When we are talking about judo techniques, they are taken from the actions of Jujitsu. Jujitsu goes back thousands of years and was practiced by the Sumo wrestler. No one really knows how far back it goes, but it has its origin in both China and Japan. This art form became popular because there was a need for soldiers who could fight in combat without weapons. Many schools cropped up later on because certain masters held on to different secrets that made Jujitsu so effective.

In the 18th century Jujitsu was phasing out, but a few people passed this art form down to other people. Then approximately in 1882 a school appeared and the term was renamed Judo. Judo means the gentle way. Now people call this art form Judo. The techniques and style was passed down to the students.

Nobody really knows when Judo came to the USA, but rumor has it that it came to this country through the American President Theodore Roosevelt. He saw the sport between two people; he was so daunted by the sport that he began taking lessons from a Judo expert.

In addition to Judo being brought to America, in 1918 was when Judo came to Britain. It spread like wide fire that over 40 schools opened up. About the same time Judo gained popularity in the USA.

Judo takes the small weak man to beat the big and powerful man. In Judo, you don’t fight with your own strength; you use your opponent’s strength. If you don’t do it this way, the stronger man will over power you. What happens is the student relinquishes his own power to the other. If someone is coming towards you, you move with the same motion towards you. This makes the balance come your way. When you execute Judo, you cause the other person to fight off balanced. This is where the secret lies in this art form.

There are many different levels in Judo. You know how hard it would be to lift a heavy rock. But if you take a level and place it underneath the rock lifting it with another smaller rock you are able to lift it. This is what Judo is like. You would take another form of power to over power your opponent.

When you start to learn Judo you are going to be using 3 fundamental movements, you need to first learn the techniques, when you attack, you cause the other person to get off balance, and then you work at doing the movements faster as you progress farther into the sport. As a beginner you would set those goals and make new ones. As you are doing Judo you’ll find an opportunity to catch the other person off balance. Then you take the lead with his power to over throw him. With a little bit of practice you can become very good at this sport. Now you know some of my judo techniques.

The judo history makes a fascinating study and can provide valuable insight into judo techniques. Soon after the end of the Tokugawa period in Japan, the Restoration period was in progress, and the old forms of hand-to-hand combat were replaced by weapons of steel.

About this time, an eighteen-year-old student, soon to become famous among Japanese educators, began his practice of jujitsu under the instruction of Professor Hachinosuke Fukuda, the eminent master of the Tenj in Shinyo-ryu school. The student, who was to become the founder of judo, was Jigoro Kano. After the death of Professor Fukuda, Dr. Kano trained under the new master of that school, Professor Masatomo Iso. Death soon took Professor Iso, however, and Dr. Kano transferred to the Kito-ryu school to study under Professor Tsunetoshi Iikubo.

Dr. Kano began to study jujitsu because of his respect for the prowess of his masters, but he soon began to thirst for a mental knowledge that was lacking in their teachings. He began to look for the secrets behind the superior expert control that the professors had mastered. He theorized that there would be greater value in combining the various schools and their techniques into one standard system: one that could be adopted as a physical education program for schools and would at the same time embody mental culture as well as physical skill.

In addition, jujitsu could be practiced as a competitive sport if the more dangerous techniques were omitted. This mastery of mental culture could thus produce a pattern of subconscious behavior that would be useful in achieving “mutual welfare and benefit.” He wanted a system that would be rational and logical and would develop the potential of the student’s real personality. The ‘do’ of the word judo symbolizes this philosophy.

In 1882 Dr. Kano formed his system and called it “judo,” the word which has now superseded the term “jujitsu.” The final step in the history of judo came when he founded the Kodo-kan in Tokyo, the institution that was to become the mecca of judo. The name Kodokan is made up of three words: ko, meaning “to preach,” do, meaning “way,” and kan, meaning “hall.”

Dr. Kano explained the new art of judo by pointing out that “gentleness means giving way until the right moment arrives”; that is, not to oppose the brute force of your opponent and thus to be defeated, but to utilize this force to your own advantage.

Suppose that your opponent has a total force of ten units, while yours is equal to three. If he pushes toward you with a force of seven units and your force equals only three, it is futile for you to try to oppose his force, for it will overcome you. But if you give way and harmonize your force of three units with his attacking force of seven, you automatically acquire a force of ten units.

Now you can defeat him because you can overcome his force of seven units with yours of ten. It can thus be appreciated that judo is a highly valuable science as well as an art, and this can be applied to judo technique.