From Jujutsu to Judo

7In France the image of the Nippon combat art is that of a cultural product. Didn’t 1905 newspapers advertise: “The triumph of the Japanese method on the French method”? At the time, as the influence of Japanese art and culture prevailed and as Japanese soldiers were admired and feared, many were attracted by the promise of an invincibility acquired by new forms of combat techniques. Yielding to the strength of the opponent in order to use it against the same opponent radically changed the conception of the fight. The first jujutsu players belonged to the aristocratic circles of the Parisian elite (Prince de Caraman-Chimay, Duc de Broglie, Prince Murat, Comte Grëhfulle, the artists Coquelin, Albert Lambert, Mounet-Sully). Under the impulsion of one of the pioneers of physical education, Edmond Desbonnet, jujutsu developed in the private clubs of physical education in big cities (Paris, Lille, Lyon, Bordeaux). However some experts failed to reach fame on music halls stages and jujutsu lost its lure. Soon the trend died.

8If jujutsu vanished from private spheres it was kept among the law enforcement authorities, the police force and the army. Because it was commonly practiced among these institutions jujutsu survived and its reputation of invincibility persisted.

Poster of the Japanese School of Jiu-Jitsu.

9At the end of the 1930s, after a period of indifference, there was a renewed Interest for the Japanese art of self-defence. Progressively the educational dimension, dear to Kano was added to the techniques of defence. The sensational aspect linked to invincibility faded and was replaced by the laws of physics and balance. Judo shaped minds and bodies. The newspapers presented judo as a science, a school of self-control, a means to improve civility in bodies and minds. Because it was then considered as the most efficient, the most culture-oriented and the most intellectualised among the combat disciplines, judo shattered the socially disturbing image of physical confrontations. The plain judogi blurred social barriers while putting the stress on the renewal of the image of the fighting body. Judo elitism is not social. It is a cultural and intellectual elitism whose strength lies in the union established between thought and action, intelligence and efficiency, elegance and virility.

10The Japanese art gave a spiritual dimension to performance. Teaching focused on the study of the fight in order to put to the test human and social qualities in a better way. Moshe Feldenkrais, a Russian-born scientist had been at the head of the Jujutsu section of the École Spéciale des Travaux Publics de la ville de Paris, in the Latin Quarter, since 1933. This association is at the origin of the structures of French judo. It was to give birth to the Jiu-Jitsu Club de France, as it was officially named after Kano’s last trip to Paris in September 1936. Most students who attended the club belonged to the Institut du Radium, the Collège de France, the Sorbonne and the so-called “grandes écoles”.

Cover of Le Petit Parisien from April 3, 1904.

Kano Jigoro.

11During the Vichy period, following the law of 20 December 1940, called the Chart of Sports the administration of sport practices was re-organized. The law was not immediately enforced but in April a judo-jujutsu section was created as part of the French Federation of wrestling. The President was then a French scientist, Paul Bonét-Maury. A doctor in pharmacy, then in radio biology Paul Bonét-Maury created the department of radio protection in 1950 at the Paris Radium Institute, which he directed until the early sixties then he was a professor at the National Institute of Sciences and Nuclear techniques in the CNRS. Soon the judo section gained its autonomy as the number of judo players increased. The French federation of judo jujutsu was recognized as such on 5 December 1946.

12In 1938 a hundred persons practiced judo at the end of 1947 some 5700 did. This rapid growth was partly due to economic considerations. When Feldenkrais was in charge participants paid according to their financial means. When a Japanese expert, Kawaishi joined the club before the War, new codes were introduced. Payment of the membership fees was compulsory and regular. In 1940 when the club moved from rue Thénard to rue de Sommerard the monthly fee of 80 francs became 250 francs. Private lessons were also available, some of them reaching as much as 1000 francs a month. Fees varied according to the person. Kawaishi behaved as an entrepreneur.

13Numerous black belts followed his example and clubs were opened all over France. Teaching judo became a proper occupation ruled by the law of 28 November 1955. Encouraged by the favourable context of three decades of strong economic growth (going from 1946 to 1975, the so-called “trente glorieuses”) judo grew in a spectacular way among French sports.

14More and more enjoyed leisure activities as the number of working hours was reduced. People became more conscious of their bodies, in their quest for health many thronged to the stadiums, gymnasiums and dojos.

15As the French purchasing power grew the number of dojos multiplied and the cost of judo lessons decreased. Judo was taught widely in the army and the police, on university campuses in youth associations, more particularly among scouts, but also among workers and in corporations. Firms as diverse as Saint-Gobain, Esso, Les Galeries Lafayette, Général Motors, Bréguet, Simca, or la Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits, Air France offered their employees the possibility to practice judo.

Judo educates new generations.

Modern judo, sport and education-oriented

16The French Federation of judo multiplied meetings and bouts for new categories of judo players and developed the democratisation process. The Japanese method rapidly reached most social classes and spread from cities to small villages.

17The sport-oriented approach, an essential dynamo of the evolution, favoured a rational approach, ignoring the cultural, idealistic, imaginary aspects in spite of the reluctance of the tradition-minded.

18Gradually the pragmatic stance of the coach replaced the orientalist, often esoteric, leanings of numerous “sensei.”

19Sport-oriented judo does not pretend to be a mysterious art, the champion does not claim to have supernatural powers. Female judo players are now recognized as such. The way they are granted dan grades and the number of medals they get in bouts is a perfect illustration of their level and of the changing of mentalities in a world still dominated by masculine values. Until the 1960s French judo players accepted the idea of sporting events but most of them refused the cult of performance. However things changed in 1964 when judo was included in the program of the Olympic Games. The Japanese combat art entered the era of rationality. In the past, the technical and spiritual level symbolized by the Dan hierarchy had fuelled the admiration most judo players had for their elders. It gradually waned when sport titles brought fame. The sacred slid towards the secular.

20In 1975, finally when Jean-Luc Rougé, a French judo player, became world champion a psychological barrier tumbled down. Soon afterwards, the Moscow Olympic victories in 1980 placed France at the top of the sport judo hierarchy. The growth of French judo can easily be read in the numbers of registered judo players and in the results of its best competitors (485,804 in 1995, 557,616 in 2005). However the quality of the structure is as significant as the numbers involved. The system is coherent because of its structured administration, which is the consequence of the specific regime of the sport regulations in force. Qualified teachers provide quality teaching.

21Thanks to today’s iconic champions, Lucie Décosse, David Douillet, Teddy Riner, among others, the image of judo as a sport in which physical and mental qualities are well balanced persists, a harmonious blend of self-control in thoughts and strength in action. The message is clear, social peace implies controlled fighting. Today’s judo is a competitive sport for the elder generation. For the youngest the dojo is a place where the rules of citizenship are taught and judo is also used as a magical therapy against shyness and hyperactivity. Because it disciplines the body and its emotions it offers to young judo players the promise of an education of the body in which dominate self-assertion, and a feeling of respect for the place and its people. In 2017, 75 % of the 610,000 judo players are younger than 17.

22Leaders and teachers are experienced judo-players, some are former champions, who view judo as an activity that cannot be reduced to its sole sport dimension.

23Judo was a martial art with ruling ethical principles when it became a competitive sport and a discipline teaching corporal education and civility, the Japanese combat art followed the transformation of French society its modes of consumption and its leisure activities for the body. Today, the Federation offers a bigger variety of activities. As it advertises the image of an activity focusing on character-building thanks to the experience of combat, it organises a many-sided, hybrid type of activity in which can be found competitive sport, introduction to judo for kids through games, self-defence and physical fitness for adults.