EveryDojo

Chapter 4 of 7 · 3 min

How did Kano carry judo round the world?

Kano joined the Olympic movement, travelled abroad again and again, and showed judo beside the masters of the Kodokan.

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In 1909 Jigoro Kano joined the International Olympic Committee, the group that runs the Olympic Games. He was its first member from Asia. 2,66

Portrait of Jigoro Kano as an older man with white hair and moustache, in a dark kimono.

Kano travelled abroad 13 times to talk about judo and to show it to people. 2,66 For part of that time he was also head of the Tokyo Higher Normal School! 2,66 The IJF lists visits to London and Paris in 1912 and 1920, and more after that. 64

Kano in a suit lecturing to a European audience, with two judoka ready to demonstrate beside him.

The masters beside him

Great masters worked beside Kano at the Kodokan. One was Kyuzo Mifune, and the two of them were pictured gripping each other, both in a , the heavy cotton judo uniform. 25,170 A set of counter throws called Nage-waza-ura-no-kata is credited to Mifune, though the Kodokan does not count it among its own kata. 1

Kano, older and white haired, gripping with Kyuzo Mifune, both in old style judo uniforms.

In 1933, when Kano was in his seventies, he was still giving demonstrations on a stage, with Sumiyuki Kotani, while an audience watched. 2,171

Kano in a suit meeting a kick from Sumiyuki Kotani on a stage, with an audience watching.

Judo and the Olympic Games

In 1932 Kano hosted an informal judo demonstration at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. 1

Two judoka demonstrating a throw in a Los Angeles hall in 1932 while Kano explains to onlookers.

Then judo was chosen as a demonstration sport for the 1940 Olympic Games in Tokyo. 64,66 Those Games never took place, because of the war. 64,66

Kano died on 4 May 1938. 2

The teacher who went to Paris

Kano's judo travelled with other teachers too. One of them was Mikinosuke Kawaishi. He taught judo in Liverpool and London from 1928, then moved to Paris in 1935. 17 In 1946 he helped to start the French judo federation and became its technical director. 17 His way of teaching, the "Kawaishi method", became popular in France. 1,17 You will meet Kawaishi again in London.

A Japanese teacher showing a throw to French students in a Paris club with tall windows.

The Kodokan today

By 1937 the Kodokan stood at Suidobashi in Tokyo. 172 The Kodokan's present building, eight storeys high in Bunkyo, Tokyo, dates from 1958. 2 The Kodokan says judo has spread to about 200 countries and regions, and that people from 6 to over 80 train there. 65,66 The Kodokan still awards its own black belt grades. 65,69 It also keeps the official list of judo's 100 techniques, and in IJF contests a technique only scores if it is on that list, or a recognised version of it. 60,67

A large pale concrete building with tall windows on a Tokyo street corner, with a tree in front.

Every year on 28 October, World Judo Day marks Kano's birth. 1

Far away in London, Japanese jujutsu teachers had been at work since 1900. 9 That is chapter five.

Quick quiz

Three questions, just for you. Nobody is keeping score.

1. What was Kano the first person from Asia to join, in 1909?

2. How many times did Kano travel abroad to talk about judo and show it?

3. Why was there no judo at the 1940 Olympic Games in Tokyo?

Next: How did jujutsu reach the London stage?
Previous: How did the gentle way prove itself?

Written from checked sources, listed on the sources page. Pictures are drawn, with computer help, under our direction; none shows a real child. Recorded chapters and words are read by a computer voice; a word not yet recorded uses your device's own voice.