Attached is an essay I recently wrote with Mr. George Rego of Florida regarding Kime no kata. フロリダのジョージ・レゴ氏と最近書いた講道館柔道の「極の形」に関するエッセイを添付します。
The “Form of Decision” is one way to translate the Japanese name, 極の形, which indicates that the kata focuses on decisive techniques, methods to finish engagements quickly and, if necessary, in a deadly fashion. 「決断の形」は、日本語名「極の形」を翻訳する方法の 1 つであり、この型が決定的なテクニック、つまり交戦を迅速に、必要に応じて致命的な方法で終了する方法に焦点を当てていることを示しています。
Kime no kata is unique in that Kanō Jigorō shihan (master) wrote that it is the heart of jūdō. But it is also arguably the oldest of the several formal Kodokan kata, drawing upon techniques from 2 koryū jūjutsu (“ancient schools” of hand to hand combat) nearly 200 years old when he and his senior students assembled a number techniques to create a “new” kata in the 1890s. Those schools in turn had adopted techniques from older schools, some documented to be as old as the 16th century. 極めの型は、嘉納治五郎師範が柔道の核心であると書いたという点でユニークです。しかし、それはまた、ほぼ200年前の2つの古流柔術流（「古代の格闘流派」）の技法を利用しており、1890年代に彼と上級の弟子たちがいくつかの技法を集めて「新しい」型を作ったもので、いくつかの講道館の正式な型の中ではおそらく最も古いものです。それらの流派は、16世紀にまで遡る古い流派の技法を採用していました。
What can today’s judoka (judo practitioner) learn from such after 500 years? Of what practical utility are such techniques today? 今日の柔道家は、500年後のそのようなものから何を学べるでしょうか？今日、そのような技法はどのような実用性があるのでしょうか？
Please take a look and let me know if you have questions or comments. This one is a bit of an experiment, so constructive comments welcome! There are more essays on a range of jūdō and martial arts topics here at www.kanochronicles.com ぜひご覧になって、質問やコメントがあればお知らせください。 柔道と武道のさまざまなトピックに関するエッセイは、こちらにあります。www.kanochronicles.com Please subscribe below to get email updates of new material.
The following is a transcript of an essay (or speech? its origin is not stated) by Kanō Jigorō regarding the “true spirit of jūdō”. It is one of the last Kanō made in English, this time to the Japan Times & Mail, a long published English language newspaper printed for the foreign community in Japan. It is not clear if Kanō shihan wrote this or dictated it for transcription.
The added endnotes are to explain some aspects that may not be clear to casual observers.
The Japanese terms were originally without italics or capitalization, so edited for clarity.
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The Superintendent of the Kodokwan[i] When I was still young, I learned various types of “jujitsu“.[ii] However, I found it difficult to discover the fundamental principles that decide as to which is the correct method because the teaching of each type was different. Thereupon, in order that I might find out the fundamental principle somehow or other, I began to study seriously. And, in the course of time, I was able to succeed in discovering it. What is this fundamental principle? It is to let our spirit and bodies work most effectively in order to accomplish our purpose, whenever we wish to throw others down, or cut, push, or kick others. Having found out this principle, I put my whole effort to studying various tricks[iii] of time-honored jujitsu of different types according to it……
***************** Please see the attached pdf below for the entire article and my notes. You can read it online via a web browser, or download the entire file. Feel free to ask questions if something is not clear! and let me know what you think of our new logo!!
In the late 1890’s Kanō’s experiment in training Chinese students met with so much success that the program expanded beyond the capacity of the large house he had rented at Ushigome Nishigoken-chō. Starting in 1896 with 13 Chinese students urged on him by Prince Saionji Kinmochi (1849-1940), his long term acquaintance and then Foreign Minister, after a couple of years of experimentation, Kanō developed then continued to refine a preparatory school approach: the Chinese students spent a year learning Japanese and the basic skills to enable them to comprehend subjects at extended, regular technical school and university programs taught in Japanese that they might attend if successful. The latter programs typically extended for three or four years. In all Kanō inducted 7192 Chinese students into what eventually he named the Kōbun Gakuin (Chinese; Hóngwén xuéyuàn, often cited in English as the Hongwen Academy). [See a longer explanation of its program here. Note that it includes a discussion of the pioneering work of the Kōbun Gakuin staff in developing an organized, standardized Japanese language instruction pedagogy, the first of its kind anywhere]: https://kanochronicles.com/2020/08/30/the-kano-chronicles-kano-and-the-kobun-gakuin
The goal: modernizing Chinese education
Some 3818 Chinese graduated and most (and even some of the drop outs) entered a range of advanced university programs, notably including Waseda University and even Kanō’s own Tokyo Higher Normal School, the premier teachers’ college for the Empire. For at its core, the program was primarily to build a strong, Chinese teacher cadre to modernize Chinese education, and the program graduates were obligated to serve in education positions for some years after returning to China.
Who paid for all this?
The Kōbun Gakuin preparatory program was entirely funded by the Q’ing Chinese government, paid by agreement in Chinese solid silver ingots called tael. A single tael is about 40 grams (1.3 ounces) of high grade silver, and they were minted in multiple tael weights (1, 5, 10, 100 etc). When paid out for this program, the silver was credited against the massive war reparations owed by the Chinese to Japan as part of the peace agreement for the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895).
Why Japan? Why Kanō?
It might seem strange for the Chinese to put so much trust in a Japanese program only scant years after the disastrous Sino-Japanese War, but both governments agreed that Chinese education must be modernized to help it withstand encroachment from Western powers and that Japan was in a unique position to help. Not only was Japan closer than Western alternatives, it was cheaper, and the cultural differences not as pronounced. In turn, Kanō shihan was in a unique position within the Japanese education system and the Chinese education effort that he became so personally, intimately entwined with the program to the point that he was awarded a high Q’ing Imperial court award by the Empress Cixi in recognition of his valuable service in modernizing Chinese education. One key source described him as the coordinator of the entire massive effort which resulted in tens of thousands beyond the 7000 Kōbun Gakuin students studying in Japan and scores of Q’ing Dynasty officials visiting to observe the system, often met by Kanō himself, who took the opportunity to introduce untold numbers of them to jūdō, a factor in later developments in China.
While other countries’ war reparations debt from the later Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) were eventually forgiven by other combatants, including the United States and Britain, the Japanese simply added their Boxer Rebellion reparations due to the Sino-Japanese War reparations already due and being paid out to fund the overseas study program in Japan. Stacks of silver were shipped to the Chinese legation in Tokyo and distributed to the Chinese students for their living expenses and to the Japanese government for Kanō Jigorō (or at least to his school’s administrative staff).
Where was the land? And just how many Fujimi-chō are there in Tokyo?
Kanō arranged for the purchase of several parcels of adjoining land in the neighborhood of the then Koishikawa ku (ward) called Sakashita-chō. (The attached presentation includes detailed maps.) That small neighborhood was adjacent to a hill then called Fujimi-chō (“Fuji view town”, as one of several high ground areas of Tokyo were and are still called today; this is particularly confusing since from 1886-1889 the Kodokan was based in another Fujimi-chō on the estate of Kanō patron and arch conservative Shinagawa Yajirō. See the tale of that other Fujimi-chō dōjō here): https://kanochronicles.com/2020/03/24/the-kano-chronicles-count-shinagawa-yajiro-and-the-fujimicho-kodokan/
Sakashita-chō, meaning “the neighborhood below the hill” referred to the small, adjacent neighborhood’s position below the crest of the hill then called Fujimi-chō. Kanō eventually had three classroom and administrative buildings erected for the Kōbun Gakuin, and at its peak they accommodated more than 1300 students at once plus instructors and support staff. Those hundreds of students drudged up the steep Kaiunzaka slope daily, and Kanō apparently named it “Fortune Opening Hill” to encourage the Chinese to focus on the opportunities afforded them by this education. As was his wont, Kanō proselytized physical education in general and jūdō specifically to his new students and had a small dōjō built for them; the Ushigome bundōjō or branch dōjō promoted 33 Chinese students to shodan 1st degree black belt before the school moved to Kaiunzaka in 1903, and untold others likely practiced there, too.
But by 1909, the program and studying in Japan in general had fallen out of favor with Chinese students for reasons we’ll explore separately later, enrollment dropped precipitously, and the Kōbun Gakuin was closed. But by then Kanō had built a large house on the estate and arranged his life around it. The Kodokan had expanded dramatically over the years, and after some 27 years of managing it personally, at 47 years of age Kanō arranged for it to be made a foundation in 1909. Its first managing directors were Kanō, who also served as the Foundation’s first head (kanchō), and his close friends Inukai Tsuyoshi (1855-1932), an avid Japanese archer and future Prime Minister when he was assassinated in 1932, and a graduate of his Kanō juku private school. On the steep slope below Kanō’s house and the defunct Kōbun Gakuin, the new Kodokan Foundation headquarters and an adjoining 107-mat dōjō were built, where they remained until 1933.
After apparently leasing the land for several years, Kanō eventually bought the entire estate for his private use. At its largest it covered more than 3000 tsubo, a traditional Japanese land measurement, well over 100,000 square feet or about 9300 square meters. But he began to parcel it out, first to the Kodokan, next to close associates including Yamashita Yoshitsugu, who built his home there, then in sales that continued for years.
Why that neighborhood?
Kaiunzaka was only 1.5km (~1 mile) from Kanō’s primary official position at the Tokyo Higher Normal School as its principal and about 3km from the older Shimotomizaka Kodokan dōjō which was redesignated as Daiichi Dōjō, the Number One dōjō. Also, around 1900, the area of north Koishikawa-ku was still sparsely populated with few roads, only recently absorbed into Tokyo proper, and finding such a large parcel of land was still possible. There Kanō could build a large home with a large garden and stable his horses; he kept up to 5 at once. Later new roads nearby supported a rapid increase in the local population as Tokyo expanded. Inside the city, most available large areas had been the Edo era residences of high ranking daimyō, the retainers of the shogun, which reverted to Meiji government control after the 1867 Restoration.
Indeed, the Ōtsuka area occupied by the Tokyo Higher Normal School had been such an Edo daimyō residential compound that reverted to the Meiji government after the Meiji Restoration.The school eventually evolved to become Tsukuba University’s Tokyo Campus (3-29-1 Otsuka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo), joined with other schools to form the new Tsukuba University; Kanō’s role in its development is memorialized by a statue of him in the Senshunen Park adjacent to the university. The statue itself is a duplicate of his statue outside the Kodokan. http://soutairoku.com/07_douzou/06_ka/kanou_zigorou.html
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This weekend I was mentioned by someone in a Judo Facebook group about an unattributed #blackbeltmagazine article citing the most influential women in judo that provided a list of those women and their accomplishments. I suspect being mentioned was to elicit a comment, and, being interested in the best history of judo, I bit.
I don’t read Black Belt magazine regularly but the clamor got me to read that article. Clearly the purpose if not the stated intent of it was to identify living female judoka who competed at the top tier of international competition for years and had an impact on what I call “sport judo”. In other words, today’s top winning competitive female sport judoka. But the first comment was a riposte of sorts to the original article, asking why wasn’t Fukuda Keiko sensei included in that list!?!
That seemed to be the sense of the majority of the posts thereafter – that any such list must include Fukuda Keiko!!! with lists of claims as to why she should be included.
One reason oft given claim is one that has always puzzled me: • She was a direct student of Kanō shihan!!!
Fukuda Keiko (1913-2013) 10th dan, USA Judo and the United States Judo Federation (USJF) (2011) wearing the red obi belt designating 9th or 10th dan grade
It’s an odd but precise construct that as far as I know has only one meaning in English, implying that she had some special teacher-student relationship with Kanō shihan. But I cannot find evidence of it.
While I’m not interested in post Occupation sport judo (particularly the arcane organizational mess that my fellow Americans have made of it) I do have a collection of 21 Japanese essays by Fukuda sensei written for Japanese audiences (I live in Tokyo and try to use only original Japanese sources for my research). After just scanning for 10-15 minutes I found one, written in 1985, in which she makes much of her jūdō education history explicit.
As background, Kanō shihan was very interested in women’s education and training, including physical education. But little was known in the 19th century or even the interwar years about the impact on the female body of hard physical training, continual impact from ukemi breakfalls, and in part because of that, Kanō, a man with five daughters of his own, took a very conservative yet innovative approach to women’s jūdō training. His solution was to develop a separate Kodokan Women’s Division program and hold all women’s training in a special, dedicated dōjō near his own office. One of the reasons for the later founding of the Association for the Scientific Studies on Judo was to promote medical research into the impact of potentially hazardous jūdō techniques like chokes and throws on young male bodies and, less obviously and unadvertised, female bodies. Access to that special dōjō was granted only with his personal confirmation, and he put his own then 41-year-old daughter, Watanuki Noriko, as the first director of the program overseeing its two senior, older professional male Kodokan jūdō instructors, Handa sensei and Uzawa sensei (see more about them below).
Instruction was initially solely provided by a number of senior male Kodokan instructors, supplemented by Watanuki sensei and later other female instructors as they matured through their own practice and promotions. The instruction was kata and randori training, with the instructors focused on their own specialty kata. Randori was only performed with other females. Kanō instituted the women’s obi belt, which had a white stripe overlaying the base colored belt, to signify that the women were separate. Kanō wrote that as women did not have the brute strength of men, they had to depend upon technique alone, which made their jūdō more pure.
Fukuda Keiko sensei in Kodokan instructor keikogi, date unknown Note white stripe 女子帯 female belt and the kanji 指 shi, denoting 指導者 shidōsha instructor set inside the outline of 八咫鏡 yatakagami, the emblem of the Kodokan, symbolic of an ancient, legendary spiritual mirror that reflects one’s soul
In her 1985 essay, Fukuda sensei wrote she joined the Suidobashi Kodokan as a student in the Women’s Division. This was in 1935 or 1936. (Also, it sometimes cited that Kanō shihan personally invited her or opened the Kodokan to women because of her. The latter claim is clearly not true. Regarding the former, I have been told by participants who trained under Fukuda sensei that she said Kanō shihan personally invited her to join the Kodokan; I find that entirely believable, as in his incessant proselytization of jūdō he invited untold numbers of young people to join, so certainly the young grandchild of his sensei would be offered the same!)
Kanō shihan observes his eldest daughter Watanuki Noriko (1893-?), the initial head of the Kodokan Women’s Division, perform as tori, apparently in Kime shiki for a Kodokan New Year’s celebration. Initially instruction for females was almost entirely kata only. Fukuda sensei helped convince the Kodokan to make changes in that policy postwar. Note the kagami mochi, the two stacked rice cakes on an offering stand, a traditional Japanese New Year’s offering to the gods, and the white stripe in the ladies’ obi. The Kōdōkan 講道館 calligraphy (written right to left) brushed by Prince Katsu Kaishū, Kanō family friend, appears to be the large original that today hangs in the Kodokan Museum
She described traveling daily to the Kodokan from Noborito, a station south south east of Tokyo near Kawasaki, on the Odakyu Railroad (a one hour, one-way commute today, perhaps 90-120 minutes then?). The rail line was damaged in World War II air raids, so for some time during the war she stayed with the wife of a Kodokan instructor who lived closer.
In describing her Kodokan training in the women’s dōjō mentions several famous (and others not well known today) Kodokan instructors, some of whom she studied under, some she wished she had engaged earlier (as she and her sensei had all aged during her near 50 years of her Kodokan membership when she wrote the essay), but she wanted to remember and honor all her sensei, including, – Nagaoka Shuichi 10th dan – Kotani Sumiyuki 10th dan She had “daily” instruction in the Women’s Division for years from – Handa Yoshimarō, main instructor – Uzawa Ariya, instructor
Kodokan Women’s Division fall 1937 event with: • Kanō shihan (seated center) • Handa Yoshimarō sensei, its senior instructor (man to Kanō’s right) • The man to Kanō’s left may be Uzawa Ariya, its other instructor (no evidence, just my guess!) • Some believe the young woman over Handa sensei’s right shoulder is Fukuda Keiko, then 24 years old • The original of the Kōdōkan 講道館 calligraphy (written right to left) penned by Prince Katsu Kaishū, Kanō family friend, today hangs in the Kodokan Museum Note Kanō’s photo in formal Imperial court dress, complete with multiple Imperial awards and honors Posthumously, he was awarded a high level of Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun This is probably Kanō shihan’s last photo with the Kodokan female students
The late Prof. Kano’s ideal for women’s judo was to study randori in parallel with kata. This randori must be done between women. I was instructed only in this manner for the first ten years of my judo study. Judoists in general spend many hours on randori. Although it is also true in women’s judo, its characteristic is not to neglect kata while placing the importance on randori. This leads to the realistic methods of self-defense. This results in the increase of confidence in their everyday lives. Those who seriously study judo and master a higher degree of kata, may reach the point of acquiring “satori”, comparable to that concept of “spiritual enlightment” in Zen Buddhism, possessing a highly trained physique.*
Keiko Fukuda – Born for the Mat, a Kodokan Kata Textbook for Women, 1973
Kanō shihan and Handa sensei demonstrating hadaka-jime (left: rear naked strangle) and kataha-jime (single wing strangle) These photos were apparently taken for Volume 2 of Kanō’s capstone jūdō book, which, unfortunately, he never completed.
Handa became a Kanō favorite uke after the retirement of his lifelong partner Yamashita Yoshitsugu 10th dan (1865-1935). Perhaps writing of the very staged kata photos above (I think this likely as the dates roughly align), Fukuda sensei wrote that one day Handa sensei told her he had to pose for photos with Kanō shihan and seemed somewhat exasperated by the request, perhaps as he was then about 65 years old and the choking kata that Kanō demonstrated above are not at all pleasant for uke the person being choked (Kanō was about 75 years old; these are probably the very last photos of Kanō in his keikogi practice uniform, performing any sort of jūdō).
Postwar, Fukuda sensei’s “senpai” (senior) Noritomo Masako returned to practice, apparently after not attending for some time (perhaps because she fled Tokyo after the air raids began, as many other residents of the ravaged city did to avoid the death, destruction, and lack of food).
Fukuda sensei wrote of the impact of the WWII fire raid on the Kodokan, including her personally helping fight the fire with buckets of water, the relocation of the dōjō due to fire damage, etc., (See my description of the 1945 firebombing of the Kodokan here: Kanō Chronicles: 1945 Firebombing of the Kodokan I may rewrite it later to add Fukuda sensei’s account, the only firsthand account I know)
In the 1950s after things had settled down after the Occupation, she approached Mifune Kyuzō (later 10th dan) to teach Kodokan women the same techniques as men.
She mentioned Kanō shihan twice in this essay: – He occasionally dropped by the Women’s Division dōjō, and she had the honor of having her practice being watched by him (written in a very specific Japanese idiom to make the honor implicit, but clearly her role was passive: she was being watched practicing, not interacting with Kanō shihan) – He voiced the desire that judo be promulgated around the world
One would think if she had been “the direct student” of Kanō shihan, this was the time to point it out. But she did not. Her description was that of any other female Kodokan student of her day and situation, unremarkable from the standard program of a highly dedicated student. This is not a slight against Fukuda sensei – from my research, Kanō shihan simply didn’t ever teach much after his 20s, and from his 30s or so less and less all the time. Certainly into his 60s and 70s he didn’t teach much at all, if any. The professional instructors of the Kodokan attended daily, taught the students daily, and their descriptions of practice sometimes record the increasingly rare appearances, occasional comments, corrections and lectures by Kanō shihan.
But, as my judo bud Dr. Mike Callan, Professor, University of Hertfordshire points out, there are multiple ways to teach jūdō: • kata • randori • mondō (question and answer) • kyōgi (lecture)
If Fukuda sensei attended a particular Kanō lecture or participated in some particular class, she didn’t mention it here. But I’ll keep looking.
The photo below gives an idea of the scale of Kanō’s formal Kodokan lectures, hardly a special one on one event. But hard to forget.
I’ve never understood trying to gild this particular lily – Fukuda sensei devoted her life, effort and passion to judo, and that should be recognized, commemorated and celebrated, but I really doubt she was a “direct student” of Kanō shihan in any reasonable sense of the term.** She was a dedicated Kodokan student, and the instructors she named were exactly those that taught her and every other female student in the Kodokan Judo Institute of those days.
What is much more interesting to me is the series of international trips she took abroad to teach and proselytize judo before she settled down in America.
That would be interesting history.
NOTES: * “Those who seriously study judo and master a higher degree of kata, may reach the point of acquiring “satori“, comparable to that concept of “spiritual enlightment” in Zen Buddhism, possessing a highly trained physique.” – Fukuda Keiko, Born for the Mat: A Kodokan Kata Textbook for Women, 1973 This quote is consistent with otherwise long forgotten comments by Kanō shihan 100 years ago in which he claimed that the embodiment of philosophy in jūdō is so enlightening that faithful, regular practice of its precepts in the dōjō and throughout life outside the dōjō would lead to the same ultimate level of enlightenment, satori, as practicing zazen seated Zen meditation for years cited in my long paper regarding the evolution of Kanō’s jūdō philosophies, an early version of which I presented to the American Philosophical Association in 2021 and can be read here: https://kanochronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/gatling-apa-paper-2021-origins-of-the-principles-of-judo-final.pdf ). In my experience, only a handful of Kodokan students knew of this concept
** Kanō shihan did have “direct students” but only noted when he was much younger; we know what that looked like. Outside of the Kodokan, in the late 1800s in self-designed experiments to test the abilities of female students, he taught his wife Sumako, some of her friends, and a couple of female cousins and nieces.
Kanō also in secret taught the very interesting Shimoda Utako, a pioneering female educator and long term colleague. Around 1891, Kanō and Shimoda were rumored to be linked romantically (in fact, in the most diplomatic terms possible, the young widow and proto-feminist Shimoda was rumored by political opponents to be particularly sexually promiscuous, accused of having slept with most key members of the conservative government, men with whom Kanō was closely aligned). Once a major newspaper reported that the two had married without notice – only to issue a retraction days later. (I cannot determine if the news was in error or if Kanō and Shimoda married then divorced.)
Shimoda Utako (1854-1936) Given the nickname Utako “Poem Child” by the Meiji Empress, her poetry student Famous as a pioneering female educator, feminist, and irascible free spirit Widowed as a young woman, taught jūdō in secret by Kanō, she was romantically linked to Kanō and remained a lifelong colleague
In fact, it was a student of Shimoda sensei that in 1906 taught jūdō to the first US Embassy Tokyo jūdō students (my dōjō carries on that 120 year old tradition: US Embassy Judo Club http://www.usejc.org, Facebook http://www.facebook.com/usejc ), one the daughter of a diplomat, and another the wife of then US Army Captain John “Blackjack” Pershing, the US Army military attache to Tokyo. Pershing was later General of the Armies and commander of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I.
Kanō became increasingly frail in his 70’s (1930-1938) as old age and decades of chronic diabetes took their toll. By 1936, when Fukuda Keiko entered the Kodokan, Kanō, suffering from advanced diabetes and only able to walk with difficulty, was hardly in physical condition to teach jūdō in any conventional sense. He was also incredibly busy with his duties as an influential Emperor-nominated, lifetime member of Japan’s House of Lords, and supporting Tokyo’s bid and preparation for the 1940 Olympics. By the 1930s his visits to the Kodokan were so sporadic that they were typically noted in the Kodokan Diary column in Judo magazine, indicating, at least to me, such visits were not at all regular events, much less daily.
Look closely at photos of him in the 1930s and you may note two things: he no longer took his shoes off even when he entered the tatami, and always carried a cane or umbrella. (Kanō was first hospitalized for diabetes-related leg circulation problems in his late 40s / early 1900s so it is perhaps safe to assume his diabetes started at least in his 40s or earlier.)Above is a photo of Kanō shihan late in life. Note how he stands stiffly upright, his left arm held oddly behind himself, most likely hiding his umbrella or cane to help him stand as he did for posed photos. Unseen in the cropped photo is that he is standing on the mats with his shoes on.Kanō shihan (center) posing with a group of Chinese participants in the Asian Games, in which Kanō played a key role as Chairman, Japan Amateur Athletic Association Also, Kanō’s early 1900s Chinese student education program was famous in China Note how his left arm conceals a cane or umbrella from the main camera behind him
The photo below was taken in Vancouver, Canada, April 1938, just hours before Kanō embarked upon the Japanese ultra-luxury NYK passenger liner Hikawa Maru bound for Yokohama, upon which he died days later of pneumonia, almost certainly brought on by his 40 year affliction with diabetes (which, if so, that ice cream cone certainly would have exacerbated).
Kanō shihan in Vancouver, relaxing hours before embarking and departing for Japan on the Hikawa Maru Saturday, April 23. 1938
In embarking on his last exhausting around the world trip in early February 1938, Kanō ignored advice from his doctor not to travel at all, and even refused to allow a traveling companion, thus traveling alone. One issei first generation Japanese immigrant to America who met him during the last weeks of that trip and personally spent days driving Kanō sightseeing and to various meetings wrote in a letter to Japan that he was enraged and embarrassed that his own people, the Japanese, would treat the aged, clearly ill, seriously weakened Kanō so callously as to send him around the world on a grueling months long trip alone, and was concerned the trip would kill him.
It did kill him.
Despite rumors that Kanō was poisoned by political enemies for his antiwar stance, his last days on the Hikawa Maru, the pride of the Japanese Pacific Ocean luxury fleet, are fairly well documented. He was the personal guest of the ship’s captain invited to dine at the prestigious captain’s table at every meal (most attendees rotate every meal through the elite of the passengers), a signal honor which placed him squarely in the public eye at least three times a day for the entire voyage; the captain was also later interviewed by the Japanese press about his VIP guest’s time on the ship and death. Also, a young Gaimusho Foreign Ministry diplomat returning to Japan on the same voyage observed, spoke with and dined with Kanō several times wrote of Kanō’s apparent illness, increasing frailty but continued characteristic stubbornness – Kanō insisted on dressing for every meal and joining the table of the captain, who time and again urged Kanō to remain in his cabin and rest instead, offering the ship’s crew and the steward to assist him and serve him any meals he wanted in the comfort of his cabin.
The morning of Wednesday, May 4, 1938, (local ship time: May 5 in Tokyo time, which is the date of death noted today) he died, attended by a steward and the ship’s medic, death confirmed by the captain. Cause: pneumonia.
The captain radioed the sad news to Tokyo: Regretfully (he) entered eternal sleep this morning 6:33 When the Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokohama Friday, May 6, its normal quarantine was cut short and the ship was allowed to dock immediately.
The Emperor Hirohito dispatched the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, his personal secretary, to meet the ship and escort Kanō to his home in his massive compound in Ōtsuka, Bunkyō-ku, his casket draped in the Olympic flag.
Friday, May 6, 1938 – The Emperor’s personal secretary met the Hikawa Maru dockside in Yokohama and escorted Kanō’s Olympic flag-draped casket in a long procession to his home in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo Days later Kanō’s formal Shintō funeral ceremony in the Kodokan drew over a thousand people, including a large party of government representatives and a personal message from Emperor Hirohito
Today his cabin is marked with a brass plaque noting his name and the date of his death on the Hikawa Maru, which is on permanent display as a museum ship in Yokohama at Yamashita Park, near Yokohama Station.
The Hikawa Maru, the art-deco pride of Japan’s luxury passenger ships in its prime It survived Kanō’s death, converted in 1941 to an Imperial Japanese Navy hospital ship and painted white it moved 30,000 wounded troops and struck mines three times Postwar she repatriated 20,000 Japanese soldiers stranded around the Pacific, put back into commercial passenger service, then used as a youth hostel 1961-1971 Today, moored in Yokohama, it serves as a museum ship, the only remaining Pacific luxury liner of that era Sources: https://oceanlinersmagazine.com/2020/05/12/hikawa-maru-the-last-of-her-kind/ https://hikawamaru.nyk.com/history.html
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Please type your email in the block below and hit Subscribe to be notified of new material. – I have a number of new essays in draft and there may be something of interest among them. I guarantee they’re all unique, often topics never even discussed since the Occupation and the Kodokan began changing its history of wartime judo to stay on the good side of General MacArthur and General Headquarters (GHQ). We don’t sell your data – we’re normally hard pressed to even find it. Constructive comments are welcome – we read them all. Criticism is fine but please cite resources if you think anything wrong or off base. I’m always happy to find new info. – Most English resources don’t pass muster on most topics so don’t be surprised if I don’t agree with them. – I have Japanese languages sources for everything herein except for Born for the Mat. You can email me at Contact <AT> KanoChronicles.com
This is a bit of an experiment for me – a narrated PowerPoint presentation regarding some portions of the life and times of Kanō Jigorō shihan. (If it doesn’t work I’ll have to pull this message and delete it.)
Please note that I intentionally read it very slowly to allow my non-native English speaking friends time to digest the slides if my words don’t make sense. If you wish to speed it up, you can speed it up to 2.0x or simply hit the <SPACEBAR> to proceed to the next slide.
Topics include: – Kanō’s childhood home in Kobe – Kanō’s activities in the government as lifetime member of the House of Peers – his contacts with the Yamaguchi Prefecture (former Choshu clan samurai) oligarchs of the new Meiji government – Kanō’s short career as student radical and political thug / yōjinbō bodyguard – Kanō and Keiko Fukuda sensei – Kanō’s travels in and commentary on America
<<<Click on the link below to start the presentation>>>>
I hope you find it of interest! As always, you can sign up for new content notifications below. For comments, you can email me at Contact@KanoChronicles.com or on the commentary links on this page.
Regards,
Lance Gatling ガトリング•ランス The Kanō Chronicles 嘉納歴代 Tokyo, Japan
Or, more often cited in the West, but less correctly ‘Softness overcomes strength’ [3]
This saying is used to describe the core philosophy of jūjutsu – do not fight strength against strength, but rather deflect or avoid to neutralize the power thus wasted in attacking you.
But that is only the introductory line of the Upper Strategy, a portion of a much longer text. The complete primary text of the Upper Strategy of The Three Strategies of Huang Shingong (Chinese: 黃石公三略: Huang shigong sanlüe) from nearly 2250 years ago reads:
The primary purpose of the strategy was to cultivate effective interpersonal relations for leaders and rulers, how to deal with their own people. In the extended commentary it is clearly about dealing with subordinates first. The extension of the strategy since then was how to deal with non-subordinates, including enemies.
As one of China’s Seven Military Classics, this work has been studied for over 2000 years as one of China’s most important traditional schools of strategic thought.
Regarding its use in describing jūdō, apparently Kanō shihan thought it was insufficient to capture his vision; therefore, he developed his own explanation of the basic principles of jūdō that went through various versions, but eventually he settled on:
Seiryoku zen’yō Jita kyōei
This is typically translated into English as:
Best Use of Energy / Mutual Benefit
The origin of Kanō’s jūdō philosophies is complex, a tale that is explored in The Origins and Development of Kanō Jigorō’s Jūdō Philosophies by Lance Gatling, International Judo Federation Arts and Science of Judo , Vol. 1, No. 2, December 2021, pages 50-64, available at
[1] Japanese and Chinese use thousands of four character ideograms called yojijukugo in Japanese. These are used as in a wide array of situations from sayings to mnemonics to short hand for long stories or legends. Many are thousands of years old.
[2] 柔能制剛 Jū nō sei gō is Chinese. It is rendered in Japanese as 柔よく制剛 jū yoku sei gō the quality of flexibility / softness controls rigidity / hardness.
[3] The author contends that the typical translation of jū into English as ‘softness’ is neither correct nor appropriate in historical context and for the purposes of understanding jūjtsu or jūdō.
[4] “San Lüe 三略 (Three Strategies) is divided into three parts: Shang Lüe 上略, Zhong Lüe 中略, and Xia Lüe 下略. The first two parts quote from military writings of the past, Jun Chen 軍讖 (Military Prophecies) and Jun Shi 軍勢 (Military Power) and elaborates them, while the third part is the author’s own discussion. Some attribute the work to Huang Shigong 黃石公, but in recent research, it is said that this book was written by an anonymous person between the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD). “
From: The Governing Principles of Ancient China, Volume 2 – Based on 360 passages excerpted from the original compilation of Qunshu Zhiyao (The Compilation of Books and Writings on the Important Governing Principles), pg 508. Seri Kembangan, Malaysia: Chung Hua Cultural Education Centre, 2014.
Author note to FN 4: It is also entirely possible, indeed, perhaps likely that the Military Prophecies is in fact a fabrication added to imbue this work with more gravitas by “quoting” a much more ancient text than the newer work itself would import, as it seems there are no indications outside the Three Strategies that the Military Prophecies ever existed. Such a fabrication is not unknown in ancient Chinese texts (and those of other cultures).
Notes:
The entire work’s name in English is usually rendered as the The Three Strategies of Huang Shigong.
The Shang Lüe 上略, Zhong Lüe 中略, and Xia Lüe 下略 are respectively the Upper Strategy, the Middle Strategy, and the Lower Strategy.
The exact date of the Military Prophecies seems unknown but appears to be around 2400 years old.
The Kanō Chronicles: The Untold History of Modern Japan® (嘉納歴代史:知らず近代日本史®) is the result of over 15 years of research into the life and times of Kanō Jigorō, 嘉納治五郎 (1860-1938), the founder of jûdô 柔道. In traditional jūdō texts and by today’s jūdōka 柔道家 (judo practitioners) he is normally addressed as ‘Kano shihan’ 師範 (Master Kano).*
No English or Japanese language biographies of Kano shihan capture the complexity of the man and his times. Even the best Japanese biographies are often narrow, typically focused on Kano’s jūdō, education, sports, or Olympic activities, or some combination thereof. There are exceptions, but they are rare and difficult to digest, even for native Japanese, and have escaped the attention of Western researchers.
Context is important, and detailed historical context is not part of Western biographies of Kano. One example can be seen below, in a rare English explanation by Kano shihan of the ‘True Spirit of Judo’.
When I was still young, I learned various types of “jujitsu”.** However, I found it difficult to discover the fundamental principles that decide as to which is the correct method because the teaching of each type was different. Thereupon, in order that I might find out the fundamental principle somehow or other, I began to study seriously. And, in the course of time, I was able to succeed in discovering it. What is this fundamental principle? It is to let our spirit and bodies work most effectively in order to accomplish our purpose, whenever we wish to throw others down, or cut, push, or kick others.
— Kano Jigoro, ‘True Spirit of Judo’, 1938
Rather than the ‘true spirit of jūdō’, a more complete context of the article reveals this to be only the lowest, simplest definition of jūdō espoused by Kanō shihan, meant only as the beginning of a much more complex discussion. As the rest of his discussion is thought not pertinent to today’s sports judo, it is typically discarded, thus lost to generations of judoka who are left with the notion that the epitome of his philosophy is physically controlling your opponent effectively.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Kanō Chronicles™ provides the history of Kanō shihan in the context of his times. He lived in a unique period of history, namely the development of Japan from an isolated, feudal backwater to one of the largest empires in history. His patrons, peers, and pupils included princes, prime ministers, politicians, philosophers, prophets, priests, political puppet masters, puppeteers, paupers, oligarchs, generals, admirals, academics, assassins, the assassinated, mandarins, revolutionaries, counterrevolutionaries, reactionaries, samurai, spies, spy masters, sumotori, strike breakers, chancellors, commoners, Christians, Chinese, Confucianists, Communists, women and Class A war criminals.
Kanō shihan personally participated in the initial formation and subsequent reforms of Japan’s education, language, sports, ethics, teacher and moral training, indeed the development and dissemination of its very culture. He thus left an indelible mark on the nation, indeed much of the Empire through the education of thousands of teachers, judoka and their millions of students.
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* In keeping with the tradition, Japanese names are given in the order LastName FirstName. Note that in the era under study, Japanese often changed their first / given names in recognition of phases or changes in their lives; becoming an adult, reaching 60 years of age, or at any age to designate some eventful political or personal event. Sometimes, frequently; sometimes, in accordance with the stages of life, or simply whimsically. Some phases were chronological: 50, 60, 70, or 80 years old. Nicknames or pen names if known are given in single quotes, ala ‘Konan’, Kano shihan’s penname for calligraphy until his 60th birthday.
** The transliteration of Japanese into Western characters has changed over more than 100 years of use to settle on the current system. This site and associated works use older, nonstandard terms such as jujitsu, jiujutsu, jiudo, Kodokwan, etc. only in direct quotations. Today the rendering of these Japanese terms in Roman letters is unequivocal and universal; judo, jujutsu, Kodokan, etc.
Lance Gatling Author / Lecturer The Kanō Chronicles Tokyo, Japan Contact@kanochronicles.com – please send a note to give us feedback. Thank you!
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