HISTORIC BEGINNINGS OF JUDO
Founder of Judo
Kanō Jigorō (1860 - 1938)
‘Ju’ meaning ‘Gentle’ and 'Do' meaning ‘Way’,
Judo is the Gentle Way or the Way of
non-resistance.
Judo was founded by Jigoro Kano in 1882, and is a style of Ju-jitsu,
which is the Art of Suppleness, the Gentle Art.Kano Jigoro (right) and Mifune Kyozo © The Kodokan Institute
Kano was responsible for popularising Judo in order to retain an aspect
of Japanese culture in a period when Japan was modernising and shedding
everything that was considered ‘old’. At the start of the Meiji period
in Japan (1868 – 1912), Japan underwent a profound change from being an
isolated feudal society to a modernised society adopting Western
technology and philosophy. In the rush to modernise, Japan was at a risk
of losing their culture by shedding the traditions that were considered
to belong in the past.
With the decline of Samurai, the practice of Jiu-jitsu fell into disuse.
In order for the martial art to survive, it needed to be reinvented for
the modern times. Instead of Jiujitsu being used for martial purposes,
its purpose was reimagined to develop the individual physically,
mentally, and spiritually to be a well-rounded person contributing to
the society. The ‘martial’ aspects of Jiujitsu were removed, and the
resultant martial arts became known as Judo.
Kano’s interest in learning jiu-jitsu first happened in school when he
was experiencing bullying, but, he did not seek it out until 1877 after
another experience with bullying. However, because of the lack of
governmental support, many martials arts dojo went out of existence or
the martial artists themselves gave it up.
Kano managed to find a teacher in Jiu-jitsu, Fukuda of Tenshin Shin’yo
Ryu. This school’s focus was on atemi and grappling techniques, and was
a comparatively new style of jiu-jitsu. Kano’s fervently dedicated his
time to learning the martial art, often practicising on his known when
there were no students present in the classes, training till late at
night and doin randori with every member of the class. Kano would often
pester his teacher with respect to the details of the technique, which
often ended with Fukuda repeatedly throwing him, until he was able to
physically grasp the technique.
Kano was known to borrow techniques from different martial arts, such as
Kata guruma from wrestling.
Kata Guruma throwing sequence
Kano performed his first demonstration 2 years after starting his
training, with his main training partner, Fukushima in front of the US
president Grant which was favourably received.
After Fukuda’s death, Kano trained with the founder’s son Masamoto Iso.
Under his tutelage, Kano gained proficiency in Katas and gained more
experience in randori. After Masamoto’s death in 1881, he went to find
another teacher, this time with Tsunetoshi Iikubo of Kito Ryu, which had
a more philosophical focus than the more practical Tenshin Shin yo Ru
approach. Kito Ryu’s history dates back to the 17th century. The focus
in Kito Ryu at Kano’s time was on throwing techniques.
The two schools provided Kano with two different perspectives on
Jiu-jitsu. Kano stated how his teachers taught him different things
about Jiu-jitsu. Fukuda taught him what he wanted to do with himselves,
Masamoto taught him the subtle nature of Kata, and Iikubo taught him the
importance of timing and and variety of technqiues.
Kano’s dedication was not only limited to martial arts, but to educating
himself. One of his professor’s (Fenollosa) whose interest was in
Oriental culture, warned against the heedless rush to adapt western
culture, in the danger of Japan losing its culture. He emphasised the
importance of retaining Japanese culture. He was quite likely the
influence behind Kano’s desire to modernise Jiu-jitsu in order to retain
a facet of Japanese culture.
After completing his studies, Kano founded Kodakan Institute to study
the way at the age of 22 in 1882 in the Eisho-ji temple. He systematised
the underlying principles of Jiu-jitsu as Kodokan Judo with the focus on
fostering the mind and the body in order to be a better person in
society. He believed that Judo would be the vehicle not just for the
betterment of the individual, but the entire society as well.
Learn more about Jigoro Kano on Wikipedia
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