We often see drawings or photographs of judokas with their arms folded to defend themselves from an attack, at first glance one might think of jujutsu rather than judo. Looking through some of the documents, it is interesting to discover that Kano Shihan was working on a study of techniques without the traditional grip.
In fact, Kodokan Judo not only foresees throwing and ground techniques, but also blows, the so-called atemi waza, which include kicks, punches and blows. Of course all these actions are prohibited in “Olympic Judo” as an expression of modern sport, where normally the two opponents go for the grips to throw the other.
Through intensive practice they develop the power of the muscles to control the other for the final victory. This type of activity is practiced all over the world, but it is only a part of judo, shortly also defined as “randori sport”.
Those who only know the competitive aspect have a hard time understanding that judo as described by Kano is not the one they practice and that already in 1918 he expressed some doubts about it:
Within the Kodokan everyone practices randori, going for the opponent’s lapel and sleeve. This grip should be done by beginners to improve skills. But it has to be done without using energy, if that was the case then it is impossible to perform fast movements.
Such an observation involves two dimensions:
1) A way of teaching “randori sport”;
2) The existence of a method other than randori.
The father of judo expressed concern about the deterioration of the concept of randori and its traditional principles. He wanted to combine the techniques of Kodokan Judo with those practiced at a distance, the ultimate goal was to create an ideal judo that included the tradition as a descendant of jujutsu.
In addition, he also wanted his school to become the one with the knowledge of ancient jujutsu, creating an archive to keep all these techniques and methods, but without making the mistake of exclusively basing his school only on those techniques that are very similar to jujutsu. The ancestral knowledge of this discipline was more important than the competence of shiai.
In 1918, Kano Shihan started a new training method, which was a combination of judo and kendo, including karate, boxing, and other martial arts. He said: I thought so. I want to teach youngsters a judo kata where one grasps an air filled cloth or rubber knife, instead of a bamboo sword, where they cut or stab their opponents during training and the partner has to avoid the attacks. To make a long story short, I want to add a kata developed from kendo.
Unfortunately, due to his untimely death, he never managed to finish this specific system.
It is useful to remember that before World War II, weapons training was normal practice in the Kodokan. Among several methods to remember: the kime no kata, the ippon yo goshinjutsu no kata, the koshiki no kata and numerous renkoho no katas. Also, one must not forget that Kodokan Judo was selected as a martial art by the Japanese military and police organizations.
Kano Shihan died shortly before World War II began and in 1939 his nephew, Jiro Nango, became the leader of the Kodokan. The latter was the son of one of his sisters, he was his student since he was a child both at the Kodokan and at his private school Kano Juku. In 1922, Jiro Nango became an Admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy.
In 1941 he founded a committee to study “distance judo techniques”. The chairman of the committee was Kunio Murakami (8th dan) and the members were Hidekazu Nagaoka (10th dan), Kaichiro Samura (9th dan), Kunisaburo Iizuka (9th dan), Kyuzo Mifune (9th dan), Genji Ogata and Kenji Tomiki (1900-1979). The committee met four times on the third floor of the Kodokan, in 1941, 1942, 1943, and in March 1949.
In April 1941, the third anniversary of the death of Kano Shihan took place, during which the Masters of the old jujutsu schools performed many kata demonstrations. Tomiki performed a demonstration of aikijutsu, which was much appreciated by Jiro Nango. He then discovered in May 1942 that Tomiki was studying judo techniques performed at a distance, ie. without the traditional grip and said:
Judo is superior to all other martial arts, but at a distance we have to face an armed opponent. Therefore, we have to train for it. Therefore, kata practice is important for acquiring dynamic skills. It is the first time that the word “rikaku” appears in judo, which means keep your distance.
In August 1943, Jiro Nango announces that in the autumn of the same year there will be a special performance at the Kodokan with attack and defense techniques using atemis. He was convinced that these types of techniques, ie. Ranged assassin techniques were absolutely necessary on the battlefield during World War II.
In the end, Japan surrendered after losing, and the Americans immediately closed all martial arts schools, including the Kodokan. Having difficulty conveying to the occupying troops that judo was not a martial art and due to Jiro Nango’s martial ideas of Budo, he lost his leadership of the Kodokan and was succeeded by Kano Shihan’s adoptive son, Risei Kano, who he was a professor of Chinese literature abd who knew nothing of judo. According to some documents that were found, it even seems that he hated this type of practice.
Thanks to Risei Kano’s leadership, Kodokan Judo reached a turning point, convincing Americans that it was an educational sporting activity and not a martial art. This point of view was accepted by the occupation troops allowing them to restart their practice.
After the war, Tomiki became an important member of the commission that initiated the Kodokan Goshinjutsu, the Kodokan’s kata of self-defense techniques, and around 1969 once again proposed to the board members to start a second randori system based on mainly in techniques performed. at a distance, that is. without the traditional “kumi kata”, as was the will of the founder. The proposal was never taken into consideration.
Kano Shihan has proven to be the only person with a futuristic vision, but sadly he was already dead.