JUDO
Judo is a martial art, sport, and philosophy which was born in Japan.
Judo is sport, martial art, discipline, a recreational or social activity, fitness program,
means of self-defense and a way of life.
Judo has a long history, from Japan's Tokugawa era Period (15-16th century AD ).
Judo is a modification of the ancient martial art of Jujutsu. Dr. Kano President of the University of Tokyo, ,( who was born in Japan on October 28, 1860 and who died May 4, 1938 after a lifetime of advocating Judo.) studied these ancient forms and Mastering quite a few styles of jujutsu including Kito-Ryu and Tenjin-shinyo Ryu in his youth ,He began to utilize his own system based on modern sports philosophy and integrated what he considered to be the best of their techniques into what is now the modern sport of Judo. In 1882 he founded the Kodokan Judo Association in Tokyo where he began teaching and which still is the international authority for Judo.
Dr. Kano chose the name Judo because the word Judo is a combination of two Chinese word kanji: "ju-", which means gentleness, and "do-", way or road (the same character as the Chinese "tao"). Thus Judo literally means "the gentle way", or "the way of giving way", and may also be described as "the way of suppleness", "the way of flexibility, or "the way of adaptability".
Kano focus on the educational value of training in attack and defense so that it could be a way of life that every one could participate in and benefit from. He removed some of the traditional jujutsu techniques and changed training methods so that most of the moves could be done with full force to create a decisive victory without injury. The popularity of Judo improved significantly after a famous contest hosted by the Tokyo police in 1886 where the Judo team defeated the most well-known jujutsu school of the time. After that Judo became a part of the Japanese physical education system and began its spread around the world.
Judo has two main segment of fighting: the standing and the ground phase. Both phase requires its own separate techniques, strategies, training and so on, even though some special training is devoted to 'transitional' techniques to bridge the gap. Some opponents can become quite skilled in one phase and be rather weak in the other, depending on where their interests most lie, although most are rather balanced between the two. In the standing phase, which is the opening phase, the opponents try to throw each other to the ground when standing Phases ends and ground Phases began the sparring go to the ground In the ground phase, the opponents struggle to hold, or get the opponent to submit either by using arm-locks or by chokes and strangulations. pins or Osaekomi are very crucial given that in a actual fight the individual who has restraint of his adversary can hit him with punches, knees, the head and so on. If osaekomi is held for 25 seconds, the person doing the pinning wins the game.
Judo was first introduced into the Olympic Games in 1964 for men division and the women's event was a demonstration event in 1988, followed by becoming an official medal event 4 years later. Men and women compete separately (although they often train together)
Men divisions
Under 60 kg
60~66 kg
66~73 kg
73~81 kg
81~90 kg
90~100 kg
Over 100 kg
Women divisions
Under 48 kg
48~52 kg
52~57 kg
57~63 kg
63~70 kg
70~78 kg
Over 78 kg
Judo is practiced by millions of people throughout the world today. People practice Judo to enter in competition, to stay in shape, to develop self-confidence, and for many other reasons. But most of all, people do Judo just for the fun of it.