Origin of Judo

There were many forms of combat practiced in antiquity. However, among them, one stood out, Jujutsu. Legend has it that the fundamental principle of Jujutsu, "give in to win" arose when a former Japanese doctor observed during a storm, that the branches of the cherry tree, although strong, broke with the violence of the storm, while the flexible branches of the willow they bowed with each blow and managed to return to their positions, without damage (Calleja, 1982, p.8).

But Jujutsu could not be considered a sport, as there were no standardized rules, nor were its techniques taught according to a teaching method with scientific bases or even with pedagogical intentions, the spirit prevailing "win or die, fight to the death ”(Shin-ken-shobu).

Jigoro Kano, a great student of Jujutsu, disagreed with this “spirit” and believed that physical activity should serve, in the first place, for the global education of its practitioners .

Then, based on the axioms Seryoku Zenyô, maximum effectiveness and Jita Kyoei, mutual prosperity and benefit (Caleja, 1982, pp. 8-10), he selected and classified the best techniques of Jujutso, modifying warrior techniques that were designed and developed to injure, maim or kill opponents on the battlefield, so that students and practitioners of this new modality could practice it and safely apply their techniques, without the objective of injuring their opponents.

To this end, it established rules for combat and teaching methods, thus facilitating their learning.

Thus, in 1882 Jigoro Kano inaugurates the Kodokan and began the trajectory of Judo as a sport and in 1964, in Tokyo, he had the posthumous reward of his effort when Judo was considered an Olympic sport (Butcher, 2003, p.11).

In this Olympics the competition involved only male practitioners. The extension of the Olympic competition to women did not occur until 1992, at the Barcelona Olympics.

Competition Judo

The thirties of the twentieth century marked the outbreak of Judo worldwide. Almost all civilized nations already knew and practiced Judo. In Japan, competitions were held in the form of championships, and in Europe, due to the various meetings held, the process of organizing a European sports structure began (Guerreiro, 2003).

This massification and evolution process led to the implementation of the rules of arbitration and the first international competition held in Europe, in 1947, in London, involving teams from France and England (Calleja, 1982).

In 1948, Judo gains another ally for its recognition as an international sport, when the European Judo Union was founded, which promotes in 1951, in Paris, the 1st European Championship. In 1956, the 1st World Championship took place, organized by the International Judo Federation (FIJ), with the participation of 18 countries (Calleja, 1982).

According to Guerreiro (2003), the presence of women in competition started in 1975, in the European Championships and, in 1980, in the World Championships. Nevertheless, his participation in the Olympics only happened in Barcelona, in 1992, as previously mentioned.

All this growing development aroused the interest of conducting studies in order to improve Judo and thus the first major change, the division of categories, arose from 1961, which generated severe criticism in the middle of the modality, as this division went against Jigoro Kano's philosophical principles.

However, these changes were essential and indispensable for its inclusion as an Olympic modality, since for many the fighting was monotonous, with many stops, and the rules were difficult to understand for those who were not practitioners (Calleja, 1982).

Over time, several changes have taken place. In fact, the fighting time was reduced from 20 to 5 minutes, the athletes started using Judogis of different colors, white and blue, making viewers, the press and referees easier to see. The number of categories increased from 03 to 07 and the rules were modified to streamline the fighting and make it more attractive and spectacular to the spectators (Ohlenkamp, 2006).

Thus, from the first Olympic competition in Tokyo, 1964, to the present, many tactical-technical changes have occurred, as a result of changes to the competition rules.

By Silvana Nagai - Extracted from the Master's Thesis - Analysis of Actions Punctuated in Fights of the 2008 European Judo Championship - University of Porto - Portugal