Judo became the model for almost all the modern Japanese martial arts that developed from traditional schools (Koryu). Practised by practitioners called judoka.
Judo is the martial art of the meaning the “gentle way”. In 1882, Dr. Jigora Kano (The Father Of Judo) who is credited with jujitsu’s survival of the Meiji Restoration ,took jujitsu and adapted it to his new methodology which was known as Kodakan Judo .Jigora Kano was born in Japan on the 28th October 1860 , in the seaside village of Mikage, near Kobe.

In 1871, Kano’s family moved to Tokyo. As a young boy Kano was small, weak and often sickly in order to improve his health as well as to learn to protect himself at the age of 18 he enrolled himself in the Tenjin Shinyo Ryu School of Jujitsu under the guidance of Fukuda Hachinosuke, which was a soft martial art which included striking and grappling techniques.

Later Kano transferred to the Kito Ryu School to study under Tsunetoshi likubo which used a soft freedom of physical and throwing techniques. Kano began a comprehensive study of other forms of jujutsu such as Sekiguchi-ryu and Seigo-ryu.He also studied the manuscripts developed by founders of various schools, the I Ching (Book of Changes) as well as Lao-Tsze’sphillosophy. In 1880 Kano began to combine the best of the various techniques into one combined system so he could create a physical education that would combine mental and physical skill , as well as if the more dangerous techniques were not included in this system , it could be adapted as a competitive sport .

In 1882 Kano at the age of 22, presented his new – sport which he called Kodakan Judo .Kodakan which means ko (lecture, study , method ) Do (way, path), Kan(Hall , Place), so meaning “a place to study the way.” Kano established his judo school called the Kodakan, in the Eishoji Buddhist Temple in Tokyo.
In 1889 Kano left Japan to visit Europe and the U. S. He travelled abroad eight times in order to teach judo and several times to attend the Olympics and its committee meetings.

In 1892 Judo began to spread across the world when Takashima Shidachi lectured the Japan Society in London on the History and development of Judo. On 24th July 1905, representatives of the leading Jujitsu schools of Japan met at the Butokukai intstitute in Kyoto to agree on the forms of Kodokan Judo and to continue the development of the technical forms of the sport . The ancient Jujitsu techniques of each particular school were to be preserved in kata

In 1907, Gunnji Koizumi arrived in the U.S.A to teach Judo. In 1909, the system underwent change and Kodakan became an official Japanese foundation in the same year Jigoro Kano became the first Japanese member of the International Olympic Committee

In 1910 Judo became recognised as a safe sport and in 1911 was adopted as part of Japans educational system. In 1921 the Judo medical research society was established
In his lifetime Kano attained a doctorate degree in Judo, a degree equivalent to the Twelfth Dan awarded only to the originator of Judo.

Judo Demonstration Video