Jason Striker Volume 3: Amazon Slaughter and Curse of the Ninja by Piers Anthony & Roberto Fuentes

Author:Piers Anthony & Roberto Fuentes [Anthony, Piers & Fuentes, Roberto]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781401033538
Publisher: Xlibris, Corp.
Published: 2001-12-03T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 1:

Dream of Red and White

He was a middleweight, around 176 pounds, completely bald, standing only five feet five inches tall but with his mass filled in by solid muscle. He was in a deep defensive stance and clearly afraid of me.

Good-I needed an easy victory! I took hold of his jacket with my right hand, caught his right sleeve with my left, and whirled into a powerful uchi-mata inside thigh throw. It was one of my favorite techniques, and I was good at it. Very good. I hauled him up on my back, and my right leg thrust back between his thighs and up to sweep his legs into the air. He flipped completely over and came down hard on the mat in front of me.

"Ippon!" the referee cried, making the signal, his hand straight up. Wonderful gesture! That meant it was a clean throw, with my opponent landing with speed and force on his back: my victory.

Judo is a martial art, a system of self defense, like karate, aikido, kung fu and others. If I were attacked on the street, and threw the thug like this on the hard concrete, he would not get up again in a hurry. But of course in contest judo we don't want to hurt the 226

opponent-not that much, anyway-so we have a mat. We are careful to use correct technique so that he falls harmlessly.

Immediately both judges got up. "Koka!" they cried, signaling with their hands at chest level. That meant an imperfect throw, a minor effort. An ippon is like a home-run in baseball with the bases loaded, or a touchdown in the final seconds in football: a game-winning score. But a koka is like a base hit or a first down: nice to have, but not really enough by itself.

There was a brief conference, and majority ruled: I was awarded a measly koka for my throw. Well, these things happen, and a good judoka does not complain. He can think his private thoughts, though; I would have rated that excellent throw better than a mere base hit.

I returned to the match and moved Uke around a bit. In judo, the man who performs a technique is always Tori, and the one who gets techniqued is always Uke. That's pronounced OO-kee, two syllables with, the accent on the first. The term derives from ukemi, or "fall" in Japanese. Anyone serious about judo has to learn Japanese terms and pronunciation.

Uke was still too nervous to attack me; he knew he'd been well-thrown even if the judges didn't. So I spun into another uchimata. Again he flew and landed, and again the referee signaled ippon intelligently. And wouldn't you know it, again the two judges overruled him. "Yuko!" they cried, hands slanting down.

Well, a yuko is like a double in baseball that knocks in a run, or a field goal in football. Enough to win, if the other team doesn't do anything, but not spectacular. I was frankly dissatisfied. I'm not nearly as good a sport inside as I am outside.

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