Professor Kano Jigoro, the founder of judo, was a frail boy who first pursued jujitsu as a means of protecting and strengthening himself. Eventually, he began to devise new techniques and methods of playing the sport, adopting the superlative parts of all the Jujitsu schools, getting rid of the precarious parts and establishing the new Kodokan Judo based on his own insight and arrangement.


It began with only nine disciples on a twelve mat dojo in 1882, but due to its excellence and efficiency as a physical exercise and martial art, it has become an official event in the Olympics since 1964.

The word ‘judo’ comes from the Japanese words ‘ju’ meaning ‘gentle’, and ‘do’ meaning way. Judo originated in Japan in the late nineteenth century as a derivative of the various martial arts developed and used by the samurai and feudal warrior class for hundreds of years.




Practitioners of this sport are called ‘judokas’.


Ours is a dynamic combat sport which allows one to throw one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an opponent to submit by joint locking the elbow or applying a choke. Simply put, it involves two individuals who, by gripping the judogi, use the forces of balance, power, and movement to attempt to subdue each other.

Techniques
While includes a variety of rolls, falls, throws, pins, joint-locks and methods of percussion, the main focus is on throwing (nage-waza) and groundwork (ne-waza).
Throws are divided into two groups of techniques, standing techniques (tachi-waza), and sacrifice techniques (sutemi-waza). Standing techniques are further divided into hand techniques (te-waza), hip techniques (koshi-waza), and foot and leg techniques (ashi-waza) Sacrifice techniques are divided into hose in which the thrower falls directly backwards (ma-sutemi-waza) and those in which he falls onto his side (yoko-sutemi-waza)

Groundwork techniques are divided into attacks against the joints or joint locks (kansetsu-waza), strangleholds or chokeholds (shime-waza), and holding or pining techniques (osaekomi-waza).


Sparring in judo is referred to as ‘randori’, meaning ‘free practice’. ". In randori, two adversaries may attack each other with any judo throw or grappling technique. For reasons of safety, chokeholds, joint locking, and the sacrifice techniques, which can be very spectacular but often dangerous, are subject to age or rank restrictions.

In randori and tournament (shiai), when an opponent successfully executes a chokehold or a jointlock, one can submit by tapping the mat or the opponent at least twice in a manner that indicates the submission. . When this occurs the match is over, the tapping player has lost, and the chokehold or joint lock ceases. This allows a merciful exit to the match, and therefore injuries related to these holds are quite rare.