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Sensei
Kenshiro
Abbe
Every race or nation has had
techniques and knowledge of self-defence and the arts of fighting armed
and unarmed.
Fighting arts are an instinctive
demand by every being of the human race; thus many sports of today have
developed from ancient fighting arts, e.g., rapier and sabre fencing,
archery, boxing, javelin and discus throwing, wrestling, and in fact it
can be said that all sports at some time had military connections in a
nation's history.
Judo originated in Japan and was
not only created just as a fighting military art but also as a form of
spiritual and mental training which, from it's earliest stages, was
naturally influenced by Japanese customs, habits and environment. These
influences are illustrated by the many formalities connected with Judo,
such as the bow before and after practise or instruction.
I will now describe the different
periods in the Japanese history of Judo:
The periods are:
1. CHIKARA-KURABE B.C.1500 to A.D.
720
2. SUMAI-NO-JUDAI A.D 721 to A.D.
1140
3. YOROI KUMIUCHI NO JIDAI A.D.
1156 to A.D. 1526
4. JU-JUTSU NO JIDAI A.D. 1598 to
A.D. 1881
5. JUDO NO JIDAI A.D. 1882 to A.D.
1963
The period of
CHIKARA-KURABE
This period was B.C. 1500-720 A.D.
when the Japanese nation is thought to have come into existence; we
therefore call this period the Kemi-yo-no Jidai. Meaning the period of
their God. The translation of the Chikara-Kurabe will be found in the
"Nihon - Shoki"(being the first ever written book on Japanese
history). This book contains a chapter called "Chikara-Kurabe"
and will be found very interesting to readers and explains the simple
art and technique of wrestling. Chikara in Japanese means strength and
Kurabe means superior. Chikara-Kurabe is really the game of competitive
strength.
The period of
SUMAI
This period was called the Nara
Heian Jidai A.D. 721 - 1140, and is very important in Japanese history,
Mr. Sukuno Nomi and Mr. Kuehaya Tagima were engaged in the skill of
killing one or the other by the Sumai technique which was considered a
very rough and wild game, of kickings, choppings and throws.
Japanese wrestling was first
invented and introduced by Mr. Sukune Nomi and many Japanese wrestlers
are grateful to him as being the creator of Sumo.
YOROI KUMIUCHI
NO JIDAI
This was the period when the
Japanese Samurai became the influential class in Japan. Controlling all
the political movements in the country. At this time many different
families took the royal seat, having deposed the previous royal family.
The period includes the end of the families of Fujiwaras, Heike, Genji,
Hojyo and Ashikaga.
The samurai began to study
Bushido or the philosophy of life, more deeply: but the fighting
techniques involved the use of helmet, Armour and many different weapons.
There was a great deal of fighting between the chief families and the
samurai before a battle, the champions of either side would fight a duel
and if the result was considered a fair one, the result of the battle
was decided. If, however, there was any disagreement, the battle proper
would commence. Before fighting, each of the two champions would
introduce himself to his opponent and relate his family's history, his
previous victories and speak of his father and teacher. After that, they
would fight and the winner would haveto behead his opponent.
The Armour during this time had
been improved greatly and, therefore, it was different to kill an
opponent. The warriors had to aim for a few weaker points on the Armour,
and because of this factor, more skill and technique was required to
kill an opponent. It was at this time that the fighting arts were
greatly improved upon, and many new theories introduced.
JUJUTSU-NO-JIDAI
This period was towards the end
of the Ashikaga reign and during the time of the families of Oda,
Toyotomi and Tokugawa. During this period a school of Ju-Jutsu was
started by Hisamori Takeuchi who crated his own theory from the
techniques of Yoroi-Kumiuchi and called it "Takeuchi-Koshi-No-Mawari"
This was the first theory of Ju-Jutsu. In the period of Oda, Sumo (Japanese
wrestling)was independent from Yoroi-Kumiuchi, and a branch of
professional Sumo was made. During the period of Tokugawa there were
many schools of Ju-Jutsu, many good teachers, and over 300 different
theories of Ju-Jutsu.
JUDO-NO-JIDAI
Jigoro Kano was born in 1860 in
the town of Himeji in West Japan. He studied three different Ju-Jutsu
theories - Kito-Ryu Ju-Jutsu, Tenjin - Shinyo - Ryu Ju-Jutsu and Yoshin
- Ryu Ju-Jutsu. He then created his own theory of Judo and called it
Kodokan. Nippon-Den Kodokan Judo is the full title of his method of
Judo; Ko meaning teaching Do meaning the way, Kan meaning hall, because
Kodokan means that he instructed the way of life by his own Judo. He had
a good education in Japan, and opened a school for Judo called the
Kodokan in 1882 at the age of 23 years. He was on the Japanese Olympic
Committee and when he attended the Games he was Chairman of the Olympic
Games to Japan. Judo is now an international sport and is entered as an
official event in the Games, and think he will be very pleased to hear
this in the other world. |
