've done a lot of Samurai film in Japan, and sometimes done the choreography by myself.
I have a huge interest in Japan, which is well known, including its history and culture, and so it will be very interesting for me to see and learn more about Japan.
Mixed martial arts was invented by Brazilians, whose families had been trained by the Japanese. Those Brazilians came to the U.S., where their invention was bought out, gussied up and presented to the world, which found it good.
