Judo

judo, Japanese jūdō, system of unarmed combat, now primarily a sport. The rules of the sport of judo are complex. The objective is to cleanly throw, to pin, or to master the opponent, the latter being done by applying pressure to arm joints or to the neck to cause the opponent to yield.

Techniques are generally intended to turn an opponent’s force to one’s own advantage rather than to oppose it directly. A ritual of courtesy in practice is intended to promote an attitude of calm readiness and confidence. The usual costume, known as jūdōgi, is a loose jacket and trousers of strong white cloth. White belts are worn by novices and black by masters, with intermediate grades denoted by other colours. Jūdōka (students of judo) perform the sport with bare feet.

Kanō Jigorō (1860–1938) collected the knowledge of the old jujitsu schools of the Japanese samurai and in 1882 founded his Kōdōkan School of judo (from the Chinese jou-tao, or roudao, meaning “gentle way”), the beginning of the sport in its modern form. Kanō eliminated the most dangerous techniques and stressed the practice of randori (free practice), although he also preserved the classical techniques of jujitsu (jūjutsu) in the kata (forms) of judo. By the 1960s judo associations had been established in most countries and affiliated to the International Judo Federation, which is headquartered in Budapest, Hungary.

Men’s judo competitions were first included at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 and were held regularly from 1972. World judo championships for women began in 1980, and women’s Olympic competition began in 1992. Japan, Korea, France, Germany, and Great Britain have consistently fielded the strongest teams in the Olympics, as did the Soviet Union during its existence.

Judo’s direction has changed since its inception. Kanō designed judo to be a safe, cooperative method of physical education. Jūdōka spend a great amount of time learning to fall safely. Even in randori, the person performing the throw (the tori) helps the person receiving (the uke) to the ground by holding onto his arm and guiding him to a safe fall. By contrast, in Western wrestling one does not help an opponent to fall, and coaches spend little if any time teaching their wrestlers how to fall safely. As judo competitions became more popular, however, jūdōka began to exhibit the competitive spirit more usually found in Western wrestlers; they began concentrating on judo as a sport rather than as a drill or a way of life. The inclusion of judo in the Olympic Games marked the turning point in this transformation.

This competitive spirit can be seen in the change in the attitude of many jūdōka in regard to scoring. Only clean throws demonstrating superior timing and a knowledge of body mechanics were rewarded with a score in the pre-Olympic period. Currently in judo, the scoring system awards an ippon (“one point”) for a conclusive technique that wins a match by its successful execution, a waza-ari (half point), and minor points (called yuko). In a major shift from traditional judo, in a modern match a jūdōka will often play conservatively and work for a win based only on partial scores from minor points, rather than risking all in the attempt for an ippon. This shift to competitive judo has been aided by the success of European and Russian jūdōka, influenced by their strong wrestling traditions and in particular the Russian development of sambo (which was itself based upon judo).