Judo: Kanō Jigorō and the Gentle Way

Judo is the rare case of a martial art whose origin can be pinned to a person, a place and a year: Kanō Jigorō, Tokyo, 1882. That it became an Olympic sport with millions of practitioners in less than a century has less to do with spectacular techniques than with the idea behind it.

A slight student looks for jūjutsu

Kanō, born in 1860, was small as a teenager and, by his own account, often bullied. He sought instruction in jūjutsu, the unarmed close combat of the samurai, which was losing its standing in the Meiji era: Japan was modernising, and the old warrior arts were seen as relics.

Kanō studied in two schools, Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū (focus on striking, joint locks, strangles) and Kitō-ryū (focus on throws). What he experienced there he wanted to systematise – and strip of everything that was too dangerous for free practice.

Kōdōkan: the place for teaching the way

In 1882 Kanō opened the Kōdōkan (“place for teaching the way”) with a handful of students. The name is the programme: jūjutsu (art) became jūdō (way). Kanō formulated two principles that still adorn every judo hall:

• Seiryoku zen'yō – maximum efficient use of energy.
• Jita kyōei – mutual welfare and benefit.

The decisive idea was Kanō's randori, free practice at full effort. It became possible because he removed the dangerous techniques from practice fights and instead allowed throws, pins, joint locks and strangles under controlled conditions. That meant you could train every day without being injured every day – an advantage the old schools did not offer.

From a Tokyo temple to the world

Kanō was an educator, later head of teacher training, and from 1909 the first Asian member of the IOC. He travelled, lectured and sent students abroad. That is how judo reached Europe and the Americas, where it was at first often taught under the name jiu-jitsu.

The belt system also goes back to the Kōdōkan: Kanō initially distinguished only students (white) and dan holders (black). The coloured student grades common in Europe and America today were added later.

The Olympics and the price of success

In 1964 judo was Olympic for the first time, in Tokyo. Kanō did not live to see it; he died in 1938 on the way back from an IOC session. Olympic status brought the sport reach and money – and rule changes that purists criticise to this day: leg grabs were banned from competition, match time was shortened, and the rulebook was rebuilt several times to make judo more readable for spectators.

What remains is the core: yield in order to throw. And a sport in which you bow before and after every fight.