A brief history of Judo
Kodukan Judo is an exciting unarmed combat sport that originated in the Orient as a means of self-defense which has since grown into on international competitive sport.
Judo was developed out of ju-jitsu (a form of unarmed combat believed to have been introduced into Japan by a Chinese monk), Chen Yuan-ping in the early seventeenth century. Various ju jitsu schools developed young samurai who were instructed in the art. This was in the days of chivalry among Japanese knights. Samurai Warriors carried swords as a form of armed combat and also used ju jitsu with lethal effect. However, in 1871 the samurai were forbidden to carry swords. Still, they continued to use ju jitsu lethally and it brought the art in disrepute.
The skills of unarmed combat were saved by Dr. Jigaro Kano who studied at various ju-jitsu schools. He brought together the best techniques of each to develop his own style, introducing it at his school. He called the style Kodokan Judo. He formed a princi¬ple which ju-jitsu had also earlier discovered – Tsurikomi, the art of getting a fighter off balance before throwing him, Kano described the difference between judo and ju-jitsu as “the elevation of an art to a principle”.
The Kodokan was founded in 1882, but was slow to establish itself as one of the leading schools because there still remained an interest in ju jitsu. But in 1886, the Kodokan and the Totsuka (the biggest ju- jitsu school), took part in a competition organized by the Metropolitan Police Board.
Each school fielded a 15-man team and the Kodokan won 13 contests with the other two being drawn. From that day, the popularity of judo increased while that of ju-jitsu declined.