History of Martial arts in General and Judo in particular

Jujutsu History

In ancient times martial arts were literally a way of life... and a matter of life and death.  Martial arts were practiced everywhere: India, China, Japan, Europe, Greece: all had notable martial arts.  Martial arts have existed since people have fought each other over land and religion, which is to say, since the beginning.  In those days all martial arts were mixed martial arts, as anything that would keep you alive and defeat your enemy was good.  Asian martial arts have a rich and detailed history. Because their cultures valued literacy, many of their martial systems have survived to the modern day while others have not. Therefore the roots of Jujutsu begin at the earliest settling of the islands that would become Japan.  Different times and different advances in the art of warfare created differences in the successful martial arts of the day.  The invention of the spear, sword, of armor, horseback riding, archery, and eventually firearms all changed the techniques that were effective in the martial arts.  Every culture also added their twist to martial arts.

China had a rich history as the dominant culture in the region, and many have said the roots of Jujutsu were planted in China, other say India, some say it was originated solely in and from Japan.   Dr. Kano disputed the legend that Japanese Jujutsu was rooted in Chinese martial arts, as traditional jujutsu throwing techniques have no equivalent in any Chinese tradition. But he did not dispute and did not question that there was Chinese martial arts influence in some techniques.  Furthermore traditional shuai jiao  (Chinese wrestling) shows none of the diversity and dynamics displayed by Jujutsu and Judo. It is hard to decipher as there was a lot of trade of all sorts between China and Japan culturally.  It is however, fact that the other modern major "Japanese" (actually Okinawan) martial art of Karate traces it roots directly to Chinese Kenpo. Karate is a development of Okinawan rue styles, but it became widely known only after it was fully adopted by Japanese culture. 

The most common view is that jujutsu as we would recognize it came into being sometime after 1500 A.D. (it is worth to mention that year 1543 brought introduction of early firearms into Japan by the Portuguese). By 1882, the year the Kodokan dojo was established by Dr. Kano, Japan had about 300 active recognized jujutsu schools, and because Japanese society was in a period of rapid modernization that number was already less than it was at its peak.  By some accounts only about 10 of those schools have living descendants today. 

In the heyday of Jujutsu's development Japan was a feudal society, meaning it was similar to medieval Europe.  The Daimyos (local government) were protected by a warrior class of nobles called the Samurai.  Samurai were usually associated with a clan and their lord, and were trained as officers in military tactics and war strategy. They were literally above the law to most people, and answered only to the clan chief.

In the 15th and 16th centuries Jujutsu was the battlefield hand to hand combat art of the Samurai. Samurai were well-armored and usually on horseback and the art of Jujutsu was essentially developed to allow the Samurai to kill their enemies effectively in the event that they found themselves disarmed and on foot.

Because of the restricted mobility and agility associated with fighting in armor, Jujutsu evolved to include throwing, joint-locks (breaks) and strangles, in addition to the striking moves common in other (especially Chinese) martial arts. Jujutsu was primarily relied on by the Samurai in the unfortunate event that they were un-horsed and left unarmed (without their sword) but was still designed for use against armored warriors, which meant that striking was not a primary focus but instead was used to distract or set up for more destructive attacks.

Until the Meiji Restoration Japan was a highly fragmented feudal society. Power of the centralized state institutions of Emperor and Shogun (Federal Government) did not concern themselves with the internal politics of the Daimyos (local clan/governments). The daimyo's solved their differences by rule of sword in nearly continuously ongoing 'small' warfare among the Samurai. Military technology of the day (even with introduction of matchlock firearms) heavily relied on the superiority in close quarter hand-to-hand melee combat primarily using swords. In this environment, fighting techniques became closely guarded family secrets. As a result each daimyo and samurai clan grew its own school of combat (Ryu).  They had schools for every discipline: archery, swordsmanship, horseback riding, including their own school or style (sometimes even more than one ) of Jujutsu. Each school developed an “internal use only” philosophy and was usually unknown, or only known by name, outside of its Daimyo.  We would call knowledge of these techniques "Top Secret." Each school purposely projected a fearsome reputation of the as the best and most effective, in what we would call today, “psychological warfare”.  Therefore combat techniques were based largely on surprise, and it was assumed that your opponent would NOT have the same skillset that you possessed, because your school's and their school's teachings were closely held secrets.  Because of this unique situation success or failure had a lot to do with doing something the opponent did not expect and had not previously encountered, rather than the technique necessarily being the "best".  No one had ever tried to make ONE system of the most effective techniques.  Then came Jigoro Kano, and his development of Judo.  Few had probably learned anything outside their school.  Ironically, the only reason that Kano was able to do so was probably because all of the schools essentially had been shut down and all the teachers went into hiding.  Kano had to search them out.  The opinion was that it was sort of silly for Kano to even want to learn these techniques. But he prevailed on the masters that he found and several agreed to teach.

All styles of modern “old-school traditional” Jujutsu can be divided to two classes:

1.Descendants of pre-Judo schools. (see above note regarding 10 living pre judo styles)

2.New incarnations of ideas of old Jujutsu in contemporary environment ( Making them mostly, if not completely new styles).

The Development of Judo

By the beginning of 20th century Meiji Japan bypassed China on the way to industrial modernization and Westernization. The creation of Judo was one of “by-products” of this process.

During Japan's rush to modernize during the Meiji Period/Revolution, they began to completely westernize their culture, completely discarding their old ways, their clothing, customs, and especially the way of the Samurai. In a literal sense the Japanese Culture changed nearly overnight.  In less than 100 years Japan went from a pre-industrialized feudal society, to a completely industrialized western nation.  This is a mind boggling amount of change in a very short amount of time. Combat skills that fifty years earlier would guarantee that a Samurai sat at the top levels of social status and power.  They had been revered, feared, and above the Law.  Now Samurai had  become just a subject of curiosity (at best) and even shameful. Their swords were taken away.  Their top-knot haircuts which assisted with wearing their armor, and symbolized their status, were outlawed.  With the demise of samurai society the old jujutsu combat skills headed toward extinction. Schools closed due to complete lack of students. Teachers changed their primary occupation (often to chiropractors) or lived in poverty as fishermen. In the ideal New Meiji World made up of Law and Enlightenment, citizens did not expect to resort to violence to resolve petty differences, and Samurais were suddenly forbidden to kill lower classed people. This is  similar to the 'civilization' of the Old West in the USA. 

Jigoro Kano was from a fairly wealthy family, and spent his late adolescent years in a boarding school.  The world of a boarding school never was ideal for young freshmen student Jigoro Kano.  Kano, a small and quiet boy, often fell victim of his older and larger peers.  He was from a fairly wealthy family, but, well,  he got beat up a lot.

Jigoro Kano needed Judo and since it wasn’t around yet, he created it.

According to his biography, Jigoro Kano asked a friend of his father, Fukuda Hachinosuke, (grandfather to future 10th Dan Keiko Fukuda, highest ranking female Judoka of all time) to teach him to fight.  Fukuda was the headmaster of the Tenjin Shinyo ryu school of jujutsu.

It was a strange request.  The new Japanese culture had the feeling that anything Japanese was inferior to anything of the West, and they sought to completely immerse themselves in all the modern Western ways. Jigoro, son of a medical doctor, certainly wasn’t expected to be interested in anything old, outdated, and violent; but he was.  It was a bit like asking someone today to teach us to use a broadsword, or to duel with pistols.  But Fukuda did teach him and after learning Tenjin Shinyo ryu, he found another teacher and studied Kito ryu under Tsunetoshi Iikubo.

After resolving his original issues with the bullies and becoming well respected among his peers, he became interested in the Art itself and so began the process that transformed jujutsu into Judo.  He sought to blend the Art of Jujutsu with the new concept (in the East) of sports and physical education in schools.  Historically, the idea of sport: friendly competition for enjoyment, did not exist in the Japanese culture, but during the Meiji Restoration this too was introduced from the West.  

At the age of 22, Kano’s art came to be known as Kodokan Judo (or sometimes Kano Jujutsu). His ideas were perfect for the time in which he lived. By changing martial arts in Japan so that they could be sports and teamwork friendly, his (new and modern) society accepted judo.

Kano’s school, called the Kodokan, was established in the Eishoji Buddhist temple in Tokyo. In 1886, a contest was held in order to determine which was superior, Jujutsu (the arts Kano once studied) or Judo (the art that he had essentially invented). Kano’s students of judo won this competition easily.  Recall earlier we said that the old method of Jujutsu did not seek to distill the styles to develop the most effective techniques, but this is precisely what Judo did. Also since the aim was no longer to kill an armored opponent, but to disable an unarmored attacker, certain techniques that Kano had distilled out of Jujutsu became very effective in Judo.

In 1910, Judo became a recognized sport; in 1911, it was adopted as a part of Japan’s educational system; and in 1964, it became an Olympic sport, more on that follows.

Very brief introduction to Kung Fu:

By-and-around year 1910, when China's move toward modernization become apparent and shortly before it overturned the Imperial rule and become a Republic, some prominent Chinese martial artists realized that, if they did not do something their ways would follow the downward path of old Japanese jujutsu and in search for solution they turned to the experience of Judo, which by that time had about 30 years of history and enjoyed wide national recognition with almost complete dominance in Japanese (and many other countries') military, police, and educational institutions.

The long story short, the Jingwu martial arts school was established and was the first modern Chinese Martial Arts "school" with open enrollment. It created a new social image of traditional arts (especially in the staunch contrast to yet still fresh memories of the short, but brutal “boxer rebellion”) and made it possible to preserve those traditions to the modern time. 

China is a vast and diverse country, one of the oldest cultures on earth, and China was and is a powerful nation especially in Asia.   Deciphering which styles of Chinese arts influenced other nations martial arts and vice versa is a bit like the chicken and the egg question, at one time or another China ruled nearly every country in Asia.  It is safe to say that Chinese martial arts are some of the most ancient still studied, and there are many, many, of them. The current official listing of Chinese martial art styles surpasses the 300 mark.  There is grappling, weapons, striking of many different varieties, and many interlocking philosophies.  There are a wide variety of Chinese Martial arts but we in the West tend to lump them together as Kung/Gung Fu. China remained somewhat isolationist for many years after Japan had begun to westernize, and so Kung Fu did not spread to the west as quickly as Judo (Even though it became very popular in movies and television in the 1970's with Bruce Lee and others)

Back to Judo:

Judo however, continued to spread around the world. Between 1912 and 1952, when the International Judo Federation was founded, several Japanese experts immigrated to other continents, spreading Judo teachings. Sensei Gunji Koizumi, 7th Dan, went to Great Britain in 1918, founding the London Budokwai. Mikinosuke Kawaishi, 7th Dan, one of the world's foremost experts on Judo kata, went to France in 1922. Sensei Sumiyuki Kotani, 8th Dan in 1952, trained the first team of American Air Force Judokas at the Kodokan. That team became the seed of what is now the United States Judo Association. 

Perhaps you have heard of Brazilian Ju-Jitsu?  It traces its' lineage directly back to the Kodokan from Maeda and has assimilated some other folk wrestling techniques but is a child of Judo.   Russian Sambo as well, traces its' direct (non politically motivated legend) lineage to one of Kano's students.  The lesser known English style of Bartitsu came from Judo.   Judo caught fire around the world in the early 1900's, became politically unacceptable in the 30's and early 40's due to WWII and then became more popular again in the post WWII era in the West. (much more on all of this later)

The original Judo from Jigoro Kano was, and still is, a full featured combat discipline including strikes, leg attacks, standing throws, and ground techniques.  In fact, Combat Judo served its' purpose very well as an official system of combat for the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces and the Japanese Police until the defeat of Japan in WWII.

In parallel with combat Judo, Kano made a push for Judo to be developed as a sport discipline that can be seen as a subset of his original version.  This caused a bit of a split in purpose and direction and both directions were pursued simultaneously at that time.

After WWII, during the American occupation, the practicing of combat Judo was forbidden. This was in line with other actions by General MacArthur's U.S. occupation administration in order to suppress the strong militaristic traditions of Japan.

So, Judo fell victim of changing times and unwanted associations with an ugly past; in essence, it became politically incorrect, just like Jujutsu before it. 

The only way to survive for Judo in those circumstances was to purse the sporting model based on the foundation of sport Judo created by Dr. Kano prior to the war.  This culminated in accepting Judo as Olympic sport in the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.  Judo would live on.

The story of Olympic Judo started around 1930 when Dr. Kano, who was the head of Japanese Olympic committee, started to promote Judo with an aim of inclusion into the Summer Olympic program.

While working to unify Judo in the time of its diversification (different rulesets like Kosen Judo, were already starting to spring up) Dr. Kano opted to standardize some techniques and restrict others that were not universally understood or easy to practice or teach safely.

Kano saw that the key principal virtues of sport are fairness and popular appeal.  As stated earlier, Sports, as the West thinks of them, did not exist in Pre-industrialized Japan, but Kano was very intrigued by it.  Kano loved baseball, indeed Japan loves baseball to this day; so, when Dr. Kano began laying down techniques and restricting things that weren’t easily understood and safe to teach easily, he emphasized things that were good for the entertainment of the casual public spectator.  Anyone who followed the rise of MMA has seen this happen. Groundwork is boring to the casual fan, they tend to prefer the fast paced striking melees that can result in a knockout vs the slow and technical grind of securing a submission or a choke out. In fact modern professional wrestling fell victim to this in the olden days, matches were long and unpredictable, not spectator friendly, and often ended in a draw.  This problem eventually turned professional wrestling the scripted reality show it is today. This spectator friendly Judo resulted in the highlighting of high amplitude throws and limiting ne-waza (ground fighting).  Sport  (Olympic) Judo was born.  Several years ago further restrictions in technique were made to ensure that Olympic Judo had even higher appeal to those who do not care to understand the nuances of grappling, for instance, grabbing an opponents legs became against the rules.  These actions pushed  Judo further down the path of neutered martial arts entertainment like Olympic Taekwondo has become.  Olympic, and therefore Tournament style Judo is kind of a shadow of Traditional Judo.  The best example of how highly competitive and spectator driven Olympic sports has changed a former Martial Art is perhaps Fencing.  Fencing has near nothing in common with the actual Martial Discipline of sword fighting.  But this happens in many many sports, Olympic shooting has very little to do with actual real world shooting, either in hunting or warfare/self defense. 

This emphasis on sport effectively created three off-shoots, or more accurately, emphases of Judo:

A) Tournament Judo - Olympic Judo.  Which emphasizes high amplitude throws above all else.

B) Combat Judo- Judo for Self Defense, the closest living relative of traditional jujutsu.  

C) Kosen Judo - Old Kodokan Judo emphasizing or rather fully allowing all the newaza techniques.  This is extremely similar to BJJ.  This could be considered pre-Olympic Kodokan Sport Judo.

After Japan’s defeat in WWII practicing of combat Judo was banned. Kosen Judo remained an internal Japanese discipline on par with Sumo which is done primarily in college tournaments. Whereas Olympic rules Judo spread far and wide.   To learn even more keep reading.

Further reading on the origin and spread of Judo in the United States

The history of Judo in the United States spans well over a century. 

America's first major contact exposure to Japanese martial arts came through President Ulysses S. Grant in 1879. He was in Japan for a state visit and observed a jujutsu demonstration.

Starting in 1889 Kano left Japan to visit Europe and the U. S.  In fact, he traveled abroad a eight times to teach Judo. In 1889, Kanō gave a lecture on the philosophy of judo to several Americans.  The first American to actually study judo was Prof. Ladd from Yale University in 1889. He trained at the Kodokan in Japan for about ten years; by 1908 about 13 Americans were training there.

In 1892 Judo began to spread across the world when Takashima Shidachi lectured the Japan Society in London on the history and development of Judo.

In 1895 Kano classified the Judo throws into the Gokyo NoWaza. In 1900, the Kodokan Dan Grade Holders Association was established.

In 1902, Yamashita Yoshitsugu (Yoshiaki), an leading instructor from the Kodokan, came to Seattle in order to teach judo to the Japanese community.  Samuel Hill, a wealthy businessman, invited Yamashita to teach judo to his children so they could learn the ideals of the samurai class. What resulted were the roots of what would become Seattle Dojo, the first official judo dojo in the continental United States, and a club that is still operational today. Nobody knows the exact date of when it first opened, but popular speculation has the dates somewhere between 1903 and 1907. Some attribute the beginning to when Iitaro Kono (or Kano), another Kodokan black belt, collaborated with the local Japanese-immigrant population to form the dojo after an exhibition held by Yamashita in 1903. Others say it was started by the notorious Japanese wrestler Tokugoro Ito, who didn’t land in the Northwest until 1907. Either way, both dates are far before judo was firmly established in any other part of the continental United States.

After living in Seattle for a year Yamashita moved to the District of Columbia and began teaching there. Senator James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr.'s wife became one of his students.  She happened to attend the same country club as Theodore Roosevelt and when Mrs. Wadsworth told Roosevelt about Judo, Roosevelt became interested in the art. In 1904 Yamashita was invited to give a demonstration at the White House. There was a contest with a wrestler by the name of John Graft, who was the coach at the U.S. Naval Academy and who was teaching President Roosevelt wrestling. President Roosevelt was impressed with what he saw and began taking judo lessons. After leaving office, he kept mats in his home and eventually earned a brown belt

On July 24, 1905, representatives of the leading jujitsu schools (ryu) of Japan, gathered at the Butokukai Institute in Kyoto, Japan to agree upon the forms of Kodokan Judo and to continue the development of the technical forms of the sport. It was decided during this meeting that the ancient jujutsu techniques of each particular ancient school were to be preserved in Judo kata (pre-arranged forms) for posterity. In effect Judo became THE nationally recognized style of Jujutsu, and originally Judo was known as Kano Jujutsu. To learn more about the events that lead to this read here

In 1909, the system underwent a big change and the Kodokan became an official Japanese foundation. In the same year Jigoro Kano became the first Japanese member of the International Olympic Committee

Probably one of the first mentions of Judo in Western popular literature occurs in the famous story of Sherlock Holmes – “The Return” by Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle.    Sherlock Holmes says that his skill in “bartitsu” allowed him to defeat Professor Moriarty. At the time the story was written a man with the last name of Barton-Wright had returned from studying in Japan and brought several judo/ju-jitsu experts to London to set up a self-defense school, calling what he taught Bartitsu (Barton’s Ju-jitsu), from there they toured Europe.

By 1910 Judo was a recognized sport that could be safely engaged in and in 1911 it was adopted as a part of Japan's educational system. In the same year, the Kodokan Judo Instructors' Training Department, Kodokan Black Belt Association and Japan Athletic Association were formed. Beginning with the fifth Olympiad in Stockholm, Kano attended every Olympic Game and International Olympic Committee meeting and became a leading figure in international sport.

In 1919, Prof. John Dewey of Columbia University came to visit Prof. Ladd (the previously mentioned first american to study at the Kodokan) and Master Kano, many years later he took his knowledge back to Columbia and began the first U.S. college judo program. 

Meanwhile in the USA, through the help of President Roosevelt, Yamashita taught judo at the US naval academy. Judo suddenly had its first strong roots in the United States. Yamashita decided to eventually return to Japan, but other Japanese Judo participants followed his example. The concentration of Judo Dojo's was centered in Washington D.C. before World War II, but several centers existed on the west coast, including Tokugoro Ito's dojo in Los Angeles, which was founded in 1910, as well as the Seattle Dojo discussed previously.

Inspired by Yamashita's success in the United States, Kano's first student, and the 1st ever Judo Shodan, Tomita came to New York City on December 8, 1904, just one year after Yamashita came to the States.  Like Yamashita, the 39-year-old Tomita decided to bring a young assistant with him as an exhibition partner. The young man was Mitsuyo Maeda, a 26-year-old judoka who later became fundamental to the development of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. These two together with and Soshihiro Satake began to teach Judo all over the country.

Judo first entered the Central United States when Dr. T. Ito began teaching Judo in Denver, Colorado in the 1930's. During World War II Judo was banned in many areas due to fear of the Japanese; however, a boom in interest followed the war. Many servicemen picked up martial arts during the war and returned home to teach them all across the country. The official US judo federations formed in the 50's and 60's.

During the lead up and early years of World War II Judo had experienced a different kind of development in Japan. Instead of being used for sport, Judo was being taught as a combat skill.  It was the hand to hand combat system of Imperial Japan.  Because of the US military's early interest in Judo, at the same time it was being taught to Japanese soldiers, Allied Soldiers on the other side of the Pacific  who were selected for commando and special services training often achieved a high standard of expertise in what was essentially Judo (this actually goes back to WWI with Fairburn and Sykes). During WWII the Combatives courses went on to become Defendu (Fairburn, Sykes, Applegate).  In this way Judo was used on both sides of World War II!

Remember Judo was forbidden to be taught in Japan for a time due to Judo having been a method of combat.  This did not last for very long, as it was also part of school curriculum and on its’ way to becoming an Olympic Sport by 1950.

Backing up a few years, Ruth Gardener became the first foreign female student to study at the Kodokan In 1949. Her objective in visiting Japan was to study for second degree black belt (Nidan) ranking. One of the first Japanese women to travel from Japan overseas to teach Judo was Keiko Fukuda. She traveled to Australia and the Philippines, and settled in the United States to live and teach. She is the highest-ranked female judoka in history, holding the rank of 9th dan from the Kodokan (2006), and 10th dan from USA Judo (July 2011) and from the United States Judo Federation (USJF) (September 2011).  She was the last surviving student of Dr, Kano founder of judo.  She was a renowned pioneer of women's judo, together with her senpai Masako Noritomi (1913-1982) being the first woman promoted to 6th dan (c. 1972). She is also the first and, so far, only woman to have been promoted to 10th dan in the art of judo

After the conclusion of World War II many American servicemen who had studied Judo in Japan during the occupation returned home to teach it. As a result the Armed Forces Judo Association (AFJA) was established as an organization within the USJF.   These servicemen and women, along with existing Japanese communities throughout the United States, helped to establish Judo as one of the most practiced martial arts in the United States throughout the 1950s and 1960s. 

American Judo received a further boost in the early 1950's when General Curtis Lemay required its teaching to US Air Force personnel in the Strategic Air Command. In 1953 Judo was officially recognized as an AAU sport.  The AAU was at the time the official sports governing body for Judo (and most other amateur sports ) in the United States, recognized by the International Judo Federation (Olympics), the Pan-American Judo Federation, and the Kodokan. 

When Japan hosted the 1964 Olympics, Judo was given its first opportunity as an event. The United States fielded a team and Jim Bregman brought home the Bronze Medal for the US team.  Of the sixteen medals awarded for Judo, Japan won three gold medals, and one silver medal. Judo was no longer solely a Japanese art and sport but had developed to become an international sport.

Growth of Judo and creation of BJJ in Brazil

In the early part of the 1900s the Kodokan sent a delegation to the USA.   The leader was Tomita, one of Kano’s original students, who was now getting older.   The young gun sent to do the fighting was Mitsuyo Maeda.   During the visit Maeda was unwell and let Tomita attend a demonstration on his own, where he was defeated by a wrestler.   Losing face, Maeda left the Kodokan and traveled around the world on the professional fight circuit as Conde Koma or Count Combat.   In 1915 he ended up in Brazil where he taught a Carlos & Helio Gracie judo and jujitsu, particularly the Kosen judo as well as some catch wrestling he had picked up in his travels and fights.   Carlos and his sons all had very large families and they founded a style of fighting in provincial Brazil which is now called Brazilian or Gracie ju-jitsu.  In the early 1990s the Gracies and some financial backers and promoters began the Ultimate Fighting Championships as a vehicle to promote Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (and make money).  The UFC was responsible for the boom in Mixed Martial Arts tournaments and promotion, and is now the largest of many companies promoting MMA. Gracie Jiu-Jitsu was responsible for the growth of BJJ (and MMA as well) into the wordwide sport it is today.

The Judo Landscape today in the United States

There are three main organizations that govern judo in the United States.  To understand how this happened you have to do a bit of a deep dive.   The United States Judo Federation (USJF) started in 1952. It was formed from a group of Judo Black Belts and began to oversee training, competition, and ranks in local Judo.  The Amatuer Athletic Union (AAU) had existed for many years and at that time was the umbrella organization that represented the USA for all Olympic (and amateur) Sports.  The JBBF (USJF) entered into an agreement with the AAU that the only Judo ranks the AAU would recognize were from the JBBF/USJF… In essence this made the USJF the national governing body for Judo, with the AAU really only responsible for managing tournaments and promoting/marketing the sport.  The concentration of the USJF is on the east and west coasts, but also in Chicago and Hawaii. 

The United States Judo Association (USJA) was founded in 1968 as an evolution of the Armed Forces Judo Association (AFJA), which had grown within the USJF as a way for US Service men and women to learn Judo and have representation on what was then the National Governing Body.  The USJF was/is organized by breaking down the country into territories that were run by regional black belt associations or Yudanshakai’s.  But if you were in the armed forces you belonged to the AFJA, which reported to one Yudanshakai, but represented all members of the AFJA no matter where they were in the world.  Further complicating this was that, although called the AFJA, it also had civilian membership, and had no real official standing with the Military, even though the clubs met on military bases. Eventually the AFJA became larger than the “parent” USJF, and they felt they were under represented and under supported within the USJF.  All of the other associations which make up the USJF are confined to geographic areas, such as Southern California Yudanshakai or the Chicago Yudanshakai;  the USJF was made up of 20 such organizations. But the AFJA wasn’t confined to any particular territory but was a tightly knit unit affiliate of the USJF, numbering some one-third of the total USJF membership. Membership dues were taken in from each of AFJA’s members and sent into the USJF. When the money was redistributed among each organization, it was parceled out and divided into 20 equal shares. This is the crux of the problem: the AFJA was contributing one-third of the USJF’s total income, but the AFJA was receiving in return only one-twentieth.  It was in a way taxation without representation, and people in the US have a history with that sort of thing.

Another factor in the split was that the USJF was geographical in nature and confined to the US, but the way the AFJA was structured, all Judoka in the AFJA belonged to one Yudanshakai which was affiliated with only one “clan” of the USJF and due to US Service men and women being stationed in other countries the AFJA was already an international organization by default.

It was the middle of 1969 when the AFJA officially withdrew from the USJF, changing its name to United States Judo Association.  The USJA is now mostly concentrated in California and Florida, but also popular in the Midwest and Southeast. 

As time went on the AAU adopted some arbitrary rules which prohibited women from participating in certain events (Read about Rusty Kanogoki) and prohibited any runner with a shoe-company sponsorship from competing. In response to this and other criticisms of the AAU, Athletes successfully lobbied Congress to adopt the Amateur Sports Act of 1978. The act specified that there could not be any “umbrella” organizations for sports but that each sport must have its’ own separate governing body. This effectively removed the AAU from any governance role, including Judo.  

With the passing of the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, the AAU was supplanted as the national governing body for Judo. Because of this a new organization, United States Judo, Inc; (now branded as USA Judo), was created to serve as the National Governing Body for the Olympic Sport of Judo in the United States. 

Eventually (after years of disagreement and hard feelings) agreements were made and today USJA ranks and USJF ranks are on equal footing, with very similar rank testing requirements. The USJA and USJF work mostly together these days with the mission of developing Judo clubs and promoting “grassroots Judo” with USA Judo having the responsibility for training and fielding a Team USA for Judo for each Olympics.  The effectiveness of this system is highly disputed.  It is notable that the most wealthy nation in the world, who historically leads the olympic medal count,  in a sport that arguably is one of the most practiced internationally, rarely brings home a gold in Judo.  It is the author's opinion that the fractured nature of Judo in the US prevents atheletes in the US from being scouted and trained.  The USJA is in continual turmoil, the USJF only exists on the coasts and is difficult for grassroots clubs to work with, and USA Judo has proven to be largely ineffectual,  The only reason any of this is of importance is because like it or not Olympic Judo drives Judo, and therefore grassroots Judo.  But there is virtually no support of true grassroots Judo within any of the three organizations.  The main reason for this is because the money and focus is on sport judo, therefore, competition Judo, and rewards Tournament Winners with rank and recognition.  Clubs that exist for, physical education, recreation, and self defense. The ones practiced in rec centers, schools, churches, after school programs, YMCA's, etc.  (Where people often make first contact with Judo, where young kids are) get no support from the organizations.

AAU Judo has soldiered on, cleaned up most of the issues that originally cost it to lose its place as the NGB and still exists in the form of Freestyle Judo, which works under a different ruleset than any IJF/USA Judo rules.  It is somewhat more similar to Kosen Judo or Traditional Judo than modern sport Judo has become. But it is a small organization.

In 2012, The United States received its first ever Olympic Gold Medal in Judo, when Kayla Harrison won the women’s 78 kg division at the London Games

So are there different styles of Judo?

It is incorrect to say that there are different styles of Judo, There is only one Judo, Kodokan Judo, and if we wanted to be very pedantic about it, there is only one official style of Japanese Jujutsu, and that is Kodokan Judo. The Japanese Government recognized it as such way back in 1905.  But there are certainly clubs, athletes, and organizations with different focuses. With Judo’s inclusion in the Olympics, there has been a shift toward a contest style practice, and a focus on winning.  This was necessary for the survival of Judo in the days following World War II.  In clubs where this teaching method is favored, practice becomes largely a continuous contest or tournament. Other schools stress skill and using Judo for physical education and self defense. They favor repetitive movements to make them instinctive, and the development of speed through practice with little resistance. Such clubs usually also teach the kata.  These clubs could be considered Traditional Judo clubs as opposed to Sport Judo Clubs.

Judo is more than simply a sporting event though; rather, it is a complete martial art that has adapted over the years to various fighting styles and techniques. Kodokan Judo encompasses a wide range of grappling techniques. However, over the past two decades many of these techniques were discouraged, and eventually penalized, in tournament Judo for reasons cited as "better television viewing", and “differentiation from Wrestling”. Unfortunately, the resulting rule changes resembled Greco-Roman wrestling in pajamas all the while professional Mixed Martial Arts grappling gained in television popularity.

Kano, however, always insisted that there should be a balance between throwing and groundwork, insisting that for the best development of judo students throwing techniques should be studied first and given precedence in contests.  However, he was very aware of the importance of a “ground game”.  In the early days of the Kodokan his team was defeated rather badly by a rival Jujutsu school that had a better “ground game” and this is when Kano added the Newaza techniques to the Kodokan curricula.

The Kosen (College) judo tournaments which reached a height of popularity in 1920 did not entirely follow Kodokan rules and were often decided by groundwork, and this has resulted in a ruleset Judo known as Kosen Judo which specializes (or simply allows and encourages) in groundwork.  Kosen Judo is mostly practiced in colleges in Japan.

Today Freestyle Judo and Kosen Judo more closely represent the spirit of traditional Judo than does Olympic Sport Judo, but they are not different “styles” of Judo, they are simply different rulesets of Judo.