was a Japanese judoka, educator, politician, and the founder of
judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...
. Judo was one of the first
Japanese martial arts
Japanese martial arts refers to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms (''budō'', ''bujutsu'', and ''bugei'') are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts.
The usage ...
to gain widespread international recognition, and the first to become an official
Olympic sport
Olympic sports are sports that are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2024 Summer Olympics included 32 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented at the Internation ...
.
Pedagogical
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...
innovations attributed to Kanō include the use of
black and white belts, and the introduction of
dan rank
The ranking system is used by many Japanese, Okinawan, Korean, and other martial arts organizations to indicate the level of a person's ability within a given system. Used as a ranking system to quantify skill level in a specific domain, it w ...
ing to show the relative ranking among members of a martial-art-style. Well-known mottoes attributed to Kanō include and .
In his professional life, Kanō was an
educator
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
. Important postings included serving as director of
primary education
Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...
for the from 1898 to 1901, and as president of Tokyo Higher Normal School from 1900 until 1920.
[Strictly speaking, the name was Tokyo Normal School from 1901 until 1903, and Tokyo Higher Normal School from 1903 to 1924. Tokyo Higher Normal School is today viewed as an ancestor of the Institute of Health and Sport Sciences at ]University of Tsukuba
is a List of national universities in Japan, national research university located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Ibaraki, Japan.
The university has 28 college clusters and schools with around 16,500 students (as of 2014). The main Tsukuba ca ...
. See th
Institute of Health and Sport Science's web site
He was the educational founder of
Nada High School
Nada High School (), is private, college-preparatory, boys school located in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Nada High School is well known for its severe entrance examinationhttp://momotaro.boy.jp/html/zennkokuhennsati.htmranking of Japan High Sc ...
in Kobe, Japan. He played a key role in making judo and
kendo
is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords ( shinai) as well as protective armor ( bōgu). It began as samurai warriors' customary swordsmanship ex ...
part of the Japanese public school programs of the 1910s.
Kanō was also a pioneer of international
sport
Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...
s. Accomplishments included being the first Asian member of the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...
(IOC) (he served from 1909 until 1938), officially representing Japan at most Olympic Games held between 1912 and 1936, and serving as a leading spokesman for Japan's bid for the
1940 Olympic Games.
His official honors and decorations included the First Order of Merit and Grand
Order of the Rising Sun
The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...
and the Third Imperial Degree. Kanō was inducted as the first member of the
International Judo Federation
The International Judo Federation (IJF) is the international governing body for judo, founded in July 1951. Today the IJF has 200 National Federations on all continents. There are over 20 million people around the globe who practice judo, accordi ...
(IJF) Hall of Fame on 14 May 1999.
Early years
Childhood
Kanō Jigorō was born to a
sake
Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...
-brewing family in the town of Mikage, Japan (now within
Higashinada-ku, Kobe). The family sake brands included "Hakushika", "Hakutsuru", and "Kiku-Masamune". However, Kanō's father Kanō Jirōsaku (née Mareshiba Jirōsaku) was an adopted son and he did not go into the family business. Instead he worked as a lay priest and as a senior clerk for a shipping line.
Kanō's father was a great believer in the power of education in the modern world, and he provided Jigorō, his third son, with an excellent education. The boy's early teachers included the
neo-Confucian
Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a Morality, moral, Ethics, ethical, and metaphysics, metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, which originated with Han Yu (768� ...
scholars
Yamamoto Chikuun and
Akita Shusetsu.
Kanō's mother died when the boy was nine years old, after which his father moved the family to
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
. The young Kanō was enrolled in
private schools
A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their financial endowme ...
, and had his own
English language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
tutor. In 1874 he was sent to a private school run by Europeans, Ikuei Academy, to improve his English and German language skills.
He was fluent in English, kept his diary in that language and wrote it in a very elegant style.
At the time of his adolescence, Kanō stood but weighed only . He was frequently
bullied at Ikuei due to this small size and his intellectual nature, to the point other students sometimes dragged him out of the school buildings to beat him up,
so he wished he were stronger in order to defend himself.
One day, Nakai Baisei, a friend of the family who was a member of the ''
shōgun
, officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...
''s guard, mentioned that
jūjutsu
Jujutsu ( , or ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu (both ), is a Japanese martial art and a system of close combat that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdue one or more weaponless or armed and armored opponent ...
was an excellent form of physical training, and showed Kanō a few techniques by which a smaller man might overcome a larger and stronger opponent. Seeing potential for self-defense on this, Kanō decided he wanted to learn the art, despite Nakai's insistence that such training was out of date and dangerous.
By the time Kanō moved to
Kaisei Academy
Kaisei Academy (, ) is a Private school, private secondary school for boys located in Arakawa, Tokyo.
Overview
Kaisei Academy admits approximately 300 students to its junior high school and 400 to its high school each year. The school's motto ...
, his bullying had died off, but his interest in jūjutsu had not. His father also discouraged him from jūjutsu, as he ignored the bullying his son had suffered, but after noting Kanō's deep interest in the art, he allowed him to train on condition Kanō would strive to master it.
Jūjutsu
Kanō matriculated at the
University of Tokyo
The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...
in 1877 and graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy in 1882. During his time at the university, he started looking for jūjutsu teachers. He first looked for
bonesetter
Traditional bone-setting is a type of a traditional medicine, folk medicine in which practitioners are engaged in joint manipulation. Before the advent of chiropractors, osteopaths, and physical therapists, bone-setters were the main providers o ...
s, called ''seifukushi''. His assumption was that doctors who knew the martial art were better teachers. His search brought him to Yagi Teinosuke, who had been a student of Emon Isomata in the
Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū school of jūjutsu. Yagi, in turn, referred Kanō to Fukuda Hachinosuke, a bonesetter 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
("The School of the Willow Heart") is a common name for one of several different martial traditions founded in Japan during the Edo period. The most popular and well-known was the Yōshin-ryū founded by physician Akiyama Shirōbei Yoshitoki at ...
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. Fukuda stressed applied technique over ritual form. He gave beginners a short description of the technique and had them engage in free practice ''(
randori
is a term used in Japanese martial arts to describe free-style practice (sparring). The term denotes an exercise in 取り ''tori'', applying technique to a random ( 乱 ''ran'') succession of ''uke'' attacks.
The actual connotation of ''rand ...
)'' in order to teach through experience. It was only after the student had attained some proficiency that he taught them traditional forms (''
kata
''Kata'' is a Japanese word ( 型 or 形) meaning "form". It refers to a detailed choreographed pattern of martial arts movements. It can also be reviewed within groups and in unison when training. It is practiced in Japanese martial arts ...
''). This method was difficult, as there were no special mats for falling, only the standard straw mats (''
tatami
are soft mats used as flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms. They are made in standard sizes, twice as long as wide, about , depending on the region. In martial arts, tatami are used for training in a dojo and for competition.
...
'') laid over wooden floors.
Kanō had trouble defeating Fukushima Kanekichi, who was one of his seniors at the school. Therefore, Kanō started trying unfamiliar techniques on his rival. He first tried techniques from
sumo
is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...
taught by a former practitioner named Uchiyama Kisoemon. When these did not help, he studied more, and tried a technique ("
fireman's carry") that he learned from a book on western
catch wrestling
Catch wrestling (also known as catch-as-catch-can) is an English wrestling style where wrestlers aim to win by Pin (sport wrestling), pinning or Submission (combat sports), submitting their opponent using any legal holds or techniques. It emph ...
. This worked, and ''
kataguruma'', or "shoulder wheel", remains part of the judo repertoire, although at this moment the judo organizations of some countries prohibit this throw in competition judo.

On 5 August 1879, Kanō participated in a jūjutsu demonstration given for former United States president
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...
. This demonstration took place at the home of the prominent businessman
Shibusawa Eiichi. Other people involved in this demonstration included the jūjutsu teachers Fukuda Hachinosuke and Iso Masatomo, and Kanō's training partner Godai Ryusaku.
Fukuda died soon after this demonstration, at the age of 52. Fukuda's students were not a large group, and among them Kanō was suitably skilled in ''randori'' and was clearly the most advanced in ''kata'', and so Fukuda's widow chose Kanō to inherit the scrolls of his school. She also asked that the dojo remain open under Kanō's leadership, and he did assume this teaching responsibility for a time, but he soon decided that he should train more before accepting the duty of being a lead instructor.
Kanō began studying with Iso, who had been a friend of Fukuda. Despite being 62 years old and standing only tall, Iso had gained a powerful build from jūjutsu training. He was known for excellence in ''kata'', and was also a specialist in ''
atemi'', or the striking of vital areas. In Iso's method, one began with ''kata'' and then progressed to free fighting (''randori''). Due to Kanō's intense practice and his solid grounding in the jūjutsu taught by Fukuda, Kanō became an assistant instructor at Iso's school. Iso Masatomo died in 1881. While under Iso's tutelage, Kanō witnessed a demonstration by the Yōshin-ryū jūjutsu teacher
Totsuka Hikosuke and later took part in ''randori'' with members of Totsuka's school.
Kanō continued to associate with students and teachers of the other schools of his era, and learned that Motoyama Masahisa, who was on a baseball team with Kanō and also was a graduate of the University of Tokyo, was the son of a master of the
Kitō-ryū
is a traditional school ('' koryū'') of the Japanese martial art of jujutsu. Its syllabus comprises ''atemi-waza'' (striking techniques), ''nage-waza'' (throwing techniques), ''kansetsu-waza'' (joint locking techniques) and ''shime-waza'' ( ...
school. The senior Motoyama was now elderly and taught only kata, but Kanō had been seeking a teacher to train under actively after his previous teacher had died. Due to Kanō's persistence, Motoyama introduced Kanō to Iikubo Tsunetoshi as a more suitable Kitō-ryū master.
Kanō began training in Kitō-ryū with Iikubo Tsunetoshi (Kōnen). Iikubo was an expert in ''kata'' and throwing, and fond of ''randori''. Kanō applied himself thoroughly to learning Kitō-ryū, believing Iikubo's throwing techniques in particular to be better than in the schools he had previously studied.
Iikubo issued Kanō a formal jūjutsu rank and teaching credential, namely a certificate of ''
menkyo'' in Kitō-ryū, dated October 1883.
Kodokan judo
Establishment

During the early 1880s, there was no clear separation between the jūjutsu that Kanō was teaching and the jūjutsu that his teachers had taught in the past. Kanō's Kitō-ryū teacher, Iikubo Tsunetoshi, came to Kanō's classes at the early Kodokan two or three times a week to support Kanō's teaching.
Eventually student and master began to exchange places, and Kanō began to defeat Iikubo during ''randori'':

After these events, Iikubo granted Kanō ''menkyo''. Iikubo conferred this certification "along with a densho (a document that a master confers on a student who gains master-level proficiency) and everything else that he could bestow". Kanō continued to offer instruction in Kitō-ryū jūjutsu for a few years after this, and the limited records documented from the era show that he was further granted ''
menkyo kaiden'': a ''hontai-no-maki'' scroll of ''Kitō-ryū Takenaka-ha'' (issued in June 1885 to
Saigō Shirō) survives which bears the signature of Kanō Jigorō personally.
To name the gradually evolving system he was teaching at the Kodokan, Kanō 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 , meaning "pliancy", and
''dō'', which is literally "The Way", but figuratively meaning 'method.'
From a technical standpoint, Kanō 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 ''kata'' of Kitō-ryū, while ''
Itsutsu-no-kata'' is from Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū; in both cases there are only minor differences from the mainline tradition of each school as learned by Kanō. Similarly, a number of techniques from Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū are preserved in judo's ''
Kime-no-kata'', although Kime-no-kata itself was newly composed by Kanō for his judo students.
Kanō's initial work was influenced by various methods and institutions. 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

Kanō also oversaw the development and growth of his judo organization, the
Kodokan Judo Institute
The , or ''Kōdōkan'' (講道館), is the headquarters of the worldwide judo community. The ''kōdōkan'' was founded in 1882 by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo, and is now an eight-story building in Tokyo. Etymology
Literally, ''kō'' ...
. 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, Kanō started the Kodokan judo with twelve mats, in space belonging to the , a
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
temple in what was then the Shitaya ward of Tokyo (now the Higashi Ueno district of
Taitō ward), with Iikubo attending the dōjō three days a week to help teach.
[''Japan Times'', 30 March 1913; see also ]Kodokan
The , or ''Kōdōkan'' (講道館), is the headquarters of the worldwide judo community. The ''kōdōkan'' was founded in 1882 by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo, and is now an eight-story building in Tokyo. Etymology
Literally, ''kō'' ...
. Kanō had only a handful of students at this time, but they improved their technique through regular contests with local police jūjutsu teams.
The Kodokan moved to a 60-mat space in April 1890.
[For dates, see ]Kodokan
The , or ''Kōdōkan'' (講道館), is the headquarters of the worldwide judo community. The ''kōdōkan'' was founded in 1882 by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo, and is now an eight-story building in Tokyo. Etymology
Literally, ''kō'' ...
. 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 ''kangeiko'', 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:
[Harrison, E.J. ''The Fighting Spirit of Japan.'' Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 1982, p. 50.]
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, Kanō incorporated the Kodokan, and endowed it with 10,000
yen (then about
US$
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
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 once again during Kanō'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
The Japan Karate Association (日本 空手 協会; ''Nihon Karate Kyokai''; JKA; sometimes referred to simply as ''Kyokai'' 協会 in Japan) is one of the oldest global Shotokan karate organizations in the world.
Origins
Gichin Funakoshi played ...
.
Ideals
On 18 April 1888, Kanō 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, Kanō had broad aims for judo, which he saw as something that simultaneously encompassed self-defense, physical culture, and moral behavior.
In 1915, Kanō gave this definition to judo:
In 1918, Kanō added:

During March 1922, Kanō 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
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...
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 an American magazine ''
Living Age'' in September 1922.
Professional life
Educator
Although Kanō promoted judo whenever he could, he earned his living as an educator.
Kanō entered
University of Tokyo
The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...
during June 1877. He
majored in
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
and
economics
Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
, which at that time were taught by the Department of Aesthetics and Morals. One of his most beloved teachers was the
American scholar
Ernest Fenollosa.
He graduated in July 1882, and the following month he began work as a professor, fourth class, at the
Gakushuin, or Peers School, in Tokyo.
In 1883, Kanō was appointed professor of economics at Komaba Agricultural College (now the Faculty of Agriculture at University of Tokyo), but during April 1885, he returned to Gakushuin, with the position of
principal.
In January 1891, Kanō was appointed to a position at the Ministry of Education. In August 1891, he gave up this position to become a
dean at the Fifth Higher Normal School (present-day
Kumamoto University). One of the teachers at Fifth Higher between 1891 and 1893 was
Lafcadio Hearn
was a Greek-born Irish and Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture and literature of Japan to the Western world. His writings offered unprecedented insight into Japanese culture, especially his collections of legend ...
. Around this same time, Kanō married. His wife, Sumako Takezoe, was the daughter of a former Japanese ambassador to
Korea
Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
. Eventually, the couple had six daughters and three sons.
[Ishikawa, Yasujiro. ''Who's Who in Japan,'' fifth edition. Tokyo: Keiseisha, 1916, p. 256.]
During the summer of 1892, Kanō went to
Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
to help establish a program that would allow Chinese students to study in Japan. Kanō revisited Shanghai during 1905, 1915, and 1921.
In January 1898, Kanō was appointed director of primary education at the Ministry of Education, and in August 1899, he received a grant that allowed him to study in Europe. His ship left
Yokohama
is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...
on 13 September 1899, and he arrived in
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
on 15 October. He spent about a year in Europe, and during this trip, he visited
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
,
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
,
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, and
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. He returned to Japan in 1901. Soon after returning to Japan, he resumed his post as president of Tokyo Higher Normal School,
and he remained in this position until his retirement on 16 January 1920. He also helped establish
Nada Middle High School in 1928 at Kobe, which later became one of highest-ranked private high schools in Japan.
Considering that he majored in political science and economics, Kanō's family thought that after graduating from university, he would pursue a career in some government ministry. Indeed, through influential friends of his father's, he was initially offered a position with the Ministry of Finance. However, his love for teaching led him instead to accept a position teaching at Gakushuin. The students of Japan's elite attended Gakushuin and were of higher social positions than their teachers. The students were allowed to ride in
rickshaws
Rickshaw originally denoted a pulled rickshaw, which is a two- or three-wheeled cart generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also known as pedicabs or tri ...
(''jinrikisha'') right to the doors of the classes, whereas teachers were forbidden. The teachers often felt compelled to visit the homes of these students whenever summoned to give instruction or advice. In effect, the teachers were treated as servants.
Kanō believed this to be unacceptable. He refused to play such a subservient role when teaching his students. To Kanō, a teacher must command respect. At the same time, he employed the latest European and American
pedagogical
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...
methods. The theories of the American educator
John Dewey
John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and Education reform, educational reformer. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century.
The overridi ...
especially influenced him. Kanō's manner had the desired effect upon the students, but the administration was slower to warm to his methods and it was not until the arrival of a new principal that Kanō's ideas found acceptance.
All this is to say that Kanō's educational philosophy was a combination of both traditional Japanese neo-Confucianism and contemporary European and American philosophies, to include
Instrumentalism
In philosophy of science and in epistemology, instrumentalism is a methodological view that ideas are useful instruments, and that the worth of an idea is based on how effective it is in explaining and predicting natural phenomena.
According to in ...
,
Utilitarianism
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals. In other words, utilitarian ideas encourage actions that lead to the ...
, and "evolutionary progressivism", as
Social Darwinism
Charles Darwin, after whom social Darwinism is named
Social Darwinism is a body of pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economi ...
was then known.
The goals of Kanō's educational philosophies and methods (indeed, the goals of most Japanese educational programs of the early 20th century) were: to develop minds, bodies, and spirits in equal proportion; to increase patriotism and loyalty, especially to the
Emperor
The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
; to teach public morality; and to increase physical strength and stamina, especially for the purpose of making young men more fit for military service.
Calisthenics, especially as done in the huge formations favored at the time, could be boring, and at the high school and college levels, games such as
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
and
rugby were more often
spectator sport
A spectator sport is a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its competitions. Spectator sports may be professional sports or amateur sports. They often are distinguished from participant sports, which are mor ...
s than a practical source of physical exercise for the masses. Moreover, at elite levels, baseball, football, and even judo did not put much emphasis on moral or intellectual development. Instead, elite coaches and athletes tended to emphasize winning, at almost any cost.
For Kanō, the answer to this conundrum was one word: judo. Not judo in the sense of simply throwing other people around, and definitely not judo in the sense of winning at any cost. Instead, it was judo in the sense of "Maximum Efficiency with Minimum Effort" and "Mutual Welfare and Benefit." Or, as Kanō himself put it to a reporter in 1938: "When yielding is the highest efficient use of energy, then yielding is judo."
International Olympic Committee
Kanō became active in the work of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1909. This came about after
Kristian Hellström of the Swedish Olympic Committee wrote to the governments of Japan and China to ask if they were going to send teams to the 1912 Olympics. The Japanese government did not want to embarrass itself on an international stage by saying no, so the Ministry of Education was told to look into this. The Ministry logically turned to Kanō, who was a physical educator with recent experience in Europe. Kanō agreed to represent Japan at the International Olympic Committee, and, after talking to the French ambassador to Japan and reading pamphlets sent by the Swedes, developed, in his words, "a fairly good idea of what the Olympic Games were."
Toward fulfilling his duties as a member, in 1912, Kanō helped establish the Japan Amateur Athletic Association (Dai Nippon Tai-iku Kyokai), which had the mission of overseeing amateur sport in Japan. Kanō was the official representative of Japan to the Olympics in Stockholm in 1912, and he was involved in organizing the
Far Eastern Championship Games
The Far Eastern Championship Games (also known as the Far Eastern Championships, Far Eastern Games or Far East Games) was an Asian multi-sport event considered to be a precursor to the Asian Games.
History
In 1913, Elwood Brown, president of ...
held in
Osaka
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...
during May 1917. In 1920, Kanō represented Japan at the Antwerp Olympics, and during the early 1920s, he served on the Japanese Council of Physical Education. He did not play much part in organizing the Far Eastern Championship Games held in Osaka in May 1923, nor did he attend the 1924 Olympics in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, but he did represent Japan at the Olympics in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
(1928),
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
(1932), and
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
(1936). From 1931 to 1938, he was also one of the leading international spokesmen in Japan's bid for the 1940 Olympics.
[Svinth, Joseph R. "Fulfilling His Duty as a Member: Jigoro Kano and the Japanese Bid for the 1940 Olympics]
Kanō's chief goal in all this was, in his words, to gather people together for a common cause, with friendly feeling. His goals did not, however, particularly involve getting judo into the Olympics. As he put it in a letter to Britain's
Gunji Koizumi
, known affectionately by colleagues as G.K., was a Japanese Grandmaster (martial arts), master of judo who introduced this martial art to the United Kingdom, in 1936:
[Brousse, Michel and Matsumoto, David. ''Judo in the U.S.: A Century of Dedication''. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 2005, p. 110.]
Hepburn romanization
Kanō was a member of the , one of the two groups that emerged after the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...
from the , a group that sought to replace written Japanese with a romanized script instead of
kanji
are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...
and
kana
are syllabary, syllabaries used to write Japanese phonology, Japanese phonological units, Mora (linguistics), morae. In current usage, ''kana'' most commonly refers to ''hiragana'' and ''katakana''. It can also refer to their ancestor , wh ...
. The ''Rōmaji Hirome-kai'' supported
Hepburn romanization
is the main system of Romanization of Japanese, romanization for the Japanese language. The system was originally published in 1867 by American Christian missionary and physician James Curtis Hepburn as the standard in the first edition of h ...
, while the other group, the , supported
Nihon-shiki romanization. In 1908, Hepburn romanization was revised by Kanō and others of the ''Rōmaji Hirome-kai'', which began calling it the or .
Death and legacy
In 1934, Kanō stopped giving public exhibitions. The reason was his failing health, probably compounded by
kidney stones
Kidney stone disease (known as nephrolithiasis, renal calculus disease, or urolithiasis) is a crystallopathy and occurs when there are too many minerals in the urine and not enough liquid or hydration. This imbalance causes tiny pieces of cr ...
. The British
judoka
is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...
Sarah Mayer wrote "People don’t seem to think he will live much longer" to his friends in London. Nevertheless, Kanō continued attending important Kodokan events such as
''kagami-biraki'' (New Years' ceremonies) whenever he could, and he continued participating in Olympics business.
In May 1938, Kanō died at sea, during a voyage that he made as member of the IOC on board the
NYK Line motor ship ''
Hikawa Maru''. Because the Japanese merchant fleet of the 1930s used Tokyo time wherever it was in the world, the Japanese date of death was 4 May 1938 at about 5:33 am
JST, whereas the international date of death was 3 May 1938 at 20:33
UTC. The cause of death was officially listed as
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
[Hirasawa, K. "The Death of Professor Jigoro Kano, Shi-Han", ''Judo International'', edited by Henri Plée. Paris, 1950, pp. 3–4.] but other sources list food poisoning as the cause of death. During the 1990s, there appeared allegations that Kanō was murdered by
poison
A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...
ing rather than dying of pneumonia.
[Brown, Carl. ''Law and the Martial Arts''. Black Belt Communications, 1998.] Although there is no known contemporary documentation to support this claim, Kanō's opposition to
Japanese militarism
was the ideology in the Empire of Japan which advocated the belief that militarism should dominate the political and social life of the nation, and the belief that the strength of the military is equal to the strength of a nation. It was most ...
was well-known, and many others who also opposed it were allegedly assassinated.
Judo did not die with Kanō. Instead, during the 1950s, judo clubs sprang up throughout the world, and in 1964, judo was introduced as an Olympic sport when Tokyo eventually hosted the
1964 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...
, and was reintroduced for good at the
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...
. Kanō's posthumous reputation was therefore assured. Nonetheless, his true legacy was his idealism. As Kanō said in a speech given in 1934,
"Nothing under the sun is greater than education. By educating one person and sending him into the society of his generation, we make a contribution extending a hundred generations to come."
Kanō has also been compared to the
9th Marquess of Queensberry in the way his legacy left a whole new set of rules:
Honors
*
Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, 1938 (Japan).
[NNDB]
Order of the Rising Sun
*On 28 October 2021,
Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
celebrated Jigorō's 161st birth anniversary with a
doodle
A doodle is a drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and abstract art, abstract lines or shapes, generally w ...
on its homepage.
Published works
* Kanō, Jigorō. (October 1898 – December 1903). ''Kokushi''.
* Lindsay, Thomas and Kanō, Jigorō. (1889, 1915 reprint)
"The Old Samurai Art of Fighting without Weapons" ''Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan'', XVI, Pt II, pp. 202–217.
* Kanō, Jigorō. (Jan. 1915 – December 1918). ''Jūdō.''
* Kanō, Jigorō. (1922)
''Living Age'', 314, pp. 724–731.
* Kanō, Jigorō. (1932)
Journal of Health and Physical Education, 3, pp. 37–40, 58 (originally a lecture given at the University of Southern California on the occasion of the Xth Olympiad).
* Kanō, Jigorō. (1934)
unpublished lecture given at the Parnassus Society, Athens, Greece, on 5 June 1934, reprinted as "Principles of Judo" in ''Budokwai Quarterly Bulletin'', April 1948, pp. 37–42.
* Kanō, Jigorō. (1936). "Olympic Games and Japan", ''Dai Nippon'', pp. 197–199. In Thomas A. Green and Joseph R. Svinth, eds., ''Martial Arts in the Modern World''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood, 2003, pp. 167–172.
* Kanō, Jigorō. (1937). ''Judo (jujutsu) by Prof. Jigorō Kanō.'' Tokyo: Board of Tourist Industry,
Japanese Government Railways
The Japanese Government Railways (JGR) was the national rail transport, railway system directly operated by the until 1949. It was a predecessor of Japanese National Railways and the later Japan Railways Group.
Name
The English name "Japanese ...
.
* Kanō, Jigorō. (1937). "Jujutsu and Judo; What Are They?" Tokyo: Kodokwan.
* Kanō, Jigorō. (Undated)
''Jujutsu Becomes Judo.''* Kanō, Jigorō. (1972). ''Kanō Jigorō, watakushi no shōgai to jūdō.'' Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Oraisha.
* Kanō, Jigorō. (1983). ''Kanō Jigorō chosakushū.'' Tokyo: Gogatsu Shobo.
* Kanō, Jigorō. (1986). ''Kodokan judo/Jigorō Kanō; edited under the supervision of the Kodokan Editorial Committee''. Tokyo and New York: Kodansha International.
* Kanō, Jigorō. (1995). ''Kanō Jigorō taikei/kanshū Kōdōkan.'' Tokyo: Hon no Tomosha.
* Kanō, Jigorō. (2013). ''Mind over muscle – writings from the founder of judo''
Kodansha USA
Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, US, and a subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing company Kodansha. Established in July 1st 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and man ...
, English translation from Japanese anthology 2005
In popular culture
*Kanō appears as an ally in the
Bakumatsu
were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate Meiji Restoration, ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a Feudali ...
-set 2024 video game
Rise of the Ronin, portrayed as a genius in
jujutsu
Jujutsu ( , or ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu (both ), is a Japanese martial art and a system of close combat that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdue one or more weaponless or armed and armored opponent ...
. Some creative liberties are taken with his appearance, as he is portrayed as a teenager, when the real Kanō was three years old during the year in which he first appears in the game.
*The
Mortal Kombat
''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992.
The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...
character Kano was named after him.
See also
*
Hard and soft (martial arts)
*
Idaten (TV series)
*
Judo technique
This is a list of judo techniques. They are categorized into Throw (grappling), throwing techniques (''nage-waza''), Grappling, grappling techniques (''katame-waza''), Judo atemi waza, body-striking techniques (''atemi-waza)'', blocks and parries ...
*
Kosen judo
is a variation of the Kodokan judo competitive ruleset that was developed and flourished at the () technical colleges in Japan in the first half of the twentieth century. Kosen judo's rules allow for greater emphasis of than typically takes pla ...
*
Kuzushi
is a Japanese term for unbalancing an opponent in the Japanese martial arts.
The noun comes from the transitive verb ''kuzusu'' (崩す), meaning ''to level, pull down, destroy or demolish''. As such, it refers to not just an unbalancing, but ...
*
Matsugoro Okuda
*
The Principle of Ju
*
Sanshiro Sugata
*
Statue of Kanō Jigorō, Shinjuku
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
Articles by and about Kano JigoroKanō Jigorō with
Yamashita Yoshitsugu
*
The life and Writings of Jigoro Kano, Founder of Judo.(thejudopodcast.eu)
The life and Writings of Jigoro Kano, Founder of Judo. Part 2(thejudopodcast.eu)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kano, Jigoro
1860 births
1938 deaths
Japanese International Olympic Committee members
Japanese male judoka
Japanese jujutsuka
Martial arts school founders
Martial arts writers
People from Higashinada, Kobe
People from Kobe
Jacket wrestlers
People who died at sea
Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class
University of Tokyo alumni