Jigoro Kano
From Karate, Kungfu, Wrestling, Mixed Fighting Information Source
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Jigoro Kano was born on 28 October 1860, in what is currently the East Nada district of the city of Kobe. These were the last days of the Tokugawa military government, and it was a period of much distrust and anti-government activities. In comparison, it was also the year that Abraham Lincoln became the 16th President of the United States.
Kano's Childhood
Kano's birthplace was well known for sake brewing, and the Kano family was affluent as sake brewers. His mother died when he was only ten years old. In the new age, his father became an officer of the Meiji government, and for that reason they moved to Tokyo when he was 11. In his schooling, Kano showed a particular affinity toward languages. At the age of 15, he entered a foreign language school, and in 1877, he entered Toyo Teikoku (Imperial) University, now known as Tokyo University. Today, Tokyo University is the premier university in Japan, and his entrance to this university was a tribute to his academic abilities and commitment to education. Although he was the founder of Judo, Kano's superior academic record is also notable, and his language abilities were exceptional. In fact, it is a widely known fact that many of Kano's original notes written during his study of Jujutsu and during its transformation to Judo were written in English instead of his native Japanese. While one of the reasons for this practice was to keep his ideas to himself during these years of intense rivalries among Jujutsu schools, it also served the purpose of allowing for the blending of old with new, of forcing new ways of thinking, and of forging new methods and techniques of training.
Judo
In 1879 while he was in school, Kano participated in a Jujutsu demonstration with his instructors in honor of General Grant, former President of the United States. At the university, Kano studied subjects such as political science, economics, moral education, and aesthetics, and during this time, he began to hold especially strongly the value of education - learning from others, and then teaching others. In 1882, he established the Kodokan and worked to spread Judo as its master. This was because he found in Judo something very spectacular, and decided to dedicate his life to the spread of Judo as its teacher. Turning his passion to the spread of physical education, Jigoro Kano believed that education is based on three components - the education of knowledge, the education of morality, and physical education. The education of knowledge involves the improvement of one's knowledge; the education of morality involves the fostering of one's moral awareness; and physical education involves the training of one's body. Despite the fact that, within Kodokan Judo, physical education is an important factor, Kano also put a lot of effort into the training of physical education instructors at the Secondary Teacher's School.
When Kano became the principal of the Secondary Teacher's School, he established a physical education department there, and started using a variety of sports as subject matters. A grand sports festival was held, and within the school, a number of sports sections including new sports from abroad were born, including tennis, baseball, football, and boating. Because of these activities that spread sports and physical education both inside and outside the school, Kano gradually became famous in the public's eye.
In 1934, Kano quit giving public exhibitions due to failing health. Neveretheless, Kano continued to attend important Kodokan events whenever he could, and in 1936 and 1938, he even went abroad on business concerning Judo's status as an Olympic sport.
At about 5:33 a.m., May 4, 1938 (Tokyo time), Kano died at sea aboard the motorship Hikawa Maru.
