Kano, Jigoro

http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_kano_0201.htm
Journal of Combative Sport (2001)

Not Recommended

At first this article seemed as if it would be more than a worthwhile read, as it is a speech delivered by Judo’s founder, Jigoro Kano. However some of the language is difficult to get through, perhaps because of translation issues or from the speech being well over seventy years old. In any case, I found it to be a difficult read.

Kano says that for his art, he created two essential principles which came from asking three different questions regarding faith, morals, and tradition, and how they differ from man to man and culture to culture. These are good questions. However, the principles themselves I did not understand, and I think that full length articles would be required to elucidate either of them.

What I did find interesting was how he came to “create’ judo. By studying under various jujitsu masters and learning what they believed to be important, Kano took what he thought worked and could last and transformed the various jujitsu teachings into judo.

The article goes on to say how judo is what men need to “key up’ their social life. It is this section of the article where I believe Kano is bragging about how judo can help mankind in this area. However, I think that anyone can make that claim regarding their art.

With exception to learning judo’s origin, this article was not helpful and made for difficult reading.

Annotated by: James Morgan (February 2007)

Martial Arts: Judo |

Topics: history | philosophy | psychology | training/exercise science |