9781422286654

A S P O R T A N D A N A R T

kage, which is now in the East Nada district of the city of Kobe. His family consisted of wealthy brewers who made sake , a traditional type of distilled wine. Kano was a frail boy with a quick temper. He grew up eager to learn about how the weak could overcome the strong. It was this interest that formed the basis for his development of judo. He defined judo as having two mottos: “seirvoku zenyo,” which means “make the most efficient and positive use of your physical and spiritual energies”; and “jita kyoei” which means “live in harmony and prosper- ity with others”. The first motto essentially means that judo is about getting the max- imum amount of efficiency from the minimum amount of effort. That is why Kano called it “the gentle way”; it is about giving in to an oppo- nent’s force, rather than struggling against him or her in order to win the fight. A simple way of looking at the principle of “giving in” to your opponent is to imagine that someone is pushing you. You do not push back; instead, you use his or her force against him or her by moving yourself out of the pushing line. Without the resistance of your body to push against, your opponent will become unbalanced, making it easy to guide him or her down to the floor. For example, if you were to push as hard as you could against a wall, and then suddenly someone took the wall away, you would, of course, fall over. This is how Kano envisaged the weak overcoming the strong. The second of Kano’s mottos relates to the fulfillment and spiritual sides of judo. Those who practice judo often become more confident and self-assured, which can help them in their daily lives. Even though judo is a competitive fighting art, when you join a judo club, you will proba- bly make friends with the other students there. During the practice sessions,

13