History and Principles of Judo

The Origins of Judo in Japan

• Judo’s history includes transforming a martial art into a modern sport.
• Jigoro Kano dedicated his life to educating his country’s youth, combining tradition and modernity.
• Kano also focused on individual progress in service to the community.
• Judo’s beginnings link to Japanese combat and life arts, as well as Kano’s personality.

From Jujutsu to Judo

• Judo and jujutsu share Japanese ideographs illustrating founding principles.

• Ju means “gentleness” or "giving way"; it opposes "go" (strength).

• Do, meaning “the way”, relates to spiritual development.

• Judo values flexibility more intellectually than physically.

• Jutsu means "technique."

• Jutsu is to "medium" as do is to "purpose."

• Jujutsu emphasizes physical education and non-resistance.

• Kano deemed this too limited and sought a radical transformation.

• Judo raises combat to a universal education method.

• Samurai means "one who serves" and is central to martial arts history.

• Martial arts history has three stages tied to Japan's history:

  • Classical bujutsu (or martial arts) covers the period from the military Government's establishment until the Tokugawa shogunate (1192-1603).
  • Bunjutsu (bu, bushi, warrior) unites all jutsu (art, technique).
  • Kenjutsu (swordsmanship), sojutsu (lance art), and ninjutsu (espionage) are systems of combat with the jutsu suffix.
  • Jujutsu is a broad term for unarmed or minimally armed confrontation, including feet, fists, knees, projections, and joint locks.
  • Jujutsu supplements combat, allowing disarmed warriors to continue fighting, designed for battlefield effectiveness during the feudal era.

• Classical budo (or martial ways) emerged during the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868).

• Reduced battlefield opportunities for samurai led bujutsu masters to reinforce ethical and philosophical principles in their teaching.

• The shift from jutsu to do as a suffix signifies this change in orientation.

• Bujutsu emphasizes control based on technical expertise; budo emphasizes control leading to wisdom.

• Over 700 schools existed during the Tokugawa shogunate.

• The evolution led to specialized forms and strengthened defenses; techniques adapted to civilian life as the battlefield faded.

• Modern bujutsu and budo are part of the Meiji era.

• They are inspired by classical forms and reflect transformations in Japanese society.

• Martial arts and traditional Japanese culture were not initially favored in the Meiji era.

• Martial arts historian Donn Draeger noted that jujutsu was often applied in tea rooms, brothels, gambling dens, and other entertainment spots.

• Reconstructing martial arts transmitted priority values, discipline, and moral principles.

• In 1895, the government established the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai to revive bushido spirit, promote bujutsu among soldiers, and strengthen national military power.

• The association grew rapidly, with imperial family patronage reaching 42 prefectures and 1,300,000 members by 1906.

• The social and political situation boosted martial arts practice at the end of the last century.

Jigoro Kano

• Born on October 28, 1860, in Mikage, now part of Kobe, Japan.

• Received a rigorous education combining Western influences with traditional and Oriental teachings.

• His father was a senior official for the shogunate Government in the 1860s.

• Moved to Tokyo in 1870 after his wife's death, studied classics and English, and developed a fondness for mathematics and languages.

• He had a fragile constitution as a child but was gifted, studying with older and stronger classmates and was often bullied.

• He chose to study jujutsu to help the weak defeat the strong.

• He found Hachinosuke Fukuda, one of the old jujutsu masters.

• After two years of practice, he was chosen to participate in a demonstration for U.S. President Ulysses Grant's visit to Tokyo.

• After Fukuda's death, he continued practicing under Masatomo Iso until 1881, when Iso died.

• Studied jujutsu of the Kito School with Iikubo Tsunetoshi, focusing on the spiritual dimension.

• Koshiki no kata comes from the Kito School, demonstrating techniques of fighting in armor; Kano favored and demonstrated this kata before the Emperor in 1929.

• In 1882, while at the Tokyo Imperial University, Kano established the private preparatory school, Kano Juku, and an English school.

• In May, he opened the Kodokan school in a 12-tatami room in a Tokyo Buddhist monastery, calling it “a school for studying the way".

• Taught jJudo, where his nine disciples/friends met in a small 20 square meter room.

• They learned to throw, pin down, and force opponents to submit via strangulations or armlocks.

• The novelty lay in the way the techniques were accomplished and the finality of the techniques, not the technical actions.

• Student numbers grew quickly.

• The Kodokan dojo relocated several times.

• Police and the Navy adopted Kano’s method, with introduction into various schools and universities.

Kodokan Judo

• Kano’s method stemmed from ancient forms of jujutsu, with discarding techniques to kill/injure.

• Grasping became compulsory, reducing violence.

• Kano improved ways to fall.

• Technical content was mainly inspired by the Kito school for projections and the Tenjin Shin Yo school for blows and locks.

• Kano demonstrated versatility by adapting a solution from a foreign book to throw a heavier opponent.

• Kenkichi attacked, but Kano quickly used kata guruma, a lightning-fast move, to throw him, leaving Kenkichi impressed.

• Kano's philosophy: knowledge acquisition, ethical teaching, and physical development via physical education based on three cultures.

• A healthy body not only enables existence but it is also the foundation for mental and spiritual activity.

• He emphasized the purpose of exercise, saying that excellent health is fruitless without service to society.

• Effective mind/body use drives self-realization, integrating Confucian social obligation to help others.

• Kano's principles are summarized in two maxims from the Kodokan cultural society (1922):

  • Seiryoku Zenyo: everyone uses physical/mental energy for the common good.
  • Jita Kyoei: pursuit of self-realization.

• Kata and randori form the basis of the educational methods, reinforced by shiai (competition) and mondo (talks with students).

• Randori is a form of training where there is full freedom of choice and freedom to execute the techniques

• Kano: "During randori, no one can guess what his opponent will do; so everyone should be ready to cope with a sudden attack of the opponent. The habit of this mental attitude develops a high degree of control and lucidity”.

• The exercise was complemented by kata as the exercise was considered too focused on body specialization.

• Kata practice became a key part of Kodokan study.

• Kata balanced randori’s physical commitment.

• He integrated exercises to not exaggerate the competitive dimension intended to combat and train mind and body.

• Kodokan judo kata was established between the late 1880s and early 1900s.

• Kata are in four categories: free exercise, confrontation, physical preparation, and theory which illustrates the aims of Kano’s judo - the development of body, shaping of spirit, and training in combat efficiency.

• Kano created Kodokan Judo by merging the positive aspects of jujutsu schools in 1882 and developed a teaching method consistent with modern science.

• The technical gestures are analyzed and studied with justification.

• Judo is a system of education based on balance among intellectual, physical, and moral aspects.

• Harmony ensures individual progress and usefulness to society.

• The method relied on ancestral combat forms, and had new finalities.

• Judo emphasizes do (the way/principle) over jutsu (art/practice), and is different in technique; which led to the new name.

Biography of Jigoro Kano

• 1860, October 28: Born
• 1882, May: Kodokan judo school opened
• 1895: Gokyo no waza created
• 1900: Kodokan yudanshakai (college of black belts) established
• 1909: Became a member of the International Olympic Committee
• 1920: Gokyo no waza reformed
• 1922: Kodokan Cultural Association founded
• 1932: Association of medical research within the Kodokan created
• 1938, May 4: Died

The Internationalization of Judo

• Linked to jujutsu development, Japanese dispersion, Westerners in international structures, and judo's Olympic integration.

Jujutsu in The World

• The world discovered “the land of the rising sun” in the second half of the 19th century.
• The West was entranced by the artistic and historical richness of Japan.
• Images of nature, geisha, and samurai transformed the views of American and European artists.
• Painters integrated themes inspired by Japanese art.
• Post the 'boxer' revolt and the Russo-Japanese war, Western esteem for Japanese culture transformed becoming greatly elevated with the country's military success.
• Observers attributed this success to strong patriotism and rigorous training.
• Prestigious institutions hired Japanese jujutsu instructors at West Point, Annapolis, and Fort Myer Academy and military/naval schools world-wide.
• The army and police publicized Japanese fighting techniques.
• Jujutsu became a solution to urban insecurity.
• Jujutsu was popularly advertised in newspapers across major cities.
• Strength and size became less important.
• Jujutsu became popular in Europe and the US, and drew crowds.
• Fitness clubs in England, France, the USA and many other countries began teaching classes in Japanese art.
• The concept of jujutsu was simplified and popularized, deeply embedding itself in the public mindset.
• Kano and his disciples introduced jujutsu by establishing its base in the army and police.

From Jujutsu to Judo in the West

• Kano's method spread in the West and was linked to Japanese emigration.
• The 1920s in Japan saw economic and social crises.
• The American continent became a hope after the violent earthquake of 1923; many Japanese emigrated to Hawaii and the West coast of the USA.
• The first arrivals (issei) valued judo as an element of their original culture, a cultural shelter, and a social link building tool.
• Judo, the method of Kano served as a cultural shelter and tool for social connection and transmission of tradition among younger generations.
• Kano was an ambassador supporting club and association development (yudanshakai) in North America.
• Local structures began in Hawaii and Southern California towards the end of the 1920s.
• The founder of judo employed the same efforts in Europe and Canada to create branches of the Kodokan School.
• British judo holds importance because of circumstance, a vision and the character of Koizumi Gunji.
• Koizumi founded the Budokwai in London in January 1918 to assist Japanese who were in trouble, as well as to develop martial arts in Great Britain.
• In 1920, following the visit to Kano, the Budokwai adopted the principles of the Kodokan judo.
• In Germany, the appearance of the Japanese style mirrored the county's popularity and military power in other countries.
• Jujutsu became fashionable, led by Erich Rahn in Berlin and Alfred Rhode in Frankfurt am Main.
• The development of German judo was unparalleled in Europe.
• International contacts were established in the end of the 1920s.
• A Judo-Sommerschule run by Alfred Rhode and Japanese experts Koizumi, Tani, Ishiguro, Kitabatake, and Rhi (based in Switzerland) was organized in 1932.
• Although jujutsu was introduced to France in September 1905, a permanent structure was not established until 1930.
• Classes were delivered by Moshe Feldenkrais at the (ESTP) a special civil engineering school, in France
• The Jiu-Jitsu-Club de France was founded by Feldenkrais.
• Kano agreed to be in the Committee of honor of the club.
• Mikinosvike Kawaishi, a Japanese expert, was entrusted to the technical direction.
• Great Britain, Germany, and France helped popularize judo as a sport.
• The combined contribution of these three nations led to the base's establishment, which would put down roots.
• British promoted Japanese Judo in Europe, German Judo was resolutely oriented towards the sports track, whereas France chose independence.

The First International Structures

• August 11, 1932, in Frankfurt am Main, Koizumi and Kaye for Britain, Bärtschi for Switzerland and Rhode for Germany sign the Statute underlying the "Judo Union Europäische", European Judo Union.

• A first European weight category Championship was organized in Dresden, Germany, in 1934.

• Five years later, the European Judo Union was expanded to thirteen countries, however, the Second World War and the role played by the German National Socialist Party put an end to this structure of international judo.

• On December 2, 1947, a French delegation traveled to London for the first international meeting with the British judoka.

• Friendly exchange for the benefit of the British Red Cross, and for resumption of international relations.

• Talks were initiated in 1948.

• A meeting was scheduled in London to discuss the reestablishment of the European Judo Union; it took place on 28th July, just before the start of the games of the XIV Olympiad.

• Representatives of Great Britain, Austria, Holland and Italy prepared a statute and elected a new committee.

• John Barnes was named president.

• The second meeting of the newly established EJU replaced the president by the Italian Aldo Torti in October 1949.

• Argentina also showed an interest in the new structure at this point.

• The fourth meeting was held again in London, on July 11, 1951 where delegates from Italy, Britain, Belgium, France, Holland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland were present.

• The International Judo Federation (IJF) was created, lead by, Aldo Torti

• The first post-war Championships were organized in Paris in December 1951.

• Japan became a member of the IFJ in Novembre 1952.

• Risei Kano became the second president.

• The first World Championships were held in Tokyo on May 3, 1956 and had thirty-one fighters representing twenty-one nations without weight categories.

• the second world championships in 1958 also took place in Tokyo and there were 39 competitors from 18 different countries.

• The 1961 World Championships were held in Paris involving 57 athletes from 25 countries in the last competition to be held without weight category .

• The winner, Anton Geesink, was the Dutchman who overthrew the traditions.

• Judo was officially included in the Olympic program from the month of August 1960 and three weight categories were included.

• Judo transformed into an international sport.

• In the 1960s, Judo becomes apart of the Summer Olympics program.

• Anton Geesink’s supremacy was traumatic for a group of conservatives, yet gave it international reach

• Judo achieved internationalization and its entry into modern sport.

• The International Judo Federation has 204 members in 2018.

Timeline

• 1934 - First judo championships, Dresden
• 1951 - International Judo Federation
• 1951 - The post-war Paris Judo Championships
• 1956 - First World Championships, Tokyo
• 1958 - Second World Championships, Tokyo
• 1961 - Third World Championships, Paris
• 1964 - Summer Olympics, Tokyo

Presidents of the IJF and the Continental Unions

• A list of presidents for International Judo Federation, European Judo Union, Oceania Judo Union, Asian Judo Union, African Judo Union, and Pan-American Judo Union.

The Invention of Sports Judo

• Judo's athletic performance: acquired mastery is valued over priority objectives.
• The competition in judo shows and shows ideas about education and sport, as well as the western influences on the sport.

First Japanese Competitions

• Kano wrote about Judo and shared his ideas about his method.

• It was not uncommon that “men from different parts of Japan renowned for their expertise in jujutsu [...] went to the Kodokan and launched challenges to my students.”

• Judo contrasted significantly with other jujutsu styles thanks to Shiro Saigo.

• These weren’t considered sporting events but challenges between different schools.

• Kano organized the first competitions at the Kodokan.

• Monthly meetings organized for grading.

• Students placed by Beginner to Black Belt.

• Victorious fighter must engage someone with a higher grade.

• The principle of a winner was found in the team competition, "the Reds and Whites"

• Kano gives importance to codified confrontation, while moving away from challenge and sport.

• Victory is not always the focus. but the battle.

• Competitions (shiai) involved the kanji for " “death” and “meet” during the Edo time, but it now means to test and experiment

• It is now longer a fight to the death, but an expression of mastery, control and self-perfection.

• The fight takes the whole educational dimension of Judo

• In 1899, Kano chairs the regulations of competitions of the Butokukai jujutsu.

• Rules and Kodokan texts were founded by these texts. -Article 5: referee announces ippon when a competitor gets a victory by a technique, and if he wins again, he has won and can move on.

• Only the projection and control techniques were allowed, but not those of fingers toes etc.

• Historian Syd Hoare and French Yves Cadot agree that competitions are only one training aspect.

• Judo should not be an aim of itself.

• Kano perfers not to have spectators, but allows public attendence.

• Show public events is to go against old practices.

• Kano aimed to keep judo from becoming professional.

• agreed with “I agree with competition which is currently practiced in the manner of amateur gentlemen".

• Kano did not like those techniques were valued of victory.

• 1915 articles, distinguished judo in the broad sense and in the narrow sense around the time they joined the Olympic movement

• Sports was gaining importance, while meetings and schools were proliferating.

• Large participation of emperors.

First International Meetings

• Appears more popular outside Japan in 1917.

• Italy held national championships in Rome in 1924.

• Germany held sport judo and international meetings.

• Teams from Frankfurt-am-Main and Wiesbaden traveled to Britain and fought in 1930

• Judo events organized in Vienna, Austria in 1931.

• The international sporting event was arranged between 1925 and 1937 by Socialist Workers' Sport International (SASI)

• In November 1935, a triangular tournament was organized once again in Frankfurt-am-Main with English, German, and Swiss teams.

• 10th German Judo Championships were held between 16 to 18 October 1936

• The minutes of this event included a list of the 91 competitors who entered the event from 32 clubs

• Three age categories and five weight categories are listed: -112 lbs, -125 lbs, -140 lbs, -160 lbs and +160 lbs.

• Judo and politics: Fascist regimes always praised superiority, physical strength and belonging.

• Japan in the 1930s was not exception.

• Martial Arts practice in the schools to increase patriotism to the state.

• Kendo and Judo became important to the state spirit,unity, and the imperial system.

• The Supreme Commander ordered the abolition of military training in 1945.

• Preventing the militarist/ultra nationalist values the subjects was withdrwan.

• The Dai Nippon closed.

• The Kodokan philosophy protected it during this time

• Ministry said: "Since the end of the war, the enthusiasts of judo, kendo and kyudo voluntarily eliminated any militaristic coloring and rebuilt these disciplines as new sports.". in 1947

• separation of military and sporting activities was revised. "the weight - and if possible, the height and age * of the students should be taken into account as a criterion as categories for judo competitions”.

• Prohibition period was five years, on 13 September 1950

• The reassurance to remove the bushidoto the new area of sports.

• The official magainze announce on Judo and prospierity in 1948

Modern Sport Judo

• Post second world-war, however those events show the western sports model influenced Japan.
• Weight Categories was introduced over the military approach.
• new international federation, the sport orientation of judo.
• Great Britain, Belgium, and the Netherlands opposed their introduction.
• Discussiosn were lively to be free and organize your nation.
• Experiemtnal competitions would be put in European champs
• 1952 Japan agrees to be a part of judo.
• Risei was second president,
• The first Champ held in Tokyo.
• Japan was able to recover thanks to help.
• Judo it is said, symbolizes, peace culture etc.
• olympics and olympic recognition had a rocky road
• Judo got recognition and went ahead with program
• 1950 europe was the engine for evolution.
• Andre Erhel helped launch program.

Female Sport Judo

• Inclusion of women to Olympic. -The role, attitude and and west. -They didn't want women in sport. -Kata and Ranori for women with Judo.
• Women weren't allowed to participate.
• American Russy made Judo Possible.
• They can participate but are denied from championships.
• Womens event were set in 1970 in europe.
• She brushes wore the champion and won.
• 1971 Athletic Union allowed women compete.
• In 1973 a new regulation set.
• The female Judo started at the same year.
• The Olympic joined the women.