Florida Judo Ki no Fuda's Judo History Column

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[Website Editor's note: This article ran in the paper newsletter Volume 1, Number 6 dated November/December 1989.] The Origin of “Ju” in Judo There are good records which document the origin of the art we call Judo. It was founded in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. However, the foundation for what Dr. Kano created dates back to much earlier. This is worth considering…. Jigoro Kano was born in Makagemachi (town’s name) of Hyogo Prefecture (now called Kobe), in 1860. His father, Jirosaku, came from the distinguished Shogenji family, and his mother came from the Kano family in Nada. His childhood education was from his parents, with emphasis on devoting himself to others and his country. In 1871, at the age of 10, he went to Tokyo and attended a private school, where he studied the classical Japanese studies and yogaku (Western learning). He later graduated from Kaisei High School. As a youth, Kano was rather “frail” and decided to develop his body through the study of Jujitsu. In 1877, while attending the Imperial University in Tokyo, Kano encountered Hachinosuke Fukuda, the Master of the Tenjin Shinyo-Ryu style of Jujitsu and enrolled as a student of Fukuda Sensei. While studying at the University during the day, Kano would spend his evenings in the dojo practicing kata and randori. Through his dedication, he quickly surpassed the senior students and became a ranking member of the dojo. He was given the title Shihan-Dai (meaning “Representing the Master”). Each Jujitsu ryu had types of techniques in which it specialized. The specialties of the Tenjin Shinyo-Ryu were atemi-waza (striking techniques) and katame-waza (grappling techniques). While studying at the Tenjin Shinyo-Ryu, Kano also studied European wrestling and Japanese Sumo styles. At 105 pounds, he is said to have once thrown a 170 pounder named Fukushima with a technique called Kata Guruma (shoulder wheel). When Fukuda Sensei died in 1879, Kano entered the school of Masamoto Iso, which was the main branch of the same Tenjin Shinyo-Ryu. Then Iso Sensei passed away in 1881 and Kano turned to the Kito-Ryu, where he studied under Konen Iikudo. The specialty of this style was nage-waza (throwing techniques). When Kano first began training in Kito-Ryu, Iikudo Sensei would throw him with relative ease. However, it wasn’t long before Kano began to better his sensei in randori sessions. In 1882, at the Eishoji Temple in Tokyo, Kano found a school he called the Kodokan (place to study the “way”). The style, which he called Judo, combined techniques he adapted from many of the old Jujitsu forms with more modern techniques. He brought to his new art the concept of off balancing one’s opponent and then using one’s body in an efficient manner to achieve a throw. Kano’s favorite technique was hidari (left side) Uki-goshi (floating hip technique). The underlying concept of Judo, like that of its forerunner Jujitsu, is Ju (“gentleness”). So where did that concept become folded into the Japanese fighting arts. One legend tells of a Japanese physician named Shirobei Akiyama who visited China in about the year A.D. 700. There he studied the religious doctrines of Taoism, which teach a balanced existence with the events of one’s environment and the forces of good and evil. When he returned to Japan, he made a hundred-day retreat at the temple of Tenji. While walking along the backs of a river after a heavy winter snowfall, he was meditating on how to defeat a superior force. When he reached a willow tree, he noticed that its larger branches were bending and breaking under the weight of the new snow, but the smaller ones were constantly shedding their load and returning to their original position. He realized that it was more advantageous to oppose force with suppleness or “gentleness”. Based on this revelation, Akiyamam founded Yoshinru (the school of the “heart of the willow”), as legend says. This is said to be the first school of Jujitsu.