During the early 1880s, there was no clear separation between the jujutsu that Kano was teaching and the jujutsu that his teachers had taught in the past. Indeed, Kano's Kitō-ryū teacher, Iikubo Tsunetoshi, came to Kano's classes two or three times a week to support Kano's teaching. However, there eventually came the day when student and master began to exchange places, and Kano began to defeat Iikubo during randori: Usually it had been him that threw me. Now, instead of being thrown, I was throwing him with increasing regularity. I could do this despite the fact that he was of the Kito-ryu school and was especially adept at throwing techniques.
This apparently surprised him, and he was quite upset over it for quite a while. What I had done was quite unusual. But it was the result of my study of how to break the posture of the opponent. It was true that I had been studying the problem for quite some time, together with that of reading the opponent's motion.
But it was here that I first tried to apply thoroughly the principle of breaking the opponent's posture before moving in for the throw.
I told Mr. Iikubo about this, explaining that the throw should be applied after one has broken the opponent's posture. Then he said to me: "This is right. I am afraid I have nothing more to teach you." Soon afterward, I was initiated in the mystery of Kito-ryu jujutsu and received all his books and manuscripts of the school.
To name his system, Kano revived a term that Terada Kan'emon, the fifth headmaster of the Kitō-ryū, had adopted when he founded his own style, the Jikishin-ryū: "jūdō". The name combined the characters jū (柔), meaning "pliancy", and dō, which is literally "The Way", but figuratively meaning method.
From a technical standpoint, Kano combined the throwing techniques of the Kitō-ryū and the choking and pinning techniques of the Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū. As such, judo's Koshiki no Kata preserves the traditional forms of the Kitō-ryū with only minor differences from the mainline tradition. Similarly, many of the techniques (but not the forms) of the Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū are preserved in the Kime no Kata.
Initially, Kano borrowed ideas from everywhere. As he wrote in 1898, "By taking together all the good points I had learned of the various schools and adding thereto my own inventions and discoveries, I devised a new system for physical culture and moral training as well as for winning contests." However, after judo was introduced into the Japanese public schools, a process that took place between 1906 and 1917, there was increasing standardization of kata and tournament technique.
Development: Kano also oversaw the development and growth of his judo organization, the Kodokan. This was a remarkable effort in itself, as the Kodokan's enrollment grew from fewer than a dozen students in 1882 to more than a thousand dan-graded members by 1911.
In May or June 1882, Kano started the Kodokan dojo in space belonging to the Eishoji Temple. 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 this move was complete 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. "In order to inure the pupil to the two extremes of heat and cold and to cultivate the virtue of perseverance", Britain's E.J. Harrison wrote:
all [Japanese judo] dojo including the Kodokan hold special summer and winter exercises. For the former, the hottest month of the year, August, and the hottest time of the day, from 1 p.m., are chosen; and for the latter commencing in January, the pupils start wrestling at four o'clock in the morning and keep it up until seven or eight. The summer practice is termed shochugeiko and the winter practice kangeiko. There is likewise the 'number exercise' on the last day of the winter practice when as a special test of endurance, the pupils practice from 4 a.m. till 2 p.m. and not infrequently go through as many as a hundred bouts within that interval.
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 (then about U.S. $4,700). 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 one more time 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 8-story, 986-mat, facility, this building was sold to the Japan Karate Association.
Ideals: On 18 April 1888, Kano and Reverend Thomas Lindsay presented a lecture called "Jiujitsu: The Old Samurai Art of Fighting without Weapons" to the Asiatic Society of Japan. This lecture took place at the British Embassy in Tokyo. Its theme was that the main principle of judo involved gaining victory by yielding to strength.
Being an idealist, Kano had broad aims for judo, which he saw as something that simultaneously encompassed self-defense, physical culture, and moral behavior.
Since the very beginning, I had been categorizing Judo into three parts, rentai-ho, shobu-ho, and shushin-ho. Rentai-ho refers to Judo as a physical exercise, while shobu-ho is Judo as a martial art. Shushin-ho is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue as well as the study and application of the principles of Judo in our daily lives. I therefore anticipated that practitioners would develop their bodies in an ideal manner, to be outstanding in matches, and also to improve their wisdom and virtue and make the spirit of Judo live in their daily lives. If we consider Judo first as a physical exercise, we should remember that our bodies should not be stiff, but free, quick and strong. We should be able to move properly in response to our opponent's unexpected attacks. We should also not forget to make full use of every opportunity during our practice to improve our wisdom and virtue. These are the ideal principles of my Judo.
In 1915, Kano gave this definition to judo: Judo is the way of the highest or most efficient use of both physical and mental energy. Through training in the attack and defence techniques of judo, the practitioner nurtures their physical and mental strength, and gradually embodies the essence of the Way of Judo. Thus, the ultimate objective of Judo discipline is to be utilized as a means to self-perfection, and thenceforth to make a positive contribution to society.
In 1918, Kano added: Don't think about what to do after you become strong -- I have repeatedly stressed that the ultimate goal of Judo is to perfect the self, and to make a contribution to society. In the old days, Jūjutsu practitioners focused their efforts on becoming strong, and did not give too much consideration to how they could put that strength to use. Similarly, Judo practitioners of today do not make sufficient efforts to understand the ultimate objective of Judo. Too much emphasis is placed on the process rather than the objective, and many only desire to become strong and be able to defeat their opponents. Of course, I am not negating the importance of wanting to become strong or skilled. However, it must be remembered that this is just part of the process for a greater objective... The worth of all people is dependent on how they spend their life making contributions."
During March 1922, Kano brought all this to fruition through the introduction of the Kodokan Bunkakai, or Kodokan Cultural Association. This organization held its first meeting at Tokyo's Seiyoken Hotel on 5 April 1922, and held its first public lecture three days later at the YMCA hall in Kanda. The mottoes of the Kodokan Cultural Association were "Good Use of Spiritual and Physical Strength" and "Prospering in Common for Oneself and Others." Although those are literal translations, the phrases were usually translated into English as "Maximum Efficiency with Minimum Effort" and "Mutual Welfare and Benefit." The theories of this organization were described in some detail in an article published in Living Age in September 1922.
The purpose of my talk is to treat of judo as a culture: physical, mental, and moral, -- but as it is based on the art of attack and defense, I shall first explain what this judo of the contest is
A main feature of the art is the application of the principles of non-resistance and taking advantage of the opponent's loss of equilibrium; hence the name jujutsu (literally soft or gentle art), or judo (doctrine of softness or gentleness)...
...of the principle of the Maximum Efficiency in Use of Mind and Body. On this principle the whole fabric of the art and science of judo is constructed.
Judo is taught under two methods, one called randori, and the other kata. Randori, or Free Exercise, is practised under conditions of actual contest. It includes throwing, choking, holding down, and bending or twisting the opponent's arms or legs. The combatants may use whatever tricks they like, provided they do not hurt each other, and obey the general rules of judo etiquette. Kata, which literally means Form, is a formal system of prearranged exercises, including, besides the aforementioned actions, hitting and kicking and the use of weapons, according to rules under which each combatant knows beforehand exactly what his opponent is going to do.
The use of weapons and hitting and kicking is taught in kata and not in randori, because if these practices were resorted to in randori injury might well arise...
As to the moral phase of judo, -- not to speak of the discipline of the exercise room involving the observance of the regular rules of etiquette, courage, and perseverance, kindness to and respect for others, impartiality and fair play so much emphasized in Western athletic training, -- judo has special importance in Japan...
