NORTH BIRMINGHAM JUDO CLUB

Jigoro Kano was born in 1860.  In 1877 aged seventeen Jigoro enrolled as a student of literature at the Tokyo Imperial University.  Whilst at university he developed an interest in Jujutsu (a system of unarmed fighting methods) and commenced a study of the Tenjin Shinyo Ryu style of jujutsu under Master Fukuda Hachinosuke.  The style emphasised grappling skills such as throwing and pinning.  During his study of Tenjin Shinyo Ryu, Kano also learned joint locks and strangles. 

Master Fukuda died in 1879 and Jigoro, continued to study Tenjin Shinyo Ryu Jujutsu under Iso Masatomo who introduced Jigoro to effective striking techniques.  After an extensive study of Tenjin Shinyo Ryu jujutsu, Jigoro undertook a study of Kito Ryu Jujutsu.  The Kito Ryu Style of Jujutsu focused on grappling in armour and its throwing techniques were highly regarded. 

In 1882 Jigoro Kano started his own school of jujutsu.  He soon after named his style Judo, meaning the gentle/flexible way.  Jigoro called his first dojo the Kodokan.  Starting with a tiny number of devoted students, the Kodokan grew rapidly.  The growth of judo was greatly assisted by the Kodokan's success in challenge matches against other jujitsu schools and practitioners, notable a match organised by the Tokyo Police in 1886.  At this tournament the Kodokan are reported to have won 12 out of 15 fights, leaving people in no doubt as to the value of the new style of Judo.

The success of Judo can be attributed to its extensive use of Randori (free practice) a form of sparring in which techniques are employed against resisting training partners.  Randori allows students to learn how to employ their techniques against resisting opponents and helps them identify the techniques that do not work well for them.  Also Kano sought to teach the principles of Judo, explaining how and why techniques work.  In Judo it is more important to learn the principles (e.g. how to break a person's balance), than it is lots of different techniques.  Once the principles are learned and mastered a Judoka can easily learn and perform a multitude of techniques and employ them in fights effectively and with relative ease.

In 1895 the Japanese Government established the Dai Nippon Butokukai meaning the "All Japan Martial Virtue Society".  This organisation comprised many top jujitsu and sword masters and Kano was invited to work with them.  As a result the jujitsu masters within the Dai Nippon Butokukai played a big roll in the development of Judo's self defence techniques as found within Kime no Kata (a series of 20 combat techniques used against punches, grabs, knife attacks and sword attacks).