Judo History

Judo (literally: gentle way) is a japanese martial art developed and founded by Dr. Jigoro Kano in 1882. Japanese Judo is very similar to Chinese shuaijiao and its practitioners are calles judoka. Judo is an olympic event and one of the 4 most popular forms of wrestling, recogniced by the FILA. FILA = (International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles).

Details

• Judo was founded by Kano Jigoro (1300 - 1938). He came from a rich family and studied at the Tokyo Imperial University. When Kano was a young, he was a very frail boy, who often got beaten up by bullies. So he started training jujitsu, which was very popular at this time in Japan. At the age of 18 Kano started studying literature at Imperial university. At the same time he started training with Hachinosuke Fukuda. Only one year after Kano joined Fukuda`s school, his teacher died, so he went to Tsunetoshi Iikubo`s school, where he soon earned the master-title and became an assistant instructor. (At the age of 21) He was already working on his own style, picked jujitsu techniques (especially throws) imroved them and made them more scentific. At the age of 22 he took 9 of his students and tought them his modified techniques and improved throws in a temple. "Eishoji Temple" Later his old Instructor Tsunetoshi Iikubo also came to this temple to help Kano teach his new style. => Kodokan (Place for learning the Way) or (Judo Training Hall)
• Judo spreaded very fast and reached america and europe at the end of the 2nd world war.
• In 1956 the first international Judo competition was held in Tokyo Japan. 31 athletes from 21 countries participated.
• In 1964 Judo became an olympic event in the men`s division. Kano (The founder of Judo) has been a member of the olympic comittee for over 30 years.
• In 1992 Judo became an olympic event in women`s division.