Judo

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Judo was invented by Jigoro Kano in 1882 in Suidobashi, Tokyo. It is the modern sports form of jiu-jitsu. It's techniques consist of, and are based on, leverage, throws, and grapples. It is a grappling art rather than a striking art, like karate. The word judo itself means" gentle way".

Outside of China, judo is probably the most practiced of martial arts. It is a fighting art and a sport, but also a spiritual discipline and an excellent form of physical education. In his childhood, Jigoro Kano suffered from ill health. Because of this, he decided to start his own program of fitness training to improve his health, and enrolled in the Tenjin Shinyo school of jiu-jitsu. The school taught atemiwaza, or "striking techniques", and newaza, or "grappling methods". Upon his teacher's death, he joined the kito-ryu, which specialized in throwing techniques.

In 1882, Kano invented his own style based on everything he had learned and called it Kano-ryu, although the name was later changed to Kodokan judo. Starting his school in a poor part of Tokyo, he began teaching his art to just 9 students. During this time, he was awarded his masters rank in kito-ryu jiu-jitsu. A challenge from a rival school was met, and Kano fought and defeated the great champion Fukushima. Because of this, the Tenshin- Shinyo school also awarded him a masters rank. Kano's name was now starting to attract attention. In 1886, the Japanese police force held a tournament open to all schools of jiu-jitsu in order to see who was superior. With a team of 15 hand-picked students, the Kodokan school won 13 out of 15 matches, establishing their supremacy once and for all.

Judo's techniques are divided into 3 categories: tachizawa, " standing techniques, newaza, "ground techniques", and atemizawa, "vital point techniques". The belt ranks start with white, and progresses to yellow, orange, green, blue, and then brown. After brown, the student receives his shodan rank, or first degree black belt. The dan grades range from first to tenth. Although it is possible to achieve a twelfth dan, nobody has actually ever done this, except for the founder, Jigoro Kano.