2 The History of Judo 1

Judo has been done since 12 century but its name has changed many times. In the Warring States period, judo is called "bugei". In Edo era, bugei developed and came to be called "jujitsu". At that time, it is said that there were more than one hundred judo techniques. Japanese people call them "judo waza". The early history of judo is inseparable from its founder, Japanese polymath and educator Jigoro Kano(1860-1938). He also established The University of Tsukuba, so he is very famous among our college students. He named jujitsu "judo"later. When Kano attended the Tokyo Imperial University in 1877, he started looking for jūjutsu teachers. He became the pupil of Hachinosuke Fukuda, who taught Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū in a 10-mat room adjacent to his practice. Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū was itself a combination of two older schools: the Yōshin-ryū and Shin no Shindō-ryū. Fukuda's training method consisted mostly of the student taking fall after fall for the teacher or senior student until he began to understand the mechanics of the technique. Needless to say, Kano did not beat Fukuda at all. Fukuda stressed applied technique over ritual form. He gave beginners a short description of the technique and then had them engage in free practice (randori) in order to teach through experience. It was only after the student had attained some proficiency that he taught them traditional forms, kata. This method was difficult, as there were no special mats for falling, only the standard straw mats (tatami) laid over wooden floors. After then, he had studied how to break the posture of the opponent by reading the opponent's motion for a long time. In May or June 1882, Kano started the Kodokan dojo with twelve mats, in space belonging to the Eishō-ji, a Buddhist temple in what was then the Shitaya ward of Tokyo. Kano had only a handful of students at this time, but they improved their technique through regular contests with local police jujutsu teams. The Kodokan moved to a 60-mat space in April 1890. In December 1893, the Kodokan started moving to a larger space located in Tomizaka-cho, Koishikawa-cho, and the move was completed by February 1894. The Kodokan's first gankeiko, or winter training, took place at the Tomizaka-cho dojo during the winter of 1894–1895. Midsummer training, or shochugeiko, started in 1896.

During the late 1890s, the Kodokan moved two more times; first to a 207-mat space in November 1897, and then to a 314-mat space in January 1898. In 1909, Kano incorporated the Kodokan, and endowed it with ¥10,000. The reason, said Japan Times on 30 March 1913, was "so that this wonderful institution might be able to reconstruct, for that is what it really does, the moral and physical nature of the Japanese youth, without its founder's personal attention." The Kodokan moved once again during Kano's lifetime, and on 21 March 1934, the Kodokan dedicated this 510-mat facility. Guests at the opening included the Belgian, Italian, and Afghan ambassadors to Japan. In 1958, when the Kodokan moved to its current eight story facility, that now has more than 1200 mats, the old building was sold to the Japan Karate Association.

I used the following sites
wikipedia, ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/柔道‎

嘉納治五郎の生涯,

www.judo-ch.jp/kanou_life/