The History of Judo

Martial arts' popularity in the west is a relatively recent phenomenum; they have been studied and practised in Asia for many hundreds of years. There are many different styles, but one of the most well known and most practiced is Judo. It is one of only two martial arts practiced as a viable competitive sport in the Summer Olympic games.

Judo originated in Japan and became a full contact martial art in the 1800's and is therefore a very new art compared to some that have been practised for 100's of years. The founder's name was professor Jigoro Kano, who had previously studied much older martial arts forms such as Jiu-Jitsu, and then changed and unified what he referred to as disconnected principles and forms. judo, or Kano Jiu Do, was born out of many of the same principles and techniques; with a focus on encouraging the development of the mind, body and character of the student.

The word Judo specifically means "way of gentleness", and may be referring to the soft method of indirect force on the attacker and using his force against him by adapting well to given circumstances to your advantage as they may change. Many times Judo movements involved moving to the side and allowing for the attacker to fall from his own force, sometimes aided by a foot to the attacker's ankle or foot. Kano did not want his discipline to be based on a principle of killing as was the case with other older martial arts styles; rather he wanted students of Judo to use the discipline to improve all aspects of their lives.

Titles of Judo students have changed over the years. At its founding, only the instructors were called Judoka, while students were called kenkyu-sei meaning "trainee". Now anyone who practices the art is called a Judoka and the instructor is called a sensei. The place of practice is generally called a dojo. The uniform worn by the Judoki is called the Judogi, and is worn by all within the dojo.

The student of Judo learns many forms and techniques. These include many forms and techniques including standing and ground fighting techniques, throwing and grappling forms, and both the Ancient and Five Forms of modern Judo. Getting students to 'spar' off eachother is a great way to check their understanding of the martial arts' methodology and also to determine what rank they should be in.