Kano Jigoro was born in Mikage village, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, in a rich family thanks to the sake business. His father is Mr. Kano Jirosaku.
When Kano started to apply to learn martial arts, he was too weak to go everywhere he was rejected by the masters, unable to learn martial arts.
Kano doesn’t accept that easily, so there’s Fukuda Hachinotsuke’s martial arts line. He is a master of both talent and morality in Jujitsu of the Tenjin-shinio-ryu clan.
Later when creating Judo, Kano Jigoro’s technique emphasized randori in the curriculum due to his influence from his teacher Fukuda. Thanks to his hard work, he soon became a talented martial artist.
In 1879, just a year after he entered the dojo of Mr. Fukuda, he suddenly became ill and died. At the age of 19, Kano transferred to martial arts lessons with teacher Iso Masatomo.
Kano devoted his life to Jujutsu innovation based on scientific principles, combined with combat training with mental and physical education. However, Kano Jigoro’s original idea was just to improve the Jujutsu, not to find new technology.
He is well aware of Jujutsu’s dangerous techniques but believes that once he can eliminate them. This will be a form of physical education and a good way to train the spirit of discipline and martial arts for young people.
During these years, Iikubo-sensei came to the temple 2 or 3 times a week to help impart the Kito-ryu secrets to Kano’s students. So what his students gathered was mostly Jujutsu, not Judo. However, the transition from Jujutsu to Judo was done slowly but surely.
Although it is difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when Kano Jigoro’s students are no longer Jujutsu but Judo. Many still believe that this is the day when the techniques created by Kano defeated his teacher’s Christian technique for the first time.
