Judo

Judo, which means “the way of smoothness” in Japanese, was created by master Jigoro Kano in 1882 as a compilation of the technical and tactical essences of the Tenjin Shin Yo Ryu and Kito Ryu schools of Jujutsu (which were based on hand-to-hand combat and were practiced by the armored medieval warriors known as Samurai up until the beginning of the 19th century) under the school of Kodokan. Judo has become an Olympic combat sport and has been placing more emphasis on throws, submissions and chokes, setting aside strikes, disarms, joint dislocations and reanimation methods to become more competitive as a sport. Judo is currently one of the four most popular combat sports along with Olympic Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Sambo (also known as Russian Judo). Judo practitioners are called Judokas. The UNESCO declared the sport as the best initial training sport for children and youngsters aged 4 to 21, since it provides complete physical education and promotes all the psychomotor (spacial location, perspective, ambidexterity, laterality, throwing, pulling, pushing, crawling, jumping, rolling, falling and independent / collective coordination of hands and feet) and relational abilities through play and combat. On top of all this, it improves overall physical conditioning and it is regarded by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) as the most complete sport alongside swimming and artistic gymnastics, promoting values such as friendship, participation, respect and self-improvement.