Judo,
by an Italian martial artist

Judo, as we know it, is the evolution of another  more ancient martial art: Jujitsu. Jujitsu had several schools that were different because of their different fight methods. It was an attack and defense art and most of the times people didn’t use arms.
It is very difficult to give Jujitsu a birth date as it was identified with a lot of other names: Yawara,Torite, Kempo…
Circumstances that gave him birth are due to the necessity to fight without the use of arms. Lots of time people were not allowed to bring weapons (this was to separate the military class from the rest of the population)

The next evolution of Judo (from Jutsu, method or art, and Do, way) comes from a young student from Tokyo, Jigoro Kano II
He was born in 1860 nearby Kobe. He was too proud to be subdued by the roughness of his stronger mates. He heard about Jujitsu, as a method to fight against stronger competitors so he decided to start learning it. After few years he founded a school, called Kodokan, and he started teaching his own method: Judo. He was only 23. He said: " I started learning Jujitsu because I thought it was interesting and good for spiritual and body education at the same time. But it needed to be changed because the old style was not suitable for physical and moral education. Why did I call it Judo? Because I don’t teach just art but also way or principle!" His school got the final supremacy when it wan all the matches between the two different types of school in a tournament.

 

I started learning Judo when I was 6, as I had problems with my back. Judo helped me to develop some muscles and my back to be straight.

I didn’t really like it first maybe because it seemed to me like something forced but then I realized that I had fun and I couldn’t wait to have another class!!

I’ve been practicing Judo for 14 years and in June, after my overage…and a little fight with my instructor…I finally got the BLACK BELT! The exam was really hard and I was very nervous! It took more than a year to be really prepared and reach a perfect coordination with my partner and I also had to do special trainings.

The exam is really difficult. People are asked to execute what we call Kata: it means that you have to show your examiners some techniques. Then they can ask you something about theory, levers and strangles. It might not sound as difficult as it is…but it is!!!

 

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