The History of Judo

Judo was developed in Japan over 100 years ago by Professor Jigaro Kano the President of the University of Education in Tokyo.

Professor Kano was bullied as a young boy and had learned the ancient martial art of jujitsu for his own self-defence.

In his professional life, he strongly believed that the physical – as well as mental - development of children was critical to help them grow into healthy, well-rounded adults. He believed that physical education in schools was sorely lacking and believed, through his own experience, that jujitsu could not only develop the body but was also an excellent way of developing mental and moral values.

However, he felt that jujitsu techniques were too difficult and dangerous to be used in schools and set about integrating what he considered to be the best of the jujitsu techniques into a gentler system whose goal would be physical fitness for all.

And so judo was born.

The word judo consists of two japanese characters – ‘ju’ which means ‘gentle’ and ‘do’ which means ‘the way’. So judo literally means ‘the way of gentleness’.

The place where judo training occurs is called a ‘dojo’, which means a ‘place to learn the way’. The traditional dojo is floored with mats called ‘tatami’. The dojo is not just a place to come and learn about the technical aspects of judo – it is a place to learn about the way of judo.