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Jigorō Kanō was born to a family that operated a small Sake brewery. Never physically strong, he suffered from various illnesses as a child and was constantly bullied. He tried to learn jujutsu to get even, but was opposed by his parents who feared he could be seriously injured. His parents instead had him study rigorously and in 1877 , Kanō enrolled in Imperial University . Away from his parents, he finally started learning jujutsu. He studied two different jujutsu styles each focusing on different aspects of fighting techniques. In 1882 , Kanō founded Kōdōkan Judo. His system of Martial Arts (judo) all but replaced its parent art of Jujutsu in Japan. Kano also successfully introduced judo into the Japanese school system. Also a member of the International Olympic Committee for Japan, Kanō believed in the Games as a way to bring countries together. When World War II was imminent, he lobbied for having the 1940 Olympic Games organized in Japan. This finally happened in 1964 , after his death, when the Games were held in Tokyo . For this occasion, Judo became an Olympic discipline, which raised a controversy in the Judo world. Indeed, Kano had always been opposed to organized competition in Judo , for he believed it would taint the non-opposition spirit of his art. Kano died of Pneumonia in 1938 , aboard the SS ''Hikawa Maru'' after attending an IOC conference, promoting Judo as an Olympic sport. There are, however, allegations that he actually died of Food Poisoning . Supporters of this hypothesis claim that, since Japan was engaging in World War II , the government had plans to turn the Kōdōkan into a military academy. Critics argue that this is impossible, however, since Japan did not enter the war until three years later in 1941, whereas the hypothesis claims that Japan was involved in the war at the time of his death. Kanō was outspoken in his opposition to the militarization of the Kōdōkan and he stated that there was no place for Militarism in the Kōdōkan. It is alleged that after his death, a few weeks later, the Kōdōkan indeed became a military academy. The myth also falls down here as the Kodokan was not made into a military academy until after the end of the war. REFERENCES Two articles written by Kanō are hosted at the International Judo Information Site: |
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