THE LEGEND
The best known tells that around the mid-16th century a Nagasaki doctor, SHIROBEI AKIYAMA, went to China to deepen his knowledge of resuscitation methods, which presupposed a perfect knowledge of the vital points of the human body. Akiyama, a man of many talents, took advantage of his stay on the continent to also study Taoism and Chinese martial arts. Returning to his homeland, during a period of meditation he noticed that the sturdier branches of the trees broke under the weight of the snow, while those of a willow bent flexibly to shake off the weight, to then resume the position without suffering damage. Applying to the techniques of struggles learned in China the considerations gained on compliance or "non-resistance", he founded the YOSHIN school (of the "willow heart").
Judo is born Jigoro
Kano moved to Tokyo in 1871 with his family. Of lively intelligence but frail constitution, he had to suffer the arrogance of his companions, from whom he would have liked to defend himself by practicing ju-jutsu. As the discipline was discredited and deemed too violent, Kano had to give it up, dedicating himself especially to gymnastics and baseball to strengthen his physique. In 1877, upon entering the University of Tokyo, he was finally able to approach ju-jutsu, to which he applied himself with passion, engaging in hard training (always covered with sores, he was nicknamed "ointment"). His first teachers were Hachinosuke Fukuda and Masatomo Iso, from Tenshin-Shin'yo-ryu, from whom he learned in particular the KATAME-WAZA and the ATEMI-WAZA, coming into possession of the DENSHO (secret books) of the school after their death. He then met Tsunetoshi Iikubo, an expert on Kito-ryu, from whom he learned the NAGE-WAZA. While progressing with surprising ease, penetrating the secrets of the different styles, in 1881 he obtained a degree in letters and began teaching at Gakushuin (School of Nobles). In 1882 the young professor opened a gym of just 12 tatami mats in the temple of Eisho, gathering the first 9 students: thus was born the KODOKAN ("place to study the VIA"), where the young professor elaborated a synthesis of various schools of ju- jutsu. The new style of struggle, no longer just an art of combat, but destined for popularization as an educational form of the body and spirit, was called JUDO ("Way of flexibility"): as Kano pointed out in 1922, it was based on the best use of energy (SEI RYOKU ZEN YO) in order to perfect yourself and contribute to the prosperity of the whole world (JI TA KYO EI). In 1895 Kano elaborated with his best students the first GO-KYO ("five principles") or teaching method; in 1906 he brought together the representatives of the various schools in Kyoto to outline the first KATA ("models" of the fighting techniques); in 1921 it presented the new GO-KYO, still unchanged. Kano died on the steamship Hikawa-Maru in May 1938, while returning home after attending the IOC Congress in Cairo. He therefore did not witness the defeat of his country, but a couple of years earlier, as if he presaged the storm, he had left a kind of spiritual testament to the judokas all over the world: - Judo is not just a sport. I consider it a principle of life, an art and a science [...] It should be free from any external influence, political, nationalist, racial, economic, or organized for other interests. Everything that concerns him should only aim at one purpose: the good of humanity.
SIGNIFICANT DATES
- 1956 1st World Championship
- 1964 1st Olympiad (TOKIO)
- 1988 1st Female Olympiad (SEUL