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The history of judo
Early life of the founder
The early history of judo is inseparable from its founder, Japanese polymath and educator Kano Jigoro. Kano was born into a well-to-do Japanese family. His grandfather was a self-made man; a sake brewer from Shiga prefecture in central Japan. However, Kano's father was not the eldest son and therefore did not inherit the business. Instead, he became a Shinto priest and government official, with enough influence for his son to enter the second incoming class of Tokyo Imperial University.
Kano was a small, frail boy, who, even in his twenties, did not weigh more than a hundred pounds, and was often picked on by bullies. He first started pursuing jujutsu, at that time a flourishing art, at the age of 17, but met with little success. This was in part due to difficulties finding a teacher who would take him on as a serious student. When he went off to the University to study literature at the age of 18, he continued his martial studies, eventually gaining a referral to Fukuda Hachinosuke (c.1828–c.1880), a master of the Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu and grandfather of noted judoka Keiko Fukuda (Fukuda Keiko, born 1913), who is one of Kano's oldest surviving students. Fukuda Hachinosuke is said to have emphasized technique over formal exercise, sowing the seeds of Kano's emphasis of free practice (randori) in judo.
A little more than a year after Kano joined Fukuda's school, Fukuda became ill and died. Kano then became a student in another Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu school, that of Iso Masatomo (c.1820–c.1881), who put more emphasis on the practice of pre-arranged forms (kata) than Fukuda had. Through dedication, Kano quickly earned the title of master instructor (shihan) and became assistant instructor to Iso at the age of 21. Unfortunately, Iso soon took ill, and Kano, feeling that he still had much to learn, took up another style, becoming a student of Tsunetoshi Iikubo of Kito-ryu. Like Fukuda, Iikubo placed much emphasis on free practice; on the other hand, Kito-ryu emphasized throwing techniques to a much greater degree than Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu.
The founding of judo
By this time, Kano was devising new techniques, such as the "shoulder wheel" (kata-guruma, known as a fireman's carry to Western wrestlers who use a slightly different form of this technique) and the "floating hip" (uki goshi) throw. His thoughts were already on doing more than expanding the canons of Kito-ryu and Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu. Full of new ideas, Kano had in mind a major reformation of jujutsu, with techniques based on sound scientific principles, and with focus on development of the body, mind and character of young men in addition to development of martial prowess.
At the age of 22, when he was just about to finish his degree at the University, Kano took 9 students from Iikubo's school to study jujutsu under him at the Eisho-ji, a Buddhist temple in Kamakura, and Iikubo would come to the temple three days a week to help teach. Although two years would pass before the temple would be called by the name "Kodokan", or "place for teaching the way", and Kano had not yet been accorded the title of "master" in the Kito-ryu, this is now regarded as the Kodokan's founding.
The meaning of "judo"
The word "judo" shares the same root ideogram as "jujutsu": "ju", which may mean "gentleness", "softness", "suppleness", and even "easy", depending on its context. Such attempts to translate ju are deceptive, however. The use of ju in each of these words is an explicit reference to the martial arts principle of the "soft method". The soft method is characterized by the indirect application of force to defeat an opponent. More specifically, it is the principle of using one's opponent's strength against him and adapting well to changing circumstances.
The second characters of judo and jujutsu differ. Where jujutsu means the "art" or "science" of softness, judo means the "way" of softness. The use of "do" meaning way, road or path. Use of this word is a deliberate departure from ancient martial arts, whose sole purpose was for killing. Kano saw judo as a means for governing and improving oneself physically, mentally, emotionally and morally. He even extended the physical principle of maximum efficiency into daily life, evolving it into "mutual prosperity". In this respect judo is seen as a holistic approach to life extending well beyond the confines of the dojo.
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Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo
Jigoro Kano (1860–1938) was born to a sake brewing family in Mikage, Japan (near Kobe). After entering Tokyo Imperial University, he learned both Kito-ryu and Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu jujutsu, two styles focused on different aspects of traditional (koryu) fighting techniques.
About 1882, Kano established the martial art school that would, by 1886, be known as the Kodokan dojo. (The name means "the place for the study or promotion of the Way".) Over time, Kano was able to introduce his methods into the Japanese school system. His roles in Japan as an educator, promoter of amateur sport, and pioneer of modern sports are almost as famous as his founding of judo.
Kano was also a member of the the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for Japan, and throughout the 1930s, he promoted Japan's bid for the 1940 Olympic Games. He hoped that international participation in these games would bring countries together and avoid war. In 1938, returning from an IOC conference, Kano died of pneumonia aboard the motorship Hikawa Maru. There was no 1940 Olympics, and Japan did not participate in the 1948 Olympics. However, in 1964, Japan finally hosted the Olympics, and in part due to the efforts of Kano's son Risei, judo was one of the demonstration sports at the 1964 Games.
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Equipment
Judo practitioners traditionally wear white uniforms called judogi, which simply means "judo uniform", for practicing judo. Sometimes the word is seen shortened simply to "gi" (uniform). The judogi was created at the Kodokan, and similar uniforms were later adopted by many other martial arts.
The modern judogi consists of white or blue cotton drawstring pants and a matching white or blue quilted cotton jacket, fastened by a belt (obi). The belt is often colored to indicate rank. The jacket is intended to withstand the stresses of throwing and grappling, and as a result, is much thicker than that of a karate uniform (karategi).
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Rules and Techniques
Techniques
While judo includes a variety of rolls, falls, throws, pins, chokes, joint-locks, and methods of percussion, the primary focus is on throwing and groundwork. Throws are divided in two groups of techniques, standing techniques (tachi-waza), and sacrifice techniques. Standing techniques are further divided into hand techniques, hip techniques, and foot and leg techniques. Sacrifice techniques are divided into those in which the thrower falls directly backwards and those in which he falls onto his side.
The ground fighting techniques are divided into attacks against the joints or joint locks, strangleholds or chokeholds and holding or pinning techniques.
A kind of sparring is practiced in judo, known as randori, meaning "free practice". In randori, two adversaries may attack each other with any judo throw or grappling technique. Striking techniques (atemi-waza) such as kicking and punching, along with knife and sword techniques are retained in the kata. This form of pedagogy is usually reserved for higher ranking practioners (for instance, in the kime-no-kata), but are forbidden in contest, and usually prohibited in randori for reasons of safety. Also for reasons of safety, chokeholds, joint locking, and the sacrifice techniques, which can be very spectacular but often dangerous, are subject to age or rank restrictions. For example, in the United States one must be 13 or older to use chokeholds, and 16 or older, or hold the rank of shodan or higher, to use armlocks.
In randori and tournament (shiai) practice, when an opponent successfully executes a chokehold or joint lock, one submits, or "taps out", by tapping the mat or one's opponent at least twice in a manner that clearly indicates the submission. When this occurs the match is over, the tapping player has lost, and the chokehold or joint lock ceases. This allows a merciful exit to the match, and therefore injuries related to these holds are quite rare.
Rules of judo
The object in a judo match is to either throw the opponent to the ground on his back, to pin him to the ground on his back, or to force him to submit using a choke or an armlock. Any of these score ippon immediately winning the match. When throwing, anything besides landing the opponent full on his back, such as landing on the hip or shoulder, will score waza-ari, yuko or koka (waza-ari being the highest of the 3, koka the lowest), or no score. A waza-ari is a "near-fall", two of which will earn the match. Yuko and koka are scores of lesser value that are not cumulative to either that higher waza-ari. Rather, they are used as deciders if the match ends before either of the higher scores is achieved. On the typical electronic scoreboard, yuko scores 010 and koka scores 001. In the event that the match a draw, the clock is reset to match-time, and the contest is resolved by the Golden Score rule. This is a sudden death situation wherein the first contestant to achieve any score wins. If there is no score during this period, then the decision is by a majority opinion of the referee and the two corner judges.
After a non-ippon throw occurs (whether or not it is scored), combat may continue on the ground. Pinning an opponent (holding both shoulders to the mat) for 25 seconds results in ippon. Holding the pin for 20 seconds scores waza-ari; if waza-ari was previously scored, this constitutes ippon, since two half-points will complete the ippon score. An automatic ippon is also granted when one's opponent submits, which frequently occurs when strangleholds / armlocks are used. If there is no ippon, the one with the highest score wins. Penalties may be given for being inactive during the match or using illegal techniques and fighting must be stopped if a participant is outside the designated area on the mat (tatami). If the referee and judges need to discuss something during groundwork, the referee will call sonomama (which means "do not move") and both fighters must stop in the position they are in. When they are done, the referee says yoshi and the match continues.
All scores and penalties are given by the referee. The judges can make a decision to change the score or penalty given by the referee.
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Rank and grading
Jūdōka are ranked according to skill and knowledge of judo, and their rank is reflected by their belt color. There are two divisions of rank, below black-belt "grades" (kyū), and black belt "degrees" (dan). This ranking system of was introduced into the martial arts by Kano and has since been widely adopted by modern martial arts. As initially designed, there were six student grades which were numerically ranked in decending order, with 1st kyū being the last before promotion to first degree black belt (shodan).
There are ordinarily 10 dan ranks are in ascending numerical order. For dan ranks the first five are coloured black, 6th, 7th, and 8th dan have alternating red and white panels, and for 9th and 10th dan the belts were to be solid red.
| Rank | Japanese | Belt color |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Kyu | rokyu |  |
| 5 Kyu | gokyu |  |
| 4 Kyu | yonkyu |  |
| 3 Kyu | sankyu |  |
| 2 Kyu | nikyu |  |
| 1 Kyu | ikkyu |  |
| 1 Dan | shodan |  |
| 2 Dan | nidan | |
| 3 Dan | sandan | |
| 4 Dan | yodan | |
| 5 Dan | godan | |
| 6 Dan | rokudan | |
| 7 Dan | shichidan | |
| 8 Dan | hachidan | |
| 9. Dan | kudan |  |
| 10. Dan | judan | |
In Japan, the use of belt colors is conversely related to the age of the student. Some clubs will only have black and white, others will include a brown belt for advanced kyū grades and at the elementary school level it is common to see a green belt for intermediate levels.
Some countries also use colored tips on belts, to indicate junior age groups, and historically, women's belts had a white stripe along the centre.
Examination requirements vary depending on country, age group and of course the grade being attempted.The examination itself may include competition and forms. The kyū ranks are normally awarded by local instructors (sensei), but dan ranks are usually awarded only after an exam supervised by independent judges from a national judo association. For a rank to be recognized it must be registered with the national judo organization or the Kodokan.