History
of Judo
Jigaro
Kano the founder of Kodokan Judo so named his form of Ju Jitsu to differentiate
the two. Ju, meaning gentle and jutsu,
art or practice, while do means way or
principle of the same. Kodokan literally means a school
for studying the way, the meaning of the
way being the concept of life itself. To condense Kano’s philosophy in a
few words is to discredit the man or the practice of Judo, however to introduce
the concept to the reader one understands that he saw Judo as the development of
the entire being. In his own words and in summation of his philosophy, “Judo,
in its fuller sense is a study and method of training in mind and body as in the
regulation of life’s affairs”.
It is
sometimes mistaken that Judo derived from a composite of three styles of Ju
Jitsu with the dangerous techniques taken out, leaving Judo as the sport it is
associated with today. Nothing could be further from reality. Although much of
the documentation of the original teachings of Judo have disappeared from the
Kodokan following the occupation of Japan after World War II, at least fifteen
styles of Ju Jitsu can be accounted for in its development. Kano was said to be
a genius and he categorized and organized various forms of hand to hand and
weapons fighting into designated syllabuses.
In
1886 the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department sponsored a tournament consisting
of the prestigious Totsuka-ha Yoshin-ru Ju Jitsu School which purportedly had
the best fighters in Japan, along with five instructors from other top Ju Jitsu
schools. Of the fifteen matches fought, accounts vary from the Kodokan winning
all but one match that ended in a draw to one loss and two draws. At any rate,
it was a great victory for the Kodokan. Up to that time Ju Jitsu matches were
almost like duels and were often fatal to one of the participants. Although the
rules of the tournament were decided beforehand, some authorities report that at
least two deaths occurred that day.
While
Kano wanted to retain and expand the martial side of Judo he did develop a sport
woven around rules to protect the participants from serious injury. He also felt
that skills could be developed to a far greater degree by having full contact
under strict rules.
Judo
has been an Olympic sport since 1964 and while it has not gained a great deal of
popularity here in the United States, it ranks second only to soccer in the
number of people participating throughout the entire world. This sport which has
been embraced by so many throughout the world is in some ways quite different
than Kano’s Judo. The reasons for the difference are many, but the primary
reasons had their origin with World War II. Prior to this in the 1930’s Japan
began its expansion into the Philippines and China. The Japanese army wanted to
take over the Kodokan to train its officers. Kano resisted, but after his death
the Army did take over. After Japan’s surrender General MacArthur ordered the
Kodokan closed. By this time many of the JuJitsu masters who had become part of
the Kodokan Judo returned to their various villages and towns and took much of
the documentation of the teachings with them. Kano’s son pleaded with
MacArthur to reopen the Kodokan and he eventually relented with the stipulation
that only the sport aspect be practiced. There was also the very real resentment
by some of the Japanese to these foreigners and they were unwilling to share all
of the secrets of Judo with them.
In
spite of, or because of all this, when performed by skilled judoka, Judo with
its various forms of winning can be the most graceful, explosive and spectacular
of all the martial sports.