The Ukemi Edition
On Judo, ageing, and falling better.
Graydon Gordian (GG) is the Founder of the Backyard Care Company. He is an orange belt in Judo, which is not very impressive, but he’s pretty happy with that given that a year ago he knew nothing about it whatsoever.
Graydon here. In 1882, a man named Kanō Jigorō founded a martial art called Judo. His work consolidated a variety of schools of Jujutsu, a prominent pre and early modern Japanese martial art, into a cohesive set of throws and submissions that eventually grew into an olympic sport and globally practiced form of self defense that has influenced countless other combat sports, such as Sambo, Brazilian Jujistu, and MMA.
Flash forward 143 years, and I found myself standing in a dojo in Atlanta, Georgia, in a gi (the often white jacket and pants commonly associated with Japanese martial arts), taking an Introduction to Judo class for the first time in my life.
Judo is awesome. Through efficient, detailed movement, you learn how to throw people much larger than you to the ground. You learn how to choke and arm bar people. You work your ass off grappling for position and trying to pull your opponent off balance (kuzushi) so you can slam them on their back and score an Ippon, an instant victory in the sport-version of Judo. It’s challenging and thrilling and very humbling, because there is always someone in the room who is bigger, stronger, and more technically skilled.
Why is this interesting?
Your first judo class involves none of that whatsoever. Instead, you spend the overwhelming majority of your time falling down. You fall on your back and your side. You roll into a fall. You get reprimanded for sticking your arm out or not keeping your chin tucked. You are learning ukemi, the art of breakfalling. It is the foundational skillset that has allowed me, as a 41-year-old, to show up to the dojo multiple times a week and get thrown onto my back with full force by friends and strangers, and head home after to toss my kids around, carry the groceries, and do plenty of other things I’d struggle to do if I’d hurt myself.
Falling is the leading cause of injury for adults ages 65 and over. 1 in 4 older adults, about 14 million in total, report falling every year. My mother-in-law, who is in her early 70s, fell last year and broke her knee. In the final few years of my mother’s life, she fell repeatedly, leading to multiple black eyes and stitches in multiple places on her head.
Dogs being walked bolt for a nearby squirrel and yank you off balance. Curbs catch your foot and stop you from catching yourself. Grandchildren’s toys litter the hallways around the house. The world is designed to make you fall. You should learn how, so that you can get back up.
The teachers at my dojo agree, and they think Judo can help. They have even started a program called The Falling Class, which takes the core frameworks of Judo breakfalling and applies them to real world situations in which one might find themselves going to the ground when they’d rather not. My friend and teacher Sensei Willard, a 5th-degree black belt who still practices Judo in his 80s, recently shared a story in which he stepped off a stool in his closet onto a shoe, fell, and walked away unharmed. That simple story is more remarkable than it sounds.
The Honolulu Judo Club has a similar class but the sad reality is that there aren’t many programs like this in the United States today. The American health and wellness system is overwhelmingly focused on fall prevention or injury recovery, not reducing harm during an inevitable fall. But the mere existence of the International Safe Falling Conference held at Japan’s Tokai University (a hotbed of Judo) in late 2025 shows that the movement is gaining momentum.
We all trip and fall from time to time. But the consequences of those falls grow more severe with each passing year. Learning to fall better could change your life, or the life of someone you care about. If a program like this shows up in your area, encourage the older people in your life to participate. Or show up to an intro to Judo class. You just might like getting slammed on your back more than you think. (GG)
such an interesting angle, thanks!
That's really interesting and hopeful but one unfortunate problem with the old people I know who have fallen on their face and others who have tripped over their dog and fallen on their butt and broken a hip in half a second is that their reflexes have slowed and their arthritis makes to much harder to respond fast enough. I suppose starting early might help.