Judo

From the middle of the nineteenth century, as described earlier, the closed
and autocratic society of feudal Japan was shaken by the perceived Western
threat. The arrival of the Americans with Admiral Perry upset many of the
warrior practices, much as had happened a few centuries before with the
introduction of firearms by the Portuguese in 1540.
The transitioning cultural environment became a place where all the
knowledge and warrior traditions from Japanese history were abandoned in
order to take advantage of new and innovative Western industrial techniques.
It was in this period that Kano Jigoro (1860-1930) devised a new model of
training, drawing from the concept of ‘do’ which was derived from the warrior
traditions of ancient Japan. This new training approach judiciously combined
the knowledge of Western thought and the model of action of the bushi
(warrior). This was the birth of Judo (柔道: the way of flexibility).
After having studied the jujutsu (柔術) of two traditional schools, Tenshin
shinyo-ryu and Kito-ryu, and comparing it with various Western methods of
physical conditioning, Kano concluded that jujutsu was the most effective and
balanced.
Concentrating mainly on the educational and gymnastic aspects within jujutsu,
Kano skillfully eliminated the parts that he considered dangerous. He founded
his private school, Kodokan (residence where the way is taught) in 1882 and
developed judo, a discipline based on the physical practice and morality of a
modern world. Judo quickly became a great success.
However, Kano always publicly tried to promote Kodokan Judo as a physical
method formed by the "modernisation" of jujutsu, so that no one would
mistake judo for a technique of combat or a form of warrior arts, as in bujutsu.
After his death, and the rise of Japanese militarism, judo was incorporated,
little by little, into formal military training and gradually came to be falsely
identified as true bujutsu.
In addition to the adoption of judo by the military, the publication of the novel
Sugata Sanshiro by Tomita Tsuneo in 1942 (very popular at the time in
Japan), likely contributed to the confusion which led many today to regard
judo as a true combat art.
Modern judo is very different from Kano’s original judo. Today it is based
mainly on the use of physical force driven only towards sport competition. The
true essence and freedom of movement is completely forgotten. Indeed, one
of the concepts dear to Kano, “the soft one exceeds the hard” seems lost to
many modern judo-ka. The study of martial practices, including blows, strikes,
the use of weapons, and dangerous techniques are not approached anymore
or even studied in the practice of ‘modern judo’, whereas they were practiced
in the Kodokan judo of Kano. One only needs to note that Kano himself
continued to research traditional bujutsu. Additionally it should be noted that
Master Kyozo Mifune, one of the greatest exponents of judo after Kano, was
also an assiduous practitioner of jujutsu.
Of course, there are always some practitioners who are very attached to the
concepts of Kano and who claim to have and teach ‘true judo’. But how could
these claims be true in the absence of a master who received instruction
directly from Kano?