In 1877 an eighteen-year-old Tokyo University arts student named Jigoro Kano, the son of an important official in the Japanese navy, began to practice ju-jitsu in the Tenshin Shin'yo Ryu with Master Fukuda. Jigoro Kano was a young man with an inferiority complex that led him to push himself to exceed in many areas. His main motivation for doing ju-jitsu stemmed from having been a sickly child who felt the need to strengthen and toughen himself up. As well as studying English and German with native teachers and Japanese literature and general culture at Tokyo University, he made time to train in ju-jitsu. As his studies progressed he realized that while there were many negative aspects to ju-jitsu with which he was not in agreement, it also contained a considerable cultural heritage, which was in danger of being lost for ever as the twentieth century loomed closer. He recognized an educational potential within ju-jitsu that inspired increasingly deeper study.
When Master Fukuda died in 1879 Kano continued studying with Mataemon Iso of the Tenshin Shin'yo Ryu. Following the death of Master Iso in 1881 he began to train in the Kito Ryu with Master Okuba. By 1882, having inherited the scrolls of the Tenshin Shin'yo Ryu and with his own ideas beginning to crystallize, Kano established his own dojo for the study of those aspects of the old ju-jitsu systems that he thought valuable. His new system, which he began to teach in the Buddhist temple of Enshoji, with only nine pupils, was called judo. Rather than just involving simple training in self defence, it was conceived as a vehicle for physical and cultural development. He named his new school the Kodokan, the place for studying the way.
The big advantage Kano's judo had over other systems was that with atemi-waza, the dangerous kicks, strikes and punches, removed from the system and regular practice of ukemi-waza (falling techniques), it had become possible to evolve the randori (free play) method of training. The traditional schools only practiced kata, which involved going through prearranged series of techniques with unresisting partners, so while pupils developed high levels of skill, they had no real experience of actually fighting. Randori allowed Kano's pupils to grapple, in the same way that boxers spar to prepare them for the realities of combat, trying out techniques on one another with varying degrees of resistance and intensity.
The effectiveness of Kano's method soon became well known as a result of successive victories by his students in a number of ju-jitsu tournaments, organized along the lines of combat sports events by Mr Mishima, the head of Tokyo's Metropolitan Police. In the early days there were a number of challenges and confrontations with representatives of the ju-jitsu schools who wanted to test the efficacy of this new system. Kano's students, particularly Yamashita, Yokoyama and Saigo, had to confront the best ju-jitsu fighters of the day and always won. The most famous contest was between a ju-jitsu expert called Nakamura and Saigo of the Kodokan, who eventually defeated his opponent with a devastating yama-arashi or mountain storm throw.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to read more on JiuJitsu please go to The MMA Zone to read more.
