It's a Japanese word that can mean many things. For what we are dealing with, it means beginning, the beginning of a fight that goes far beyond what many people think.

READ our article about the relaunch of the judo season.

Hajime is the beginning of everything in a sport that is not a sport and, for us the profane, it is time to discover that behind this sport, inside and all around there is something else that breathes, moves, feeds, in a word, there is life.

Judo is a whole, more balanced than a philosophical current, more complete than an ideology. Judo is the fight between good and evil, it is the perfect balance between theory and reality. Everything begins and ends on the mat, this tatami that serves as a school of life to everyone who agrees to live according to a code.

Judo is the sum of all the qualities required to triumph in life, not from a material point of view, nor from a Western or bourgeois sensibility. No, this is a human journey where the person who complies with the rules grows morally at the same speed as his body. A healthy mind in a strong body.

Yes but now, for the body to be strong, it must be trained, hardened, accustomed to pain. This is in the image of life. Of course, the body is nothing, in any case nothing interesting, just a living matter without interest if it is not accompanied by a strong spirit.

Respect for oneself and the others. Have the courage to face the problems, to find the appropriate solutions. Showcase absolute courtesy without hypocrisy as a way of life. Keep your calmness in all circumstances. Make a vow of honesty and never compromise in the face of lies.

It is being humble and never believing yourself to be superior, it is showing the way by the example and never complaining but correcting and learning from your mistakes. It is a code of honor that is practiced at any age, which adapts to all. It is a state of mental rest in the midst of chaos, a weapon of mass destruction against absolute evil. It is s the lifeline against boredom and loneliness.

After comes the challenge, the fight against your equal. It is difficult, it is physical but also mental because all the senses are sharpened. It is spectacular and pretty, it is a poem of purity.

Judo is all of that and even more. The more we discover it, the more we become hooked. It is a creator of smiles, it is the definition of the respect of the difference, the integration and the quiet force, the individual strength in the service of a group.

It is the discipline that expresses the free will without disturbing. It is the supreme freedom, this stage where all are equal without amalgams, without grudges, without borders.This is Judo !

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