October 28th, 1860 saw the birth of Jigoro Kano in
Kobe, Japan. Son of a high-ranking government official
and Shinto Priest, he was the third son of a family of
three boys and two girls. Young Jigoro was physically
weak in his early years, in fact, he was beaten up so
often by local bullies he resolved to strengthen himself
the best way he could. It was his unrelenting drive to
learn how to defend himself that eventually led to his
formulation of Judo.
Jujitsu was flourishing during Jigoro's boyhood and
it was to instructors of this martial art that Jigoro
turned when he enrolled as a student at Tokyo Imperial
University. Apparently he was obsessed with the desire
to learn the manly art of self defense and concluded
that jujitsu offered him his best chance. He was but
17 and his instructor felt him too young for serious
training, however after several months of formal exercises
Jigoro found another instructor who was an osteopath
as well as an instructor in jujitsu. This may have been
a fortunate combination of skills although historians
apparently do not elaborate on the fact.
Jigoro Kano ate, drank and slept jujitsu. By the time
he was 21 he became a master. It was about this time
that he encountered a 200 pound bruiser to whom he invariably
lost. He wanted to beat this man so badly that it filled
all his thoughts and after studying everything he could
get his hands on he finally worked out a new technique.
The next time he met his burly rival he charged in low,
lifted him onto his shoulder whirled him around and tossed
him to the mat. He named his new throw 'kata guruma'
or shoulder whirl. Other throws he worked out included
'uki-qoshi' (rising hip throw) and 'tsuri-komi-goshi'
(lift-pull-hip throw).
 
Kano now devoted himself to, formulating a system of
reformed jujitsu founded on scientific principles, integrating
combat training with mental and physical education. He
borrowed mat techniques, striking techniques and throwing
techniques from various schools of jujitsu, holding on
to those that conformed to scientific principles and
rejecting all others. All harmful and dangerous techniques
were eliminated.
When 22 year old Kano took nine of his private students
from the dojo of master Iikubo in February 1882, and
set up his own dojo. Judo didn't automatically spring
into being, In fact master Iikubo came two or three times
a week to help instruct Kano's students. They were still
learning jujitsu rather than judo. Possibly judo came
into being the day that Kano first defeated Iikubo. Until
then he had never managed to get the better of him, But
that day in randori practice, Kano blocked every move
Iikubo made, then called on his 'uke-waza'and 'sumi-otoshi'
to throw the jujitsu master no less than three times.
Kano explained: 'Force your opponent to make his body
rigid and lose his balance, and then when he is helpless,
you attack.'
Kano declared: 'Taking together all the merits I have
acquired from the various schools of jujitsu, and adding
my own devices and invention, I have founded a new system
for physical culture, mental training and winning of
contests. This I call Kodokan-Judo.'
Kano saw judo in terms of a sport, whereas jujitsu was
merely another of the marital arts, a method of defense.
The dangerous techniques of jujitsu were eliminated from
the judo contests, but retained as part of judos defense
system. Another essential difference from jujitsu was
judos application of 'kazushi', a theory devised by Jigoro
Kano during his jujitsu training and used so successfully
against master Iikubo.
'Using a minimum amount of strength, it is possible
to throw your opponent if you force him off-balance by
breaking his posture.'
Kano's fame and greatness are based on this principle
just as much as they are on his being the founder of
judo.
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