UNIVERSITY OF CRAIOVA

FACULTY OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT

NAME AND SURNAME: MOCIOACA DANIEL

FIRST YEARS

THE HISTORY OF JUDO

Translated by the "path of suppleness", judo is a nonviolent martial art

created in 1882 by the Japanese professor Jigoro Kano (1860-1938) whose
principles are the techniques of wrestling with bare hands used in jujutsu, from
which were removed those procedures that endangered the life or physical
integrity of practitioners (judoka).
Each people has developed over time a specific form of fighting that
contained more or less dangerous elements but nowhere in the world have these
fighting techniques developed more than in Japan. The specific conditions in
this part of the world (high concentration of inhabitants on a small area as well
as limited natural resources) made the struggle for existence take on dramatic
aspects so that the one who had as many and effective methods of struggle had
the greatest chances to survive, to impose on others the right to "life or death".
Samurai (ruling class in feudal Japan: 12th-18th centuries, more precisely
during the Kamakura period through Bushido "Code of Samurai" published
between 1185-1333, and valid until the Edo period, 1603-1868, Edo being the
old name of the capital of today, Tokyo) were those who ruled Japan in the
name of the shogun (the most powerful and wealthy general, the governor
general of Japan).
The samurai developed from the ancient sumo (a Shinto religious struggle
waged in the presence of the emperor to improve the deities to obtain rich
harvests, attested more than 2000 years ago) a form of warrior struggle "joran
zumo" which became jujutsu or "Science of suppleness" is a form of warfare for
life and death with or without the use of traditional weapons (spear, sword, bow
and arrow, knife, etc.), by adding methods and fighting techniques of Chinese
origin (kempo - the fight with fists), as well as techniques used by the
inhabitants of the island of Okinawa (who were forbidden to carry weapons,
being forced to fight with their bare hands against their enemies).
A mixture of courage, warrior spirit of struggle and sacrifice, cruelty and
violence but also of wisdom, spirit of observation, dignity, loyalty, jujutsu
became a fascinating "art of fighting" that all samurai practiced daily with great
perseverance. The "Bushido" code was the moral, the conduct, the precepts that
guided them in battle and in their daily lives.
The severity of the code stems from the popular seppuku procedure
"harakiri" which meant self-extermination, if a samurai violated the rules of this
code in order to restore the honor of his family, otherwise it would fall into
disfavor.
In the Meiji Era (modern "bright" period), Japan left its gates open for the
penetration of Western civilizations, developing its trade, industry, expansionist
politics and modern social life. Firearms are now allowed to be worn (1871) and
the samurai caste is officially abolished, with jujutsu falling into disfavor. This
form of fighting was also practiced sporadically in some schools that barely
survived, as well as by some law-abiding Japanese who used it to commit
crimes, robberies, and so on.
The negative perception of this once excellent fighting system was
rehabilitated by the great Japanese teacher and statesman Jigoro Kano who laid
the foundations of a new method of fighting called judo by eliminating violent,
dangerous techniques from the old jujutsu. Kano has studied these techniques in
several schools (Tenjin Shinyo Ryu with Fukuda H. and Iso M., Kito Ryu with
Iikubo T.) and has taken from them the best and most effective principles that
he has developed and improved, adding new and effective ones for "physical
and mental education" rather than for the actual struggle.
This transformation began in February 1882 when Kano opened his first
dojo (generic name given to a martial arts training room, considered a "place of
physical and spiritual perfection") in an ancient Shinto temple, Eihoji in Tokyo.
At first, Kano taught his new method to only 9 students who became black belts
after a year.
Through this transformation, Kano managed to make a martial sport for
the training of Japanese youth, the ultimate goal of judo being "to quickly
demonstrate the living laws of the movement".
Kano coded a number of 40 design techniques that have proven to be very
effective in hand-to-hand combat (nage waza) and more than 80 ground fighting
techniques (ne waza) in immobilization (osae komi waza), strangulation (shime
waza) and dislocations (kansetsu waza) and even added new ones. He
established the principles and methodology of learning them after a more
rational kyuri planning, being appreciated even today by most methodologists in
the field of this martial arts sport.
Ju designates suppleness or not to strongly oppose the opponent's
strength and do the way in which this is done. In judo, are practiced kata or the
unchanged forms of techniques, "randori", the fight that never ends in "ippon"
and finally "shiai".
In 1882, at the Eihoji Temple in Tokyo, Kano began teaching judo with
only 9 students. Among the first judokas trained by Kano were: Yoshiaki
Yamashita (first black belt 10 dan - upper grade) obtained in 1935, Shiro Saigo
and Sakujiro Yokoyama, all of them having a reputation of being invincible.
They won the matches in front of representatives of jujutsu schools, in 1886, in
a confrontation under the auspices of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. A year
later he gave Tairo Shiro, the best of them, the black belt. His dojo is expanding
rapidly with over 100 disciples in just one year.
In 1922, he created Kodokan Judo, the largest institution in the world that
is still the "Mecca" of judo. All the contenders for the world and Olympic
medals come here to improve. Judo is spreading fast around the world as a
method of overcoming by the small and weak the big and strong.
Judo was practiced by USA President Teodore Rousvelt, physicist Juliot
Marie Curie the famous football player Pele and is still practiced today by great
celebrities of the modern world: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prince
Albert of Monaco, etc.
Despite Jigoro Kano's efforts to make his sport Olympic before he died,
judo debuted at the 1964 Olympic Games, twenty-six years after the founder's
death.

Bibliography:
Internet addresses
-https://ro.wikipedia.org>wiki>judo
-https://judoka.wordpress.com>2006/03/17>istoria-ju