Brief History of Judo

Judo has been a regular part of the Olympic Games since 1972 and is practised in nearly every country throughout the world, but very few people know much about its founder, Jigoro Kano.

Kano was born in 1860 near the end of the Japanese feudal era, when the country was ruled by the samurai class. He grew up in a period of rapid growth and modernization, as Japan, having thrown off its isolationist past, was struggling to overtake the leading countries of the industrialized West. A bright student, Kano had no difficulty with his studies, but he was bullied by older students because of his small size. When he learned that some of the traditional martial arts, particularly jujutsu , enabled a smaller person to beat a larger person, he decided to look for a teacher, overcoming his fathers initial objection that a modern young man should not waste time on studying arts from the feudal past.

Ignoring the unspoken rule that a student should practice just one martial art under one teacher, Kano sought out the best techniques from all the jujutsu schools. In the process, he became more than strong enough to defend himself, and soon he began to develop a following. In 1882, at age 22, he founded the Kodokan School of Judo, which was the beginning of the sport as we know it today.

Kano was more than a renowned practitioner of the martial arts. He graduated from the most prestigious university of the day, at 25 became a professor at a school for the Japanese aristocracy (which he felt should be opened to everyone not just the rich), and was later the principal of the Tokyo Teachers Training College. In addition to his own private English school, he established a school for students from China. He served as chairman of the Japan Amateur Sports Association and was the first Asian to be elected to the International Olympic Committee.

In creating Judo, Kano sought to provide a means of leading a more meaningful life, both physically and mentally. He himself exemplified that type of well-rounded life.

On his return voyage from Cairo, after gaining the 1940 Olympic Games for Japan, Jigoro Kano died of pneumonia on May 4, 1938, aged 77