Brief History
Judo has progressed far since Kano founded his Kodokan Judo in 1882 - the first Judo Club in Europe, the Budokwai was established in 1918 by Gunji Koizumi who became affectionately known as “the father of British Judo” - the Budokwai still operates to this day and there are now almost 1000 registered Clubs in Britain.

Contest Judo is derived from techniques that were traditionally used in Japan to kill or severely injure opponents on the battlefield - these techniques have been refined and modified and contest rules have been applied to make them safe. Punching, kicking and gouging for example is not allowed, the object of the contest being to throw the opponent largely onto their back with considerable force and speed - this scores “Ippon” and ends the contest. Smaller scores are awarded for less effective throws and Ippon can also be scored by pinning the opponent on their back for twenty-five seconds - (which is more difficult than it sounds).

Facilities and equipment
Judo is a relatively cheap sport to take up, all established Clubs will have a suitable mat area on which to practice Most sports shops and many of our Members Clubs supply Judogi (Judo suits) at reasonable rates and second-hand kit is often available from clubs. The Judogi is reinforced in all the right places and consists of a jacket, trousers and belt. The only other personal equipment required would be a pair of zori, which are Japanese style slippers and are needed for walking to and from the training or contest mat (a lot of people use flip-flops for this purpose).

Benefits of Participating
Judo is an ideal form of physical education. The beginner concentrates on getting the technique right, and during this process inevitably improves general fitness. The bonus is stamina improvement, which equips them better for the rigors of day-to-day life.

Although there is no complete self-defence and it is foolish to make such claims. Judo, because of its close contact, helps to develop a keen awareness of danger. It offers better self-defence training at close quarters than any other sport.

Variations
Although Judo is widely regarded as being a competitive - indeed Olympic Sport, there are other areas to Judo since many of the ancient “art” forms have been retained. There are several formally demonstrated set sequences of technique, known as Kata, which reflect the effectiveness of the principals of Judo. Many players progress to Kata after finishing their competitive career, many more however use Kata to help educate themselves for their competitive career and derive a great advantage from doing so.