What is Judo?
Judo was founded in 1878 by Dr. Grigori Kano in Japan. Dr. Kano founded it as a physical fitness system, but most people recognize Judo as a martial art. It is defiantly a contact sport consisting of throws, pins and submissions (like wrestling). Dr. Kano took the lethal practices of many forms of ju-jitsu from Japanese antiquity and altered them into a sport that can be played by people of all ages.
The historical context of the time must remember. It was the middle of the 1800’s. Electricity, running water, radio, and auto mobiles were not invented or in use. Horses, beasts of burden, and manual labor were all the world had known.
Dr. Kano accomplished two amazing task relevant to Judo. One, he got the existing establishment in Japan to recognize a new style or discipline of martial arts, Two, he organized a world-wide system of competition that eventually led to a place in the Olympics starting in 1964.
Many forms of Karate existed in Japan from the feudal period (800- 1800). They consisted of armed and unarmed combat. Almost all of these styles had more advanced forms of ju-jitsu. These systems rivaled and competed with each other for centuries. Though similar they all varied in specifics. The different participants vehemently thought their style was superior. Dr Kano was able to convince them to agree on a new style that could be practiced in a sport setting while not abandoning the nature of Japanese fighting style, the essence of superior technique, and the development of warrior mentality.
Judo began to be practiced throughout Japan. Eventually tournaments (Shia) became a large part of the practice. It was no time till Japan held national Tournament. In the meantime, the sport was exported around the world. People from other countries developed their own tournament system. With the help Dr. Kano international competition developed. During this time the world revived the Olympics starting in 1894. With much lobbing and persistence Judo was an exhibition sport and eventually added as a Permanant sport in 1964.
The technique was thought to demonstrate the superiority of the competitors. So originally there were no weight classes and women did not play in the Olympics until 1972. In the modern era there are weight classes similar to boxing and wrestling.
As Judo approaches 150 years in practice, it’s influence cannot be ignored. Although all separate discipline many of today’s recognized styles owe their roots and a portion of their style to Judo: Aikido, hapkido, Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, Craw Magali, and others.
