JUDO
MAXIMUM
EFFICIENCY
MINIMUM
EFFORT
Judo is still a practical martial art
by KELLy CRIGGER
// PHOTOS COURTESy THE KODOKAN INSTITUTE The founder of Kodokan
Judo, Jigoro Kano.
86 FIGHTMAGAZINE.COM | JUNE 2009
JUDO
“Your Jiu-Jitsu is no good here.”
If T-shirts with snappy sayings had been fashionable in 1880, Jigoro
Kano would have stood at the gate of Eishoji temple proudly brandish-
ing this phrase across his chest. After studying several different styles
of Jiu-Jitsu, Kano took the best parts of each, added his own principles
of throwing and off-balancing, and founded Judo. Within a few years,
he wiped his mats with Jiu-Jitsu pupils and indirectly spawned two
more martial arts that have had a lasting effect on MMA. And that
wasn’t even his day job.
The Kid Can’t Sit Still
A history of Judo is essentially the history of its
founder, Jigoro Kano, and the conditions under which
the art was formed. He was born into a sake-brewing
family during a time of great change in Japan. It was
six years after Admiral Perry’s steamships had entered
Tokyo Bay and proved the futility of the feudal system
to the Japanese people. By the time Kano was eight
years old, his country had endured a revolution that
deposed the ruling Shogunate and reinstated Emperor
Meiji. His formative years were filled with excitement
and a burgeoning curiosity about the world beyond Students of the
Kodokan Judo clan
the seas, which the Shoguns had defiantly guarded
assemble before
the population against for three centuries. His teen-
Jigoro Kano.
age years were a tornado of new social and intellectual
changes that fueled his desire to know more—a char-
acteristic that would define his life.
Despite being a government employee at a time
when the government was crumbling, Kano’s father
wasn’t destitute. He ensured that his kids were well
educated by Neo-Confucian scholars and European
private schools. Thus Jigoro, the youngest of three, wasn’t a ste- demise shortly after Kano walked through his door, so you would
reotypical street-tough candidate for the title of “pioneer of fight- think Iso Masatomo would have kept young Kano out. He didn’t,
ing.” But bullies are a staple of any society, and since Kano was a and died shortly thereafter.
scrawny five-foot-two, and the very definition of a ninety-pound Kano found a new school and discovered that moving around
weakling, he was easy prey. Fortunately, the youngster didn’t take like an Army brat had its advantages. The constant upheaval from
kindly to playing the role of victim, and he dedicated himself school to school gave him an opportunity to compare styles and
to learning self-defense despite his father’s protestations (Jiu-Jitsu determine what worked and what didn’t. In the waning days of
was known for developing aggressive youth). the nineteenth century, Jiu-Jitsu was taught in two forms: kata, or
Kano enrolled in college at Tokyo Imperial University, where rigid form, and randori, which meant “free form,” similar to what
he became absorbed in academia. He loved learning and didn’t we would call open mat grappling today. Fukuda’s Tenjin Shinyo-
limit it to the classroom, especially when it came to the ancient ryu style stressed randori over kata, and favored actual practice
ways that were dying out so rapidly under a blossoming Japa- over rigid forms. Masatomo’s style stressed free-form grappling as
nese intellectual society that craved everything western. Oddly well, but he was also a master of striking vital areas. Kano’s third
enough, Jiu-Jitsu was being maintained at the time by osteopaths teacher was Iikubo Tsunetoshi, who taught him Kito-ryu Jiu-Jitsu,
(sometimes called “bonesetters”), so Kano sought out a doctor as well as the throwing techniques for which Judo would eventu-
who could teach him how to stop getting his ass kicked. Unfor- ally become renowned. Kano didn’t stop there. When he repeat-
tunately, Kano chose Jiu-Jitsu masters who had a bad habit of dy- edly lost to a larger student in his dojo and needed a way to com-
ing. His first instructor, Hachinosuke Fukuda, met an untimely pensate for his smaller stature, he added Sumo wrestling moves to
FIGHTMAGAZINE.COM | JUNE 2009 87
JUDO
his repertoire. It was his open mind and willingness to try what- superior technique that enabled a smaller man to defeat a larger
ever worked that formed the basis of Judo, which was technically one. Kano found his motto: “The maximum efficiency with min-
the first mixed martial art. But he wasn’t there just yet. imal effort.”
His Judo was taught mostly via randori (free exercise under
I Did It My Way contest conditions: throwing, pinning, choking, and joint locks),
In only four years Kano was licensed to teach Jiu-Jitsu and, although kata (form or prearranged exercises: hitting, kicking,
in 1882, at just twenty-two years old, he felt the time had come weapons) was also part of the curriculum. Randori promoted cre-
to teach on his own. The precocious youth took nine students ativity, free thinking, and free movement. Kata was formulaic,
and twelve tatami mats to Eishoji Buddhist temple, in Kamakura, embodying the Shogun-era view of education as indoctrination,
to teach his reformed style of Jiu-Jitsu. Kano focused his teach- not the Meiji-era appreciation for discovery. It’s a teaching style,
ings on breaking his opponent’s posture before moving in for seen in almost any dojo today, in which an instructor teaches a
the throw—an unheard-of technique at the time. “The transition move and then allows his students ample time to practice it with
from Jiu-Jitsu to Judo was made slowly but surely,” says author a partner. Judo also embodied the core belief that experience was
Andy Adams, “although it is difficult to pinpoint the day when more important than strength or power, so an older, wiser judo-
what that handful of students were learning was no longer Jiu- ka (practitioner of Judo) could defeat a stronger, faster student.
Jitsu, but Judo.” Symbolically it was the day he tossed his former But Kano didn’t limit his art to a simple means of self-de-
master, Tsunetoshi, around the dojo like a couch pillow during a fense. He saw in it a way to make people and society better
randori match. through the three pillars of Judo: self-defense, physical culture,
and moral behavior. The three were interrelated and in-
separable. “Since the very beginning, I had been catego-
rizing Judo into three parts,” Kano wrote, “a physical ex-
ercise, a martial art, and the cultivation of wisdom and
virtue. I anticipated that practitioners would develop
their bodies in an ideal manner and also improve their
wisdom and virtue, and make the spirit of Judo live in
their daily lives.”
Chivalry Is Reborn
It’s important to note that Japan in the late nine-
teenth century had no concept of sport. It was a society
quickly coming out of three hundred years of isolation
that didn’t understand the meanings of “team” or “fair
play.” Japan was on the other end of the spectrum from
the most powerful nation on the planet—Britain—which
imbued its adolescents with the spirit of competition and
exported its games around the world, including America
(rugby and cricket were the bases for football and baseball).
British youth grew up knowing the meaning of selfless sac-
rifice, that the victory of the team is greater than the vic-
Two years later, he had his own school, with its own set of by- tory of the individual. The British saw sport as a part of life that
laws. Kano would later write, “By taking together all the good brought people together peacefully.
points I had learned of the various schools and adding thereto my Kano believed in the western concept of fair play, and saw the
own inventions and discoveries, I devised a new system for physi- need for organized sport in everyday life. As the headmaster of the
cal culture and moral training. This I call Kodokan Judo.” elite Gakushin School, he mandated that all students participate
Ju means “pliancy” and do means “the way,” which some in a sport (thus starting the tradition of gym class hazing). Until
have translated as “the gentle way.” Kano’s Judo blended the pin- that time, the ruling samurai culture believed that the one perfect
ning and choking techniques of Tenjin Shinyo-ryu Jiu-Jitsu, the cut of a katana blade was all that was needed to end a contest, so
throwing techniques of Kito-ryu, and some Sumo wrestling into its fighting style was aptly called shobu, or “sudden death.” Kano
a unique martial art. The revolutionary part of it was kuzushi, saw shobu as stifling creativity because it was risk-averse and de-
or off-balancing. Judo’s core was to use an opponent’s weight tracted from the student’s ability to formulate a strategy. If a game
against him to disrupt his balance and throw him to the ground. had multiple opportunities to score, participants would have to
There he would be vulnerable to a pin, choke, or joint lock. Ku- develop plans of attack and take risks to win, so he organized Judo
zushi led to an efficiency of effort, and that efficiency led to a contests around point-scoring systems instead of shobu.
teach Tenjin Shinyo-ryu.
jin Shinyo-ryu Jiu-Jitsu,
vital areas), and randori
Yoshin-ryu by Hirosuke
1877 – Enrolls at Tokyo
Jiu-Jitsu for Ulysses S.
opened the Kano Juka,
Starts dabbling in Ten-
with Iikubo Tsunetoshi
Koubunkan, an English
1874 – Sent to private
a prep school, and the
lished a dojo at home.
Grant when he visited
1879 – Demonstrated
tournament.Rice cake
and learned throwing
(form), atemi (striking
1871 – Family moved
1884 – Judo formally
Kodokan in a temple;
Kano began studying
laws. Red and White
established, with by-
Totsuka . Masatomo
schools run by Euro-
with Iso Masatomo,
Japan. Fukuda died.
1860 – Jigoro Kano
1883 – Kano estab-
Imperial University.
Gakushuin, an elite
school. Established
under Hachinosuke
1881 – Licensed to
Kano saw demo of
training in Kito-ryu
who stressed kata
cutting ceremony.
died. Kato began
language school.
1882 – Became
an instructor at
techniques.
(free form).
was born.
to Tokyo.
Fukuda.
peans.
88 FIGHTMAGAZINE.COM | JUNE 2009
JUDO
1884 was a big year for Judo. Kano had written the first bylaws relations were recognized when he was appointed the first Asian
of his Kodokan (judo school), instituted the rice cake cutting cer- member of the International Olympic Committee. At that time,
emony to start his hellish winter training session, and inaugu- the Olympics were not the spectacle of grandeur that they are to-
rated the first Red and White tournament that is now the longest day (the 1908 games listed Tug-of-War as a sport), but his appoint-
running competitive sporting event in the world. As Wayne Muro- ment was still another major milestone in the history of Judo.
moto wrote in his magazine, Furyu: The Budo Journal, these early By 1912, Judo dominated the Japanese martial arts landscape,
competitions had rules, but they were still trying to define them- and Jiu-Jitsu was in jeopardy of dying out altogether. Kano’s ob-
selves. “You scored an ippon (a full point) with throws, chokes, session with learning kicked in and, in order to salvage what he
holds, or arm locks that would, in an actual situation, completely could from a seemingly doomed art, he pulled together the re-
overwhelm your opponent. You usually went until someone maining authorities on Jiu-Jitsu and adopted their most effective
dropped from sheer exhaustion or the judge ended it, awarding techniques for the Kodokan. But this had an unforeseen side ef-
the match to the clear victor.” fect. Along with a trend toward newaza, which began after the
Fusen-ryu victory, an influx of new ground techniques gener-
ated a highly effective form of grappling Judo, especially at high
“Kosen students were the green berets of Judo. school tournaments. It was called Kosen Judo, and the style was
so dominant that, by 1925, Kano’s core tachi-waza throwing
They were seen as the cream of the grappling techniques were in danger of becoming extinct.
For the first time in his professional life, Jigoro Kano displayed
crop, and their attitude of “I’ll let it snap before I a close-minded approach to learning. He changed the rules of
Judo tournaments so that athletes were required to start from a
tap” earned them a great deal of respect” standing throwing position, so they were forced to learn the core
principles of kuzushi. No matter how close throwing techniques
were to his heart, however, Kano recognized the need for the art
These achievements, though remarkable, were still known only to evolve. Applying a clear double standard, he withdrew his rule
among the practitioners of Kodokan Judo. It wasn’t until 1886 change for a few select schools known as the “Seven Universities.”
that Judo announced its presence with authority to the public by To this day, their tournaments are held under different rules from
soundly defeating the powerful Totsuka-ha Yoshin-ryu Jiu-Jitsu those of the rest of the Japanese school system ; and it’s in those
school at a Tokyo Metropolitan Police Academy challenge (final tournaments that Kosen Judo still flourishes.
score 12-2 with two draws, but historical accounts differ ). Sud-
denly people took note of the frail Kano and his ability to toss The Judo Virus
aside a larger, stronger man effortlessly. The police challenge was Kosen students were the green berets of Judo. They were
to Judo what the first Stephan Bonnar-Forrest Griffin fight was to seen as the cream of the grappling crop, and their attitude of “I’ll
the UFC, and for the next fourteen years, Judo enjoyed a meteoric let it snap before I tap” earned them a great deal of respect in
rise in popularity. the sport. It also spawned two Judo offshoots that would become
But at the turn of the century, the art tasted its first bitter pill world renowned: Sambo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
of defeat. In 1900, the Kodokan lost a challenge match to the Fus- Mitsuyo Maeda, long credited with having taught the Gracie
en-ryu Jiu-Jitsu school, which emphasized newaza, or grappling family his fighting style, enrolled in the Kodokan in 1897 and was
techniques, over tachi-waza, or throwing techniques. Kano was trained as a judoka during the golden age of grappling Judo. He
not about to sit around and let his art take a black eye. He sought proved himself in multiple tournaments, so in 1904 Kano sent
out the Fusen-ryu master, Mataemon Tanabe, to learn his rep- him on a world “Judo is great” tour that eventually ended in Bra-
ertoire of grappling techniques, and immediately incorporated zil. Known as the Conde Coma (“Count of Combat”), Maeda re-
them into the Kodokan’s teachings. This was a milestone because portedly won over 1,000 matches on four continents as he chal-
it started a trend toward grappling Judo, with major ramifications lenged anyone and everyone to a fight. His mix of Judo, Jiu-Jitsu,
for the martial arts that can still be seen today. and striking, which he’d gleaned from so many fights, formed
the nearly perfect street-fighting technique that he taught in his
They Call Me Janus new school in Brazil during the 1920s. In 1925, Brazilian politi-
While Jigoro Kano was obsessive about evolving Judo, it cian Gastão Gracie took notice and hired Maeda to teach his sons
wasn’t his day job. Kano was first and foremost an educator. In Carlos and Helio. If you don’t know the history of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu
1901, after nineteen years as the Gakushin School headmaster, thereafter, grab a copy of my book and read chapter two.
he was appointed as director of the Tokyo Higher Normal School. Shortly after World War II, one of the greatest milestones in
Kano made great strides in blending sport into everyday life for his Judo history occurred in Brazil. Gracie Jiu-Jitsu enjoyed an explo-
students, and in 1911 Judo officially became part of the Japanese sion in popularity, and the country was captivated with the fam-
school system’s curriculum. His efforts to use sport to foster better ily’s resident bad ass, Helio Gracie, who had proven to be a master
1890 – Second Kodokan
trip to spread the word
1892 – Kano made first
1901 – Kano appointed
1909 – Kano appointed
1897 – Fourth Kodokan
winter training session
theTokyo Metropolitan
building. First Kodokan
Higher Normal School.
the Ministry of Educa-
1889 – Kano took first
1894 – Third Kodokan
1911 – Judo teachers
Yielding to Strength.”
1898 – Fifth Kodokan
appointed Director of
summer training ses-
introduced as part of
Primary Education at
lecture at the British
council. First special
1886 – Challenge at
became a Japanese
to IOC. His Kodokan
training association
1896 – First special
1888 - Kano gave a
“Gaining Victory by
building. Kano was
sion (shochugeiko).
the school system.
President of Tokyo
embassy in Tokyo:
established. Judo
trip to Shanghai.
Police Academy.
foundation
(kangeiko).
on Judo.
building.
building.
tion.
FIGHTMAGAZINE.COM | JUNE 2009 89
JUDO
come a new form that was distinct from traditional Judo. In typi-
cal Soviet fashion, Sambo practitioners thought themselves to be
superior to Judo fighters. That all changed in 1972, when judokas
Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki and Nobuyuki Sato entered a national
Sambo competition in Riga, Latvia, and destroyed everyone. Sud-
denly, Sambo clubs converted back into Judo clubs. Those wacky
Soviets had a habit of overestimating themselves.
Modern Judo
Back in Japan, Judo had gained nationwide prominence
when the first all-Japan tournament was held in 1930. But just
when it seemed as if Judo would become the national pastime, Ja-
pan entered one of its darkest periods. The 1930s saw the start of
a bloody phase of violent Japanese expansionism that didn’t end
until atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in
1945. During this time, with most of the country’s fighting-age
men deployed around East Asia, Judo stagnated. It suffered an ad-
ditional blow in 1938, when Jigoro Kano died on a ship while en
route back to Japan from an IOC meeting in Cairo.
Under the U.S. occupation after World War II, Japan experi-
enced a period of nonaggression that reinvigorated the art and
even spread it back to North America. In 1951 the International
Judo Federation was formed and, just five years later, it held its first
World Championships in Tokyo. The IJF opted not to restrict the
competition to weight classes since the philosophy of Judo was
Mitsuyo Maeda that a smaller man could easily throw a larger one. That theory
(AKA Count Coma) was literally tossed out the window at the third world champion-
is the man credited ships, in 1961, when Dutch judoka Anton Geesink won the world
with teaching the title. The domination of Judo by a non-Japanese was a shocking
Gracies.
revelation, and it changed the sport. Reluctantly, the IJF insti-
tuted weight classes, but this bad tiding produced good news. The
installment of weight classes meant that the competition was get-
of fighting. In 1949, the Gracies challenged the best in Judo to a ting better. Judokas around the world were becoming more and
fight in front of 20,000 Brazilians. The result was the epic battle more skilled at their art, so the division of competitors into class-
between Helio and Masahiko Kimura. In eighteen minutes Helio es based on weight evened out the playing field to compensate for
was overwhelmed, and his elbow was broken when he refused their prowess. In 1964, Men’s Judo was introduced in the Olympic
to tap under the duress of Kimura’s signature move. (If Kimura Games, and it became a permanent sport in 1972. In 1988, the
had been Tito Ortiz, he would have immediately put on a “Your open weight class was dropped from Judo Olympic competition,
Jiu-Jitsu is no good here” tee-shirt). It would be 34 years before and in 1992 Women’s Judo became an Olympic sport.
the Gracie family traveled abroad to stage another challenge, Judo’s influence on Mixed Martial Arts is evident. Several ju-
but when they did, it would be big. They called it “The Ultimate dokas are successful in MMA, including Pride FC and UFC vet
Fighting Championship.” Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, who won the US Open Judo cham-
On the other side of the world, another Kosen Judo student pionship in 2001. One of the greatest fighters of all time, Fedor
was taking his own show on the road, though it’s doubtful he Emelianenko, comes from a Sambo fighting background. And in
ran into any spicy Brazilian ladies along the way. Vasili Oshchep- a moment of history repeating itself, Renzo Gracie refused to tap
kov was awarded his second dan (grades of Judo black belts; there when caught in a Kimura lock by Kazushi Sakuraba at Pride 10,
are five) from Jigoro Kano himself, and he took his art back to resulting in a badly broken elbow.
Russia. There he mixed it with various ethnic styles of wrestling “Judo almost gives you an unfair advantage in a fight,” says
(Georgian, Moldavian , Uzbek, and Armenian) and developed the UFC welterweight Karo Parisyan. “If a guy comes at me like a
framework of what would eventually become the Soviet art of beast or tries to get my back, I just use his strength and aggression
Sambo. Along with Victor Spiridonov, Oshchepkov taught it to against him and dump him on his head.”
the Red Army starting in 1923. Karo needs to wear a printed t-shirt after a win:
During the Cold War, Soviet Sambo had evolved enough to be- “Your Jiu-Jitsu is no good here.”
Soviet Union and kicked
Masahiko Kimura fight.
1949 – Helio Gracie vs.
1920 – Kano left Tokyo
Judo Olympic competi-
permanent sport in the
1992 – Women’s Judo
Higher Normal School.
1961 – Anton Geesink
1930 – First All-Japan
introduced to Olympic
1958 – New Kodokan
1972 – Judo became
ship. Weight classes
1988 – Open weight
Olympics. Japanese
judokas went to the
became an Olympic
1964 – Men’s Judo
1956 – World Judo
of Holland won the
class dropped from
1951 – IJF formed.
1938 – Kano died.
Judo tournament.
Championships in
world champion-
their asses.
instituted.
Games.
Tokyo.
sport.
built.
tion.
90 FIGHTMAGAZINE.COM | JUNE 2009