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Giacinta Fiorentini
Joined: Dec 16, 2013
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Country: Italy
City: Codogno
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Early life of the founder of Dyman Judo Club Association & Dyman Karate Associates International
Dec 16, 2013
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The early history of judo is inseparable from its founder, Japanese polymath and
educator Jigoro Kano (1860–1938), born Shinnosuke Kano Kano was born into a relatively affluent
family. His father, Jirosaku, was the second son of the head priest of the Shinto Hiyoshi shrine in
Shiga Prefecture. He married Sadako Kano, daughter of the owner of Kiku-Masamune sake brewing
company and was adopted by the family, changing his name to Kano, and ultimately became an official
in the Bakufu government.
Jigoro Kano had an academic upbringing and, from the
age of seven, he studied English, Japanese calligraphy and the Four Confucian Texts under a number
of tutors. When he was fourteen, Kano began boarding at an English-medium school, Ikuei-Gijuku in
Shiba, Tokyo. The culture of bullying endemic at this school was the catalyst that caused Kano to
seek out a Jujutsu dojo (training place) at which to train.
Early attempts to find a jujutsu teacher who was willing to take him on met with little success. With the fall
of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Meiji Restoration of 1868, jujutsu had become unfashionable in an
increasingly westernised Japan. Many of those who had once taught the art had been forced out of
teaching or become so disillusioned with it that they had simply given up. Nakai Umenari, an
acquaintance of Kanō's father and a former soldier, agreed to show him kata, but not to teach him.
The caretaker of his father's second house, Katagiri Ryuji, also knew jujutsu, but would not teach
it as he believed it was no longer of practical use. Another frequent visitor to Kanō's father's
house, Imai Genshiro of Kyūshin-ryū school of jujutsu, also refused. Several years passed before he
finally found a willing teacher.
In 1877, as a student at the Tokyo-Kaisei school (soon to become part of the newly founded Tokyo
Imperial University), Kano learned that many jujutsu teachers had been forced to pursue alternative
careers, frequently opening Seikotsu-in, traditional osteopathy practices). After inquiring at a
number of these, Kano was referred to Fukuda Hachinosuke (c.1828–1880), a teacher of the Tenjin
Shin'yō-ryū of jujutsu, who had a small nine mat dojo where he taught five students. Fukuda is said
to have emphasized technique over formal exercise, sowing the seeds of
Kano's emphasis on randori (free practice) in judo.
On Fukuda's death in 1880, Kano, who had become his keenest and most able student in both randori
and kata (pre-arranged forms), was given the densho (scrolls) of the Fukuda dojo. Kano chose to
continue his studies at another Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū school, that of Iso Masatomo (c.1820–1881). Iso
placed more emphasis on the practice of kata, and entrustedrandori instruction to assistants,
increasingly to Kano. Iso died in June 1881 and Kano went on to study at the dojo of Iikubo
Tsunetoshi (1835–1889) of Kitō-ryū. Like Fukuda, Iikubo placed much emphasis on randori, with
Kitō-ryū having a greater focus on nage-waza (throwing techniques).
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