Introduction to "the gentle way" - Judo

The art of judo and ju-jitsu has a very special relationship between them. It was said that judo is actually developed from ju-jitsu, by Professor Jiguro Kano, the founder. Professor Jiguro Kano graduated from the Imperial University of Tokyo, Japan, in 1881 and wanted to introduce a form of physical exercise to his students. Through the several ju-jitsu schools he attended, he adopted the best principles of the art and developed judo. Judo, literally translated means the “gentle way”. Judo today is one of the most wide-spread martial arts and is a sport event in the Olympic as well. However, the founder Jiguro Kano, envisaged judo as the development of a lifetime art, as opposed to a sport. He felt strongly that it was an art with the purpose of training one’s mind and body rather than to be a public competition.

During his time when people have a different opinion about females not able to learn martial arts due to their physique that would lead to health problems, Jiguro Kano differ from them and has set a precedence of taking in a female student. He then did a research on the impact judo had on women and the results refuted the critics’ claims concerning the negative impact of judo on women. By 1935, judo was successfully taught to women, especially in high school.

Later on judo became popular in other countries such as Great Britain and France with the first international competition held between them. By 1956, judo was being taught widely in Japan especially in schools.

I personally feel that the beauty of judo lies in the ability of able to overcome a much larger opponent using skill, strategy and technique. I have once the pleasure to learn a few techniques from a judo friend who is a champion in one of the tournaments if i could remember, it should be an inter-school tournament. He has showed me indeed how judo can subdued an opponent. I have also seen from a demonstration that a small girl managed to throw a guy who is so much bigger and taller to the ground using a judo technique. The key into winning therefore lies in the principle of utilizing one's and the opponent's body movements which is, applying the techniques of this beautiful art, judo.