What is Judo?

Judo is a martial art, an Olympic sport, and a philosophy of living.  The sport of Judo (Japanese for “gentle way”) consists of throws, pins, and submission techniques.  There are no “judo chops” in the sport of judo (or any other striking for that matter).  We train for local, regional, national and international competitions by learning to apply Judo techniques on each other in practice.

Competitor Devin Bartolomeo in action starting to throw Sumi Gaeshi

Judo has two central tenets:

• Jita Kyoei, or mutual benefit and welfare.  Judo practitioners (“judoka”) recognize that one can only learn judo techniques with a partner, and that both partners are better off if they work together to learn.  Judoka aim to live this tenet in other aspects of life as well, recognizing the benefits of collaboration and teamwork.
• Seiryoku Zenyo, or maximum efficiency with minimum effort.  Judoka focus their efforts an achieving their goals without wasting effort.  For example, judoka aim to use concepts of off balancing and leverage to perform judo techniques, rather than brute force.

Judo was founded in 1882 when Jigoro Kano founded the Kodokan.  Jigoro Kano studied a number of Japanese martial arts before founding the Kodokan (“the place of the study of the way”), which remains the headquarters of the worldwide Judo community.  Kano Sensei viewed the primary difference between Judo and the earlier Japanese jujutsu (“gentle techniques”) martial arts that preceded it to be the philosophy of Jita Kyoei and Seiryouku Zenyo that underpin Judo.  Judo also quickly distinguished itself when a Kodokan judoka dominated at martial arts tournaments in the late 1880s, leading to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department adopting Judo as its primary martial art.

Judo has influenced most modern martial arts.  Some martial arts, like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and Russian Sambo are direct descendants of Judo.  Kano’s student Mitsuyo Maeda introduced Judo to Brazil in 1914, where Maeda’s students including Carlos Gracie developed a form of Judo more focused on ground work that would come to be known as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  Vasili Oshchepkov studied Judo at the Kodokan before returning to Russia and founding Sambo, which shares many techniques Judo featuring a slightly different uniform (distinguished by its shorts and shoes).  Judo is also credited with introducing the concept of using belt color to distinguish a practitioner’s rank, a concept that has been adopted widely in martial arts that otherwise do not share techniques with Judo.

Self-Defense techniques remain an important part of Judo.  We focus our practice on the sport aspects of judo.  However, those same sport aspects are intended to help judoka develop the ability to respond quickly, decisively, and effectively against real-life threats.  We also practice self-defense techniques under carefully controlled conditions to prevent injury, particularly in formal Judo katas that incorporate techniques for striking, disarming, and otherwise disabling aggressors.

Judo is a very popular martial art worldwide.  Here are just a few noteworthy modern judoka:

• Kayla Harrison is the first person from the United States to win a gold medal in Judo at the Olympics, first winning gold in 2012, and then repeating to win gold in 2016.  Kayla is now a mixed martial artist with a record of 17-1 as of 2024.
• Ronda Rousey was the first US woman to win an Olympic medal when she won bronze in the 2008 Beijing games.  Ronda went on to become one of the most famous mixed martial artists in the UFC before retiring and joining the WWE.
• Teddy Riner is the most dominant modern judoka, winning 154 straight judo matches from 2010 through 2020 at high level international competition including Olympics, European and world championships, and judo grand prix events.