Judo (meaning “gentle way” or “gentleness”) is a modern martial arts form originated in Japan by Jigoro Kano. It all started when Kano, as a teenager started Japanese Jujutsu but due to lack of teachers he found little success in it and later went on to learn Tenjin Shin’yō-ryū but a few years later after he started his master grew ill and died, after that Kano went on to learn Tenjin Shin’yō-ryū from another master. However both of his experiences were different from each other as his first master emphasized on free practice and formal exercises, whereas his second master emphasized on pre-arranged forms or (katas). Through dedication Kano soon received the status of master instructor. Unfortunately his second master took ill and Kano feeling that he still had very much to learn started Kitō-ryū which emphasizes on throwing techniques.

By this time Kano had developed many new techniques by combining all the forms he knew and started teaching them to 9 students from his master’s school at a Buddhist temple. This marked the birthplace of Judo and thus it started to grow and evolve. Judo was originally known as Kano Jiu-Jitsu or Kano Jiu-Do, and later as Kodokan Jiu-Do or simply Jiu-Do or Judo. In the early days, it was also still referred to generically simply as Jiu-Jitsu.

Much like modern Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Sambo, Judo also focuses on grappling, in fact both of the aforementioned styles are derivatives of Judo. While Judo includes a variety of throws, rolls, falls, throw downs, locks, chokes and strikes but it mainly focuses on groundwork and throwing. All techniques of Judo are divided in categories, for example Standing techniques are divided into two main categories Standing techniques and Sacrifice Techniques both these categories are divided into 4 more subcategories and so does each other technique of Judo.

In Judo sparring (randori) half of the time is spent sparring standing up (tachi-waza) and half the time on the ground (ne-waza).In sparring both the opponents may attack each other with Judo throws and/or grappling techniques. Striking techniques along with weapon techniques are reserved in the form but are prohibited from normal sparring. Sparring (randori) is considered much more effective than just regular practice of specific techniques as it develops strategies and reaction time and helps the practitioner get mentally prepared to face a resisting opponent. There are many different styles of randoris but the two styles most commonly and widely used are

• ju renshu (both judoka attack in a very gentle way where no resistance is applied)
• kakari geiko (only one judoka attacks while the other one relies solely on defensive and evasive techniques, but without the use of sheer strength.)

A common saying among judoka (judo practitioner) is:

“The best training for judo is judo.”

Kano Jigoro’s Kodokan Judo is the most popular and well-known style of judo, but is not the only one. The terms judo and jujutsu were quite interchangeable in the early years, so some of these forms of judo are still known as jujutsu or jiu-jitsu either for that reason, or simply to differentiate them from mainstream judo. From Kano’s original style of judo, several related forms have evolved—some now widely considered to be distinct arts:

Olympic Judo: This is the predominant form of Kodokan judo.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Mitsuyo Maeda introduced judo to Brazil in 1914. Maeda taught judo to Carlos Gracie (1902–1994) and others in Brazil. Gracie named their development of Judo ‘Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’ in honor of the fact that in Japan and Brazil at that time, Judo was also known as ‘Kano Jiu-Jitsu’. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, considering itself independent of Judo, did not follow later changes in international Judo rules that were added to emphasize the standing phase of the fight, nor those rules that were introduced to ban the more dangerous techniques.

Judo-do: In Austria, Julius Fleck and others developed a system of throwing intended to extend Judo that they called “judo-do”.

Kawaishi-ryū jujutsu: Teaching in France, Mikonosuke Kawaishi developed Kawaishi-ryū jujutsu as an alternative approach to instruction that continued to teach many techniques banned in modern Olympic/Kodokan Judo competition.

Kosen Judo: As a sub-style of Kodokan Judo that became popularised in early 20th century Japanese inter-scholastic competition, Kosen style has the same range of techniques but greater latitude is permitted for ground technique. This style of Judo—arguably, like BJJ—is closer to the original early 1900s Judo than current Olympic Judo is.

Russian Judo: This distinctive style of Judo was influenced by Sambo. It is represented by well-known coaches such as Alexander Retuinskih and Igor Yakimov, and mixed martial arts fighters such as Igor Zinoviev, Fedor Emelianenko and Karo Parisyan. In turn, Russian Judo has influenced mainstream judo, with techniques such as the flying armbar being accepted into Kodokan Judo.

Sambo (especially Sport Sambo): Vasili Oshchepkov was the first European judo black belt under Kano. Oshchepkov went on to create Sambo partly from judo’s influence, integrating native Russian wrestling and other combative techniques into his new system. Oshchepkov died during the political purges of 1937 for refusing to deny his education and dan-rank in Japanese Judo under Kano.[citation needed] In their History of Sambo, Brett Jacques and Scott Anderson wrote that in Russia “judo and SOMBO were considered to be the same thing”—albeit with a different uniform and some differences in the rules

Notable Judo Practitioners:

• Fedor Emelianenko (Strikeforce)
• Karo Parisyan (UFC)
• Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (Strikeforce)
• Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pride)
• Hidehiko Yoshida (Pride)
• Paulo Filho (Dream)
• Shinya Aoki (Dream)

By Ali Naseer