Four Guardians of the Kōdōkan refers to the four notable judo competitors of the early Kōdōkan:

Tomita Tsunejirō , born , was the earliest disciple of judo. His name appears in the first line of the enrollment book of the Kōdōkan. . Tomita, together with Saigō Shirō, became the first in the history of judo to be awarded the rank of Shodan by the foun ...

, Yamashita Yoshitsugu, Yokoyama Sakujiro, and

Saigō Shirō was one of the earliest disciples of Judo. Saigo, together with Tsunejiro Tomita, became first in history of judo to be awarded Shodan (rank), Shodan by the founder of judo Jigoro Kano, who established the Dan (rank), kyu-dan ranking system. He w ...

Four Guardians of the Kōdōkan

" Kōdōkan Shiten'nō" (講道館四天王) literally translates as ''Four Heavenly Kings'' ''of the Kōdōkan''. '' Shiten'nō'' refers to four ''Devarajas'',

Hindu gods Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. Deities in Hinduism are as diverse as its traditions, and a Hindu can choose to be polytheistic, pantheistic, monotheistic, monistic, even agnostic, atheistic, or humanist.Julius J. Lipne ...

, historically adapted by

Japanese Buddhism Buddhism was first established in Japan in the 6th century CE. Most of the Japanese Buddhists belong to new schools of Buddhism which were established in the Kamakura period (1185－1333). During the Edo period (1603–1868), Buddhism was cont ...

. Traditionally, the

Four Heavenly Kings The Four Heavenly Kings are four Buddhism, Buddhist gods or Deva (Buddhism), ''devas'', each of whom is believed to watch over one cardinal direction of the world. The Hall of Four Heavenly Kings is a standard component of Chinese Buddhism, Ch ...

are the guardian gods that are worshipped as the protecting deities of Buddhist sanctuaries. When

Kanō Jigorō was a Japanese judoka, educator, politician, and the founder of judo. Judo was one of the first Japanese martial arts to gain widespread international recognition, and the first to become an official Olympic Games, Olympic sport. Pedagogical ...

began to develop

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 ...

from

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 ...

, his efforts met with opposition from jujutsu practitioners. However, Kano drew a loyal following that included exceptional fighters. Hence the term "Four Guardians of the Kōdōkan" came into existence referring to Tomita Tsunejirō along with Yamashita Yoshitsugu, Yokoyama Sakujiro, and

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kodokan Shitenno Judoka

Four Guardians of the Kōdōkan

See also

References