Judo History

Judo as a martial art came into existence in 1882 being derived from the much older techniques of attack and defence called ju-jitsu. Before the advent of judo or more properly Kodokan Judo there existed some twenty independent ju-jitsu schools. A young Japanese man Jigoro Kano, wanting to be able to handle some bigger bullying companions, decided to join one of the ju-jitsu schools.

He studied the techniques of various schools for several years. Finally in 1882 he established his own which he called the Kodokan and instead of using the word ju-jitsu used judo instead. One of the reasons for choosing a different name for his school was that with theordinance of 1871 forbidding Samurai to carry swords the martial arts fell into decline and then disrepute. Some ju-jitsu experts of Kano's time were rogues and bullies and ju-jitsu acquired a low reputation. Kano, not wishing to inherit this, began his school with a new name.