Judo

overview

• General Information
• History
• Grades/Degrees
• Techniques
• Safety rules
• Weight divisions
• Successful Judoka

General Information

Ju-do is Japanese and means 'the gentle way'. The aim is to throw the opponent on his back in a fast and controlled manner or to make him surrender by immobilizing him. The one throwing is called tori and the thrown person is called uke. Once the uke is on his back, the fight is won.

The eldest and most prestigious Judo-school in the world is called Kōdōkan. It is located in the Japanese city of Tokyo and was established in 1882 by Jigorō Kanō ('the father of Judo'). The Kōdōkan sets up the international rules of Judo, which associations all around the world use for orientation. Kōdōkan‘s main concern is to maintain the purity of Judo.

History

Jigoro Kano (1860-1938) invented Judo as a more harmless competition form of Ju-jitsu. It did not take long before Judo was integrated in martial art centres and the army.

The eldest and most prestigious Judo-school in the world is called Kōdōkan. It is located in the Japanese city of Tokyo and was established in 1882 by Jigorō Kanō (“the father of Judo). The Kōdōkan sets up the international rules of Judo, which associations all around the world use for orientation. Kōdōkan‘s main concern is to maintain the purity of Judo.

With the first European Championships in 1951, Judo gained international reputation. Only five years later the first World Championships were carried out and in 1964 Judo became an Olympic discipline for the first time.

Grades/Degrees

The belt ('obi') symbolizes the judoka’s grade/degree. In most cases the obi is made of cotton and is about four centimetres (1.6 inches) wide. There are two divisions in the ranking system: Everything earned below the black belts is called grade (kyū), every level from the black belt onwards is called degree (dan).

9. Kyū: Ku-kyū (white)

8. Kyū: Hachi-kyū (white and yellow), age minimum: 7

7. Kyū: Shichi-kyū (yellow), age minimum: 8

6. Kyū: Roku-kyū (yellow and orange), age minimum: 9

5. Kyū: Go-kyū (orange), age minimum: 10

4. Kyū: Shi-kyū (orange-green), age minimum: 11

3. Kyū: San-kyū (green), age minimum: 12

2. Kyū: Ni-kyū (green-blue), age minimum 13

1. Kyū: Ichi-kyū (blue), age minimum: 14



1. Dan: Sho-dan (black)

2. Dan: Ni-dan (black)

3. Dan: San-dan (black)

4. Dan: Yon-dan (black)

5. Dan: Go-dan (black)

6. Dan: Roku-dan (red and white)

7. Dan: Nana-dan (red and white)

8. Dan: Hachi-dan (red and white)

9. Dan: Ku-dan (red)

10. Dan: Jū-dan (red)

Techniques

Judo has four basic techniques:

1. Throwing techniques: Nage-waza

2. Ground techniques: Ne-waza

3. Receiving techniques: Ukemi

4. Body striking techniques: Atemi-waza

Safety rules

• It is not allowed to intentionally injure the opponent
• No punching, kicking or other strikes
• It is not allowed to touch the opponents face
• No other joint than the elbow joint is allowed to be attacked
• Head dives are forbidden
• Kawazu-gake is not permitted
• Kani basami is not permitted
• No hard or metallic objects are allowed to be worn during the fight
• Scoring

The tori won if he has successfully thrown the uke on his back. Should five minutes (three minutes for children and over thirties) pass and nobody has landed on their back properly within time, the judging points determine the winner. The better the uke is thrown, the more points the tori scores. Only controlled throws are taken into account.

Good actions get awarded. Depending on how good the technique was carried out, scores of different value are given to the judoka:

• Ippon (whole point, wins game)
• Waza-ari (half point)
• Yuko (big advantage)
• Koka (small advantage)

Weight divisions

Men:

to 60 kg / to 132 lb : Extra-Lightweight

to 66 kg / to 145 lb: Half-Lightweight

to 73 kg / 161 lb: Lightweight

to 81 kg / 179 lb: Half-Middleweight

to 90 kg / 198 lb: Middleweight

to 100 kg / 220 lb: Half-Heavyweight

from 100 kg / 220 lb: Heavyweight

Women

to 48 kg / 106 lb: Extra-Lightweight

to 52 kg / 115 lb: Half-Lightweight

to 57 kg / 126 lb: Lightweight

to 63 kg / 139 lb: Half-Middleweight

to 70 kg / 154 lb: Middleweight

to 78 kg / 172 lb: Half-Heavyweight

from 78 kg /172 lb: Heavyweight

Successful Judoka

Ichiro Abe, Ingrid Berghmans, Yvonne Bönisch, David Douillet, Catherine Fleury-Vachon, Anton Geesink, Klaus Glahn, Alexander von der Groeben, Claudia Heill, Wolfgang Hofmann, Kosei Inoue, Jigoro Kano, Toshihiko Koga, Masahiku Kimura, Dietmar Lorenz, Tadahiro Nomura, Udo Quellmalz, Alfred Rhode, Peter Seisenbacher, Ryoko Tani, Yasuhiro Yamashita