Judo Etymology

[Jack Stay]

O.K. if Dr. Jigoro Kano did not first coin the term "ju-do", who did, and where did it come from?

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John 'Jack' Stay

[Webmaster]

See the article at http://www.judoinfo.com/jhist3.htm

The process of the evolution of Judo from Jujitsu is told by Professor Kano in one of his early lectures given to his students in 1898.

"While studying jujitsu, not only did I find it is interesting, but also realized that it was most effective for the training of both body and mind. It therefore occurred to me to disseminate it far and wide. But it was necessary to improve the old jujitsu to a certain degree in order to popularize it, because the old style was not developed or devised for physical education or moral and intellectual training . The latter, in fact, were nothing but the incidental blessings or benefits of the former, which was exclusively devised for winning. On the other hand, knowing that every one of the jujitsu schools had its merits and demerits, I came to believe that it would be necessary to reconstruct jujitsu even as an exercise for martial purposes. So by taking together all the good points I had learned of the various schools and adding thereto my own devices and inventions, I founded a new systems for physical culture and mental training as well as for winning contests. I called this 'Kodokan Judo'.

Why did I call this Judo instead of Jujitsu? Because what I teach is not simply 'jutsu' or 'jitsu', 'art' or 'practice'. Of course I teach 'jutsu', but it is upon 'do', 'way' or 'principle', that I wish to lay special stress. Nowadays it is common for people to say judo for jujitsu. But before I began to teach my judo, the term had be adopted only by one school, the 'Jikishin Ryu'. It was very rarely used among other school. I purposely chose this rarely used term in order to distinguish my school from the common run of jujitsu schools. The reason why I did not adopt a totally new name is as follow (sic). The Kodokan judo I teach has , as compared with the old jujitsu, wider aims and differs in technique, so that I might well have given it a new name. But after all, it is generally based on what I had learned from former teachers, so I did not like to five it an entirely new name. There are two other reasons why I avoided the term jujitsu. One is that there were jujitsu schools which often indulged in violent and dangerous techniques in throwing or twisting arms and legs. Seeing these things many people had come to believe that jujitsu was harmful. Again, in an exercise hall where supervision was inadequate, the senior pupils would wantonly throw down the juniors or pick quarrels, so that jujitsu was despised as something that made rowdies of young men. I wished to show that what I taught was not a dangerous thing, and would not needlessly injure any person. That it was not the jujitsu as it was taught by some people, and, that it was 'judo', an entirely different thing.

The second reason was that when I began to teach, 'jujitsu' had fallen into disrepute. Some jujitsu masters made their living by organizing troupes composed of their followers, and putting on exhibition matches to which admission fees were charged. Others went so far as to stage bouts between professional Sumo wrestlers and jujitsu men. Such degrading practices of prostituting a martial art were repugnant to me so I avoided the term jujitsu and adopted judo in its stead. Then, to distinguish (sic) it from the 'Jikishin Ryu' employed also the term Judo, I called my school the 'Kodokan Judo', though the title is rather long.

So Jack, is Kano Sensei's own words good enough for you?

[jabonn]

What source lead you (Jack) to believe that Kano did label his new art Judo?

[Jack Stay]

What source lead you (Jack) to believe that Kano did label his new art Judo?

Hi Jabonn,

My two most immediate sources for posting this question for community consumption are:

1.) THE FATHER OF JUDO: A Biography of Jigoro Kano (c.2000) by Brian N. Watson, and;

2.) CLASSICAL FIGHTING ARTS OF JAPAN: A Complete Guide to Koryu Jujutsu (c. 2001) by Serge Mol.


In Watson: KANO Sensei stated: "From today we will no longer practice ju jutsu. We will practice something new, which we will call judo" p. 51.
"No one had heard this word before. Students repeated it to themselves: 'Judo?'" p. 51.

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In Mol: "Contrary to what is popularly believed in the West, the term Judo was not invented by Kano Jigoro, as it was already used in 1724 by Inoue Jibudayu of the Jikishin Ryu and possibly even before that by other jujutsu exponents." p. 49.


Brian N. Watson's work is an obvious Dr. Kano hagiography, and Serge Mol made statements without footnotes or references for confirmation. The dubious veracity of these works made me bring this question to BUDOSEEK, for an intelligent, astute, objective, and scholarly answer to this inquiry.

What I was hoping for was either mentioning, or the translation of the Kanji used by Jikishin Ryu Jujutsu and Kodokan Judo for the word 'Ju-do'. Because that seems to be a point of contention, how was the kanji used by Jikishin Ryu translated? Was it actually Ju-do, or something slightly different?

Since I do not speak a word of Japanese, and Serge Mol neglected to include any sources or documentation for this Kanji interpretation of 'ju-do' in his book, I thought it would be a nice question for the Budoseek community to ponder and to provide me and others with some incite.

Thanx!
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John 'Jack' Stay

[Rich]

Hi Jack

I have no idea whether Jigoro Kano introduced the term Judo or not. I always simply assumed that he did because he formulated this new (at the time) martial art. I'll ask the research department here at the Kodokan and try to get a definitive answer.

Regards,

Richard

[Rich]

Having read the article Robert quoted it does seem that the term Judo was already in use. I'll mention this article and see what I can find out.

Richard