History UsefulNotes / Judo

Judo is an unified martial art, which means there is only one metaphorical school and one ruleset for all the competitions. There is, however, a minor modality called kosen judo, which is actually a remnant from the dark ages in which the art was still developing and had more open rules, and it still takes place in the Japanese universities in a league named Nanatei or Shichitei. Judo also gave birth to the martial arts of sambo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) after its expansion to Russia and Brazil, respectively, and its connection can be traced in their similar techniques.

* A recurring character in ''Manga/KyouKaraOreWa'' is Takasaki, noted for being a high school judo champion... And one of the few people who have ever managed to hand Mitsuhashi his ass (helped by Mitsuhashi having decided to [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame beat him at judo and not in a street fight]] without having any idea of what Judo actually ''is''). While nowhere near as fast or strong as Mitsuhashi, he remains a force to be reckoned with even in street fights, as many a delinquent have learned when [[BullyingTheDragon they went after him thinking he was just a sportsman]] and [[OneHitKO discovered the hard way how much it hurts being thrown on your ass on a street]].

* Creator/AkiraKurosawa had his directorial debut in a film adaptation of ''Sanshiro Sugata''.

* Creator/BruceLee: The legendary martial arts film star trained in judo, allegedly after meeting Creator/GeneLeBell. There is some controversy about whether he ever was ranked in the art, but he did know the techniques and used them in his films.

* Creator/TheodoreRoosevelt: ...but Putin is not the only world leader in having worn a gi: Teddy was the first American to reach brown belt and loved practising it in the White House.

* Creator/VladimirPutin: The current Prime Minister and MemeticBadass of Russia is a mainstay in judo, as well as sambo and other martial arts. The only thing more dangerous than picking a fight with his country is picking a fight with him.

And no, the "judo chop" is ''not'' an actual judo move. Asking your judoka friend to do this move will result in a nasty look from said friend, and may or may not cause him/her to throw you depending on how many times you ask.

* Martial arts madman Creator/DonnieYen performs a brilliant judo exhibition in the award-winning final fight of ''Film/{{Flashpoint}}'', where he uses pinnings, armbars, triangle chokes, and of course flashy throws like ''ippon seoi nage'', ''uchi mata'' and ''tomoe nage''. Any other modern Yen film is guaranteed to have at least a bit of judo in it.

* ''Film/RurouniKenshin'' and its sequels ''Film/RurouniKenshinKyotoInferno'' and ''Film/RurouniKenshinTheLegendEnds'' feature the title character mixing swordfighting with all sorts of jujutsu throws and armlocks, an aspect he never demonstrated in the original manga and anime.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Many people are unaware that you can do chokes and armlocks in judo, thinking that they started from BJJ (which actually spun off from judo, something else many people didn't realize). Or even that BJJ adopted those techniques from judo, and not only basic moves, but also curiosities like complex guards, sweeps and submissions, which were widely practised before the World War II. It didn't help that Kodokan forbade a lot of holds and that the IJF has been de-emphasizing the ground game for years.

* AttackAttackAttack: The judo ruleset leaves little time to work when the fight hits the mat before the judokas are stood up, so the art's signature style of groundwork tends to be offensive and rushed, focused on hunting submissions in the shortest time possible and bruting one's way towards positions instead of strategically navigating through them like other grappling styles. Conversely, this trait also led to the creation of a long array of techniques surrounding the turtle position, which is the favourite move of judokas unskilled on the ground who prefer to wait for the stand-up instead of engaging.
* AwesomeButImpractical: There is a class of moves called ''sutemi-waza'' or "sacrifice techniques", in which the user needs to put themself in a disadvantageous position, like falling or throwing himself to the ground, in order to perform a strong throw on the opponent. They are usually more dangerous than the average throw, and are taught in higher levels to prevent accidents, meaning this is more of a SubvertedTrope.

** Hajime Isogai was the first known person who managed to outgrapple the feared jujutsuka Mataemon Tanabe, a master grappler who had made tap out a lot of people until then.

** Famous judoka Tokio Hirano beat Dutch wrestling champion Peter Artz within his own rules (i.e. ten seconds pinfalls and no judogi).

** Another reverse is catch wrestler Ad Santel beating several high level judoka at their own rules in Japan.

** The ''kesa-gatame'' is a basic technique in judo which doesn’t look very impressive, resembling more your classic pro wrestling pinfall or the setup of more exotic puroresu holds like the Anaconda Vice, but a skillful judoka can pin down an opponent with it and leave him near absolutely helpless. It also enables the user to apply pressure in the opponent's neck and chest, so exceptionally strong judokas can even use it as a submission hold.

* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: According to Josh Barnett, former world judo champion Hidehiko Yoshida could bench press 400 ibs as if nothing.
* ChekhovsSkill: Unbeknowst to many people, judo proved to be a determining factor in the famous UsefulNotes/{{Karate}}/UsefulNotes/MuayThai challenges in the 1963. At least two out of the three karatekas sent by the Kyokushin school had judo knowledge as well, and they took advantage on the open muay thai ruleset to hit throws constantly and stun the Thai guys enough to knock them out. This played specially well for the smallest of them Akio Fujihira, who was pitted against a much heavier Thai fighter and only could counter his clinchwork thanks to his judo throws.
* CombatPragmatist: Judokas experienced in streetfighting like Kyuzo Mifune and Mikinosuke Kawaishi are great examples of the trope. In their books, they show not only forbidden techniques with all the tips to use them in a real fight, but also include striking and dirty tricks like headbutts and eye gouge in order to set up bigger moves.
* {{Contortionist}}: Some judokas have really good acrobatic skills and can get out of throws by doing flips or carthweels so they land on their stomach (which doesn't award any score). Ukranian judoka Georgii Zantaraia is famous for this.

* CounterAttack: A good chunk of the judo moveset is based around reversing and countering other moves, as well as subtlety manipulating the opponent's balance when trying his own moves. Sometimes a counter can even be countered.

** Back in its origins, the art initially focused only in ''tachi-waza'' or throwing technique and contained little ''ne-waza'' or groundfighting, a flaw which was capitalized by a grappling expert named Mataemon Tanabe to beat Kodokan fighters. After the incident, the Kodokan fastly caught up and suffered a groundfighting boom, which produced a wave of specialists who later helped to create Brazilian jiu-jitsu (Mitsuyo Maeda and Soshihiro Satake being the main ones). Ironically, Jigoro Kano would return to the roots and change the judo official ruleset to restrict groundfighting, leaving only the kosen judo competition to keep the former style.
** In recent times (2010s) the IJF has been criticized for severly restricting the judo ruleset to differentiate itself from wrestling and maintain its place in the Olympics. The most controversial changes include completely banning leg grabbing (punishable by disqualification) and severely limiting time for ''ne-waza'' in matches, though referees have been more lax in enforcing the ne-waza restriction as of late.

** ''Do jime'' is a quite intuitive move in which one traps the opponent's torso with their legs, like in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu basic guard, and then extends/stretches them [[note]], with ankles crossed, [[/note]] to squeeze them nutcracker-style. The reasons of the ban are more about practicality than danger, however: it is usually hard to submit an experienced grappler with it unless you enjoy a gross size advantage or an insanely strong pair of legs, and the former case would mean you are screwing the weigh class system, while the latter would be against judo's philosophy for using raw strength instead of skill. On top of the reasons given, if the opponents are similar enough in size, but one's hips are narrow, then they could submit their opponent [[note]], especially if the other perso is
** There is also the ''kawazu gake'', known in pro wrestling as Russian legsweep, as it drops the opponent down with his and your legs turned into a knot with all its inherent dangers.
* DavidVersusGoliath: It pretty much faded away with the introduction of weight classes, but initially the art's philosophy disparaged size in favor of skill, so matches between judokas of wildly different size were very common. It took Anton Geesink to prove that size ''and'' skill was a trouble for just skilled opponents. Still, some openweight judo tournaments remain, like the All-Japan Judo Championships held every year in Tokyo.

** Ironically, it would be Masahiko Kimura who was badly seen by the Kodokan school, and it was because he followed his former master to a group of judokas who left to found unsuccesfully a business of "profesional judo" much in the vein of pro wrestling. Even worse, he would later join pro wrestling itself, which was seen as a big no-no by the Kodokan, as he needed income. Still, although he received a sanction in the form of a rank freezing, he was never expelled of Kodokan, represented them until the end of his career, and was reaccepted with a job as trainer at Takushoku University until his death.

** Almost all the first generation members of the Kodokan school were traditional jujutsu fighters who had been bested in challenge matches. Sakujiro Yokoyama was possibly the first of them; he originally belonged to the Teshin Yoshin-Ryu, and only joined the school after crashing Shiro Saigo's promotion ceremony and being thoroughly beaten by him in the subsequent match.
** According to some, Mataemon Tanabe from Fusen-Ryu helped Kodokan to refinate their groundwork technique after trashing them in said field. Some other say it was less about friendship and more about Kano paying him a lot, though it is known that Tanabe became personal friends with several judokas through this trope. Soji Kimotsuki stands out because it was him who defeated Tanabe and not the opposite, though he lost a rematch before starting training together.

** The Kodokan schools art had to struggle through a dojo war against many other jujutsu schools in order to be recognized. Given that the goal of Kodokan was founding an unified jujutsu system in a landscape filled with organizations which enjoyed their disparity and loved to quarrel with each other, it was effectively a war of a man against the world. Against all the expectatives, even if they counted losses, they won the war.
** Inside judo itself, there was friction between the Kodokan school and the Dai Nippon Butokukai, a military fighting arts organization which had adopted judo as part of its curriculum. People at the Butokukai favored brutal training and extensive groundwork (due in a no small part to being located in Kansai, a land with a lot of ''newaza''-happy jujutsu schools whose members often trained with them), while the rest of the country was more adhered to Kano's emphasis in stand-up and sensible teching methods. However, Jigoro Kano himself was a high member of the Butokukai, and it was him in first place who convinced its members to create a jujutsu department and accept not only judo, but also other schools.
* EscalatingBrawl: A colorful and somewhat crazy anecdote tells how the legendary judoka Shiro Saigo was expelled from Kodokan for causing one of those. He supposedly went with some colleagues to drink and decided to challenge Araumi, a hulking 400 ibs sumotori. He did threw him down, but Araumi bite his shin in revenge, so Saigo struck him in the face to make him release his leg. This break of the popular challenge rules caused both his and Araumi's posses to react and start a battle. Soon the police arrived, but Saigo wanted none of it and he started throwing cops left and right, even tossing some of them into a nearby river. Unsuprisingly, he was jailed until Kano could free him, and when he got out, the master was not happy with him.

* ForgotFlandersCouldDoThat: Judo is somewhat infamous in grappling circles for unallowing leglocks, which are a large part of the submission curricula nowadays. However, it was only after 1914 that this ban took effect, and still many masters taught them for a time after the prohibition; ancient judo books show all kinds of leglocks, including several which were thought to have originated in other forms of wrestling. For instance, most Brazilian jiu-jitsu historians believe the dangerous heel hook came to them through the Butokukai judoka Takeo Yano.

* TheGiant: A Dutch judoka, Anton Geesink, was known for his strength and size (6 ft g in and almost 300 ib), and his domination of the openweight division of the world championships cemented his role. Russia got a DistaffCounterpart in Svetlana Goundarenko, an even heavier competitor.
* GlassCannon: Olympic gold medalist Pawel Nastula was renowned by his great combinations and brilliant groundwork skills, but his stamina was famously limited, and at the end of his judo career he dropped fastly off the ranks when the younger judokas learned to overpower him simply by keeping the match long and waiting for him to become tired.
* GodWasMyCopilot: In grappling, "sandbagging" is a term which refers to competing in a low level while having a much higher level. Judo black belts are forbidden to wear white belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and sometimes vice versa, while judo organizations usually obligate you to identify both yourself and your true rank before entering. However, it hasn't historically stopped some big names from doing the trick in order to have fun. Jon Bluming once disguised himself as a white belt and trolled an instructor in front of his class, getting amonested by Risei Kano himself, and Brazilian black belt Edson Carvalho wore a white belt in his first BJJ class and laughed at a tournament winner by pinning him with ''kesa-gatame'' and not allowing him to get out.

* IgnoredAesop: By all accounts, every time a jujutsuka defeated a judoka in the ancient times of the Kodokan, it was by submission, as back then judo consisted on standing throws and very little groundwork, the last of which some jujutsu schools were expert in. Still, even although the Kodokan lost an entire challenge to ground grapplers, the school never really developed ground experts until very late after those dojo wars, all because of Kano's relatively right opinion that training throws was more important for self-defense than rolling on the tatami. Only after Hajime Isogai came with his mind changed from a risky battle against Mataemon Tanabe he made Kano realize they really needed to learn the damn ground in order to advance.

* LostTechnology: The ''yama arashi'' or "mountain storm" was a technique used by ancient judoka Shiro Saigo to beat people left and right, supposedly causing concussions. While there is a move called Yama Arashi in the current moveset of judo, some believe that it is not the same move used by Saigo, which in that case would have been forgotten.

* MetronomicManMashing: Cartoonish or tongue-in-cheek representations of judo in media often show the user gripping the opponent one-handed and throwing him easily to the ground over his head, sometimes swinging him several more times for additional smashing. While its moveset is obviously much more complicated than that, some basic shoulder throws could actually fit this trope, at least in their basics.

* MundaneMadeAwesome: Even basic pinning holds can become submission moves on their own right if the user is strong and/or skilled enough. The ''kesa-gatame'' can smother the opponent or crank his neck, and a well placed ''kami-shiho-gatame'' can easily cover the victim's face and choke him even without transitioning it into a necklock.
* MurderousThighs: The ''sankaku-jime'' or triangle choke is a technique where the user scissors their opponent's head and an arm with their legs and squeezes to cut out his blood stream. It has several variations, and classical judo is specially fond of the inverted variation or ''ushiro-sankaku-jime'' because it allows to attack turtled up people, but the most known (especially thanks to BJJ) is the ''omote'' or frontal one, where the opponent's face is pointed towards the user's lower body.

* TheNicknamer: Brazilian master Georges Mehdi is famous for giving his students colourful and often derisive nicknames. For instance Wallid Ismail, admittedly one of his most obsequious trainees, is known in BJJ circles as "Paraiba" (meaning "tough guy"), but for Mehdi he was simply "the pig." Another of his apprentices, a judoka who happened to be small and talented, received the name of "Mini Sensei".
* OneHitKill: Technically any judo match counts, as victory can be accomplished in any moment by nailing one perfect-picture throw. The rule is not only for compwtition, by the way - a judo throw in an unpadded floor is ''definitely'' not something a common person can simply shrug off.
* OneManArmy: Yoshiaki Yamashita and Shiro Saigo were known for facing literally dozens of guys in street brawls and coming victorious, in most cases thanks to smart strategies and good timing. The former was specially apt in those; he would place himself in architectural bottlenecks like stairs and narrow streets in order to force his opponents to go one by one and throw them as they came.

* StoneWall: A common competition tactic is to score a minor point and run out the clock, doing just enough to avoid penalties. It's not pretty and people don't like to see it, but it's the safe way to win when you're ahead on score. Similarly, when the bout hits the tatami, many judoka will adopt the turtle position and try to nullify his opponent's possible submission attempts while waiting for the stand-up.

** The European styles are quite varied, and can range from zealously classic to crazily eclectic. However, its players typically tilt to the technical side of the spectrum, and they specifically focus on having a large bag of tricks, like counters, sacrifice throws, rare ground techniques and, back when they were legal, leg grabs.

* UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject: Happened in 1886 when Sakujiro "The Demon" Yokoyama, TheBigGuy of Kodokan, faced Hansuke "The Demon Slayer" Nakamura, his counterpart from Ryoi Shinto-Ryu. Nakamura was more unstoppable than ever, as he had been humiliated by Tsunejiro Tomita and was seeking revenge against his school. Still, perhaps appropriately, they fought to a 55 minute draw.
* UseYourHead: Believe it or not, the way of softness once contained an acumen of headbutt technique. It was called ''atama ate waza'', and was innovated by masters like Kyuzo Mifune and Mikinosuke Kawaishi who knew a lot about fighting in da streetz.

* WrestlerInAllOfUs: Many classic pro 'rassling moves are present in the judo moveset and vice versa. Wrestling/JohnCena's Attitude Adjustment is known in judo as ''kata guruma'', Wrestling/ChrisJericho's Boston crab is present in ancient judo books under the name of ''ryo ashi hishigi'', the Russian legsweep is a ''kawazu gake'', the gutwrench suplex is a ''tawara gaeshi'', the over the shoulder arm drag is a ''ippon seoi nage'', the monkey flip is basically a ''tomoe nage'' with the legs bent, and some sacrifice throws like ''ura nage'' also resemble your typical belly to back suplex or side slam.

* Creator/TheodoreRoosevelt: ...but Putin is not the only world leader in having worn a gi: Teddy was the first American to reach brown belt, and loved practising it in the White House.
* Rabindranath Tagore: The Indian poet and writer whose books you were probably forced to read in highschool? A crazy judo fan who personally arranged exhibitions in India and tried everything he had to popularize it there.

* Creator/RondaRousey: The former standardbearer of female MMA, Ronda Rousey, stands out for his judo background, being a medalist in Olympic Games, Panamerican Championships and World Championships. Her mother Annmaria de Mars is another world medalist.

* In ''Manga/BloodReignCurseOfTheYoma'', the ninja Hikage takes an enemy out with a rather anachronistic ''ushiro-sankaku-jime''.

* AwesomeButImpractical: There is a class of moves called ''sutemi-waza'' or "sacrifice techniques", in which the user needs to put himself in a disadvantageous position, like falling or throwing himself to the ground, in order to perform a strong throw on the opponent. They are usually more dangerous than the average throw, and are taught in higher levels to prevent accidents, meaning this is more of a SubvertedTrope.

** ''Do jime'' is a quite intuitive move in which one traps the opponent's torso with his legs, like in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu basic guard, and then squeezes them together to squash him nutcracker-style. The reasons of the ban are more about practicality than danger, however: it is usually hard to submit an experienced grappler with it unless you enjoy a gross size advantage or an insanely strong pair of legs, and the former case would mean you are screwing the weigh class system, while the latter would be against judo's philosophy for using raw strength instead of skill.

* MurderousThighs: The ''sankaku-jime'' or triangle choke is a technique where the user scissors his opponent's head and an arm with his legs and squeezes to cut out his blood stream. It has several variations, and classical judo is specially fond of the inverted variation or ''ushiro-sankaku-jime'' because it allows to attack turtled up people, but the most known (especially thanks to BJJ) is the ''omote'' or frontal one, where the opponent's face is pointed towards the user's lower body.

* AwesomeButImpractical: There is a class of moves called ''sutemi-waza'' or "sacrifice techniques", in which the user needs to put himself in a disadvantageous position, like falling or throwing himself to the ground, in order to perform a strong throw on the opponent. They are usually more dangerous than the average throw, and are taught in higher levels to prevent accidents.

* MurderousThighs: The ''sankaku-jime'' or triangle choke is a technique where the user scissors his opponent's head an arm with his legs and squeezes to cut out his blood stream. It has several variations, and classical judo is specially fond of the inverted variation or ''ushiro-sankaku-jime'' because it allows to attack turtled up people, but the most known (especially thanks to BJJ) is the ''omote'' or frontal one, where the opponent's face is pointed towards the user's lower body.

* Batman uses a nice ''ippon seoi nage'' on a mook while going to rescue Martha in ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice''.

* In ''Manga/BloodReignCurseOfTheYoma'', the ninja Hikage eliminates an enemy with a rather anachronistic ''ushiro-sankaku-jime''.

* ''Manga/TigerMask'' featured RealLife judoka-turned-wrestler [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiji_Sakaguchi Seiji Sakaguchi]] as a recurring character, and Tiger Mask himself knows a few Judo moves, being especially notable for integrating the ''tomoe nage'' in his second and third {{Finishing Move}}s.
* A recurring character in ''Manga/KyouKaraOreWa'' is Takasaki, noted for being a high school Judo champion... And one of the few people who have ever managed to hand Mitsuhashi his ass (helped by Mitsuhashi having decided to [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame beat him at Judo and not in a street fight]] without having any idea of what Judo actually ''is''). While nowhere near as fast or strong as Mitsuhashi, he remains a force to be reckoned with even in street fights, as many a delinquent have learned when [[BullyingTheDragon they went after him thinking he was just a sportsman]] and [[OneHitKO discovered the hard way how much it hurts being thrown on your ass on a street]].

* Before the ''Franchise/KarateKid'' craze, a film by the name of ''Judo's Gentle Tiger'' already feature mystic Japanese martial arts in American soil in the form of judo. George Harris, an Olympic judoka, starred in it.

* In ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'', John Watson (played by Jude Law) knocks out a mook with a jacket-aided choke. The film's diirector, Creator/GuyRitchie, is a black belt in judo and BJJ and helped to choreography the scenes.

* In the live action films of ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'', the title character uses a lot of judo throws to dispose of baddies.

** In modern times, Teddy Riner from France has stood on top of the heavyweight division for years, getting two Olympic gold medals, ''seven'' world championships and has been undefeated in international competitions for ''six years''. Some have started calling him a BoringInvincibleHero.

* Martial arts madman Creator/DonnieYen performs a brilliant judo exhibition in the award-winning final fight of ''Film/{{Flashpoint}}'', where he uses pinnings, armbars, triangle chokes, and of course flashy throws like ''ippon seoi nage'', ''uchi mata'' and ''tomoe nage''. Any other recent Yen film is guaranteed to have at least a bit of judo in it.

* Yuri Boyka, the self-proclaimed most complete fighter in the world played by Scott Adkins, used some judo throws in ''Film/UndisputedIILastManStanding'' and ''Film/UndisputedIIIRedemption''.
* The movie ''Throw Down'' by Hong Kong name Johnnie To is a homage to Sanshiro Sugata, and features appropriate judo action.
* In ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'', John Watson (played by Jude Law) knocks out a mook with a jacket-aided choke. The film's diirector, Creator/GuyRitchie, is a black belt in judo and BJJ, and helped to choreography the scenes.

* In the live action films of ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'', the title character uses a lot of judo throws to take on baddies.

* There was also a less known series named ''Judo Boy'' in which the main character, young jujutsuka Sanshiro, searched his father's killer.

* The famous Advertising/SegataSanshiro, the Japanese spokesman for Sega's Saturn console, was a crazy judoka directly parodied from book character Sanshiro Sugata.

* TheLancer: Hajime Isogai had one in the form of Kaichiro Samura, a sick grappler who had joined the Kodokan and become his rolling partner. He would later gain another in Tsunetane Oda, although they became more of ThoseTwoGuys who anything, with Oda having his own second-in-command in Yaichibei Kanemitsu.

** The triangle choke, popular in several grappling styles, was officially invented by kosen judo masters Tsunetane Oda and Yaichibei Kanemitsu in August 1918 (though a very similar headscissors choke was described to be used by Senjuro Kanaya from Takenouchi-Ryu around 1890).

'''Judo''' (translated as "gentle way") is a Japanese martial art and combat sport created by an educator named Jigoro Kano from several ancient jujutsu styles. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the objective is to throw an opponent to the ground, as well as immobilize or otherwise subdue him with pins, joint locks and chokes.

* In the live action films of ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'', the title character uses a lot of judo throws to take off baddies.

* ActionGirl: Judo had some of the first women in martial arts as of Jigoro Kano's times. Sueko Ashiya and Keiko Fukuda were some of them. Manga gave us ''Yawara'', which was embodied in real life by Ryoko Tamura in the Olympic Games. Also, nowadays Creator/RondaRousey has become the most badass judo gal in popular culture.
* AdaptationDisplacement: Many people are unaware that you can do chokes and armlocks in judo, thinking that they started from BJJ (which actually spun off from judo, something else many people didn't realize). Or even that BJJ adopted those techniques from judo, and not only basic moves, but also curiosities like complex guards, sweeps and submissions, which were widely practised before the World War II. It didn't help that Kodokan forbade a lot of holds, nor that the IJF has been de-emphasizing the ground game for years.

* ArsenalAttire: The uniform or judogi is basically a cloth which can used as a weapon, using lapels to choke out both its wearer and its opponent.

* AttackAttackAttack: Since its earlier history, the judo ruleset leaves little time to work when the fight hits the mat before the judokas are stood up, so the discipline's style of groundwork tends to be and offensive and rushed, focused on hunting submissions in the shortest time possible and bruting one's way towards positions instead of strategically navigating through them like other grappling styles. Conversely, this trait also led to the creation of a long array of techniques surrounding the turtle position, which is the favourite move of judokas unskilled on the ground who prefer to wait for the stand-up instead of engaging.

** Yoshiaki Yamashita, one of the Four Guardians of the Kodokan, loved to beat and maim people at the slightest opportunity. He was suspended and confronted by Kano himself after he killed some guys in a brawl, but the bloodthirsty Yamashita still wanted to hear none of it and actually challenged his master to a fight. He only relented when Kano made him realize that his ways would only get himself beaten and killed some day.
** Edson Carvalho was considered as one of the best judokas in Brazil during his time, but his spectacular public enmities and his not less spectacular short temper got him a bad reputation. He was expelled of Georges Mehdi's dojo for a brutally beating down Brazilian jiu-jitsu exponent Wallid Ismail, and had to face charges for attacking the president of the Brazilian Judo Federation, Joaquim Mamede, who had refused him a place on the national team in order to give it to his son, who Edson had beaten in a tournament.

** Three out of the Four Guardians of Kodokan loved a good fight and weren't shy about it. Yoshiaki Yamashita was a sociopathic berserker, Shiro Saigo was an unapologetical StockShonenHero, and Sakujiro Yokoyama only liked to drink more than to fight. Yokoyama's classmate Takisaburo Tobari was also a LeeroyJenkins by his own right.

** Back in its origins, the art initially focused only in ''tachi-waza'' or throwing technique and contained little ''ne-waza'' or groundfighting, a flaw which was capitalized by an obscure jujutsu fighter named Mataemon Tanabe to beat Kodokan fighters – he would simply pull the judokas down and submit them with ground techniques, a field in which Tanabe was strong. After the incident, Kodokan brought him to share his knowledge and it caused a groundfighting boom inside the art, which produced a wave of specialists who later helped to create Brazilian jiu-jitsu (Mitsuyo Maeda and Soshihiro Satake being the main ones). Ironically, Jigoro Kano would return to the roots and change the judo official ruleset to restrict groundfighting, leaving only the called kosen judo competition to keep the former style.

** ''Kani basami'' ("scissors throw") is a throw where you do a scissoring motion with your legs from the side, taking your opponent backwards. It's very easy to misjudge the distance and end up breaking your opponent's leg, which is what happened when Sumio Endo broke Yamashita's fibula using it in the 1980 All-Japan finals. The throw has been banned from competition ever since, and nowadays is almost more common to be taught in karate schools more than in judo.
** ''Ashi garami'', a kind of standing leglock entry that risks the leg's integrity, was banned in 1898 when some poor guy got his leg gruesomely broken in an exhibition in front of Emperor Taisho. Notably, the move would be rather useless today even if it wasn't banned, as leg submissions are not allowed since 1914, but the ban is meant to discourage unskilled judokas who would try to use it as a delaying technique and then get someone horribly injured for nothing.
** ''Do jime'' is a quite intuitive move in which one traps the opponent's torso with his legs, like in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu basic guard, and then squeezes to squash him nutcracker-style. The reasons of the ban are more about practicality than danger, however: it is usually hard to submit an experienced grappler with it unless you enjoy a gross size advantage or an insanely strong pair of legs, and the former case would mean you are not in your correct weigh class, while the latter would be against judo's philosophy for using raw strength instead of skill.

** Any kind of leglock is unrecognized by the Kodokan school and thus banned in judo competition, even if judo books often name and explain them. This includes ''ashi hishigi'' (ankle lock), ''ashi dori garami'' (toehold), and the more popular ''hiza-juji-gatame'' (kneebar), which was reportedly very used in kosen judo before its prohibition.

** There is the popular impression, possibly fueled by promotional purposes that pander to the modern appreciation towards antiheroes and mavericks, that Mitsuyo Maeda, the traveling judoka and founder of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, was a rebellious figure who sailed free after being expelled of the Kodokan school and/or went against the established judo in order to create his style, or maybe that he was outlawed by the Kodokan for this activity. In reality, Maeda never left judo and was always very highly considered by the organization: he was promoted to 4th and 5th dan by Kodokan while he was in Brazil, and there is a bust of him in the school headquarters in Japan labelling him as a groundwork expert.

** Mataemon Tanabe from the Fusen-Ryu jujutsu helped Kodokan to refinate their groundwork technique after trashing them in said field. According to some, it was less about friendship and more about Kano paying him a lot, though it is known that Tanabe became personal friends with several judokas through this trope. Soji Kimotsuki is the main of them, as he was the first and pretty much only judoka who scored a win over Tanabe thanks to a sharp throw. He would be defeated in a rematch (though only after he chose to engage Tanabe on the ground, as Mataemon couldn't effectively bring him to the mat), and afterwards they started training together.

** Inside judo itself, it's sometimes talked about the friction between the Kodokan school and the Dai Nippon Butokukai, a military fighting arts organization which had adopted judo among his teachings. However, if there was any friction, it stayed on the offices and probably was more about sport policies (the Butokukai developed its own teachers and was authorized to give ranks) than about who had the best judokas. Actually, Jigoro Kano himself was a high member of the Butokukai, and it was him in first place who convinced its members to create a jujutsu department and accept not only judo, but also other schools like Yoshin-Ryu, Yoshin-Ryu and even Fusen-Ryu.
* EscalatingBrawl: A colorful and somewhat crazy anecdote tells how the legendary judoka Shiro Saigo was expelled from Kodokan for causing one of those. He supposedly went with some colleagues to drink and decided to challenge Araumi, a hulking 400 ib sumotori. He threw him down and won the match, but Araumi bite him in the shin in revenge and Saigo struck him in the face to make him release his leg, which caused both his and Araumi's posses to react and start a battle. Soon the police arrived, but Saigo wanted none of it and he started throwing cops left and right, even tossing some of them into a nearby river. Unsuprisingly, he was jailed until Kano could free him, and when he got out, the master was not happy with him.
* FieldPromotion: ''Batsugan'' is the act of promoting to higher ranks due solely to competition feats or in order to get in a rank-restricted competition. It is an act which is frowned upon, but it does happen.
* ForgotFlandersCouldDoThat: Judo is somewhat infamous in grappling circles for unallowing leglocks, which are a large part of the submission curricula nowadays. However, it was only after 1914 that this ban took effect, and still many ancient masters taught them; ancient judo books show all kinds of leglocks, including several which were thought to have originated in other forms of wrestling. For instance, most Brazilian jiu-jitsu historians believe the dangerous heel hook came to them through the Butokukai judoka Takeo Yano.

* GlassCannon: Olympic gold medalist Pawel Nastula was renowned by his great combinations and brilliant groundwork skills, but he famously lacked stamina overall, and at the end of his judo career he dropped fastly off the ranks when the younger judokas learned to overpower him simply by keeping the match long and waiting for him to be tired.
* GodWasMyCopilot: In grappling, "sandbagging" is a term which refers to competing in a low level while having a much higher level. Judo black belts are forbidden to wear white belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and sometimes vice versa, while judo organizations usually force you to identify yourself and your true rank before entering. However, it didn't stop some big names from doing the trick in order to have fun. Jon Bluming once disguised himself as a white belt and trolled an instructor in front of his class, getting amonested by Risei Kano himself, and Brazilian black belt Edson Carvalho wore a white belt in his first BJJ class and laughed at a tournament winner by pinning him with ''kesa-gatame'' and not allowing him to get out.

* LostTechnology: The ''yama arashi'' or "mountain storm" was a technique used by ancient judoka Shiro Saigo to beat people left and right, supposedly causing concussions. While there is a move called Yama Arashi in the current moveset of judo, it is believed that it is not the same move used by Saigo, which has been apparently forgotten.

* MetronomicManMashing: Cartoonish or tongue-in-cheek representations of judo in media often show the user gripping the opponent one-handed and throwing him easily to the ground over his head, sometimes swinging him several times more for additional smashing. While its moveset is obviously much more complicated than that, some basic shoulder throws could actually fit this trope, at least in their basics.

* MurderousThighs: The ''sankaku-jime'' or triangle choke is a technique where the user scissors his opponent's head an arm with his legs and squeezes to cut out his blood stream. It has several variations, and classical judo is specially fond of the inverted variation or ''ushiro-sankaku-jime'' because it allows to attack turtled up people, but the most known (especially thanks to BJJ) is the frontal one, where the opponent's face is pointed towards the user's lower body.

* OneManArmy: Yoshiaki Yamashita and Shiro Saigo were known for facing literally dozens of guys in street brawls and coming victorious, in most cases thanks to smart strategies and good timing. The former was specially apt in those; he would place himself in architectural bottlenecks like stairs and narrow streets in order to force his opponents to go one by one and then would throw them as they came.

* StatuesqueStunner: Russian female judoka Svetlana Goundarenko may definitely qualify, with her 6 ft 3 in and 330 ib.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Ask any judoka and they can probably pinpoint the exact IJF rule change that ruined the art for them, but none caused more angst than the leg grab ban in 2008. When the rumors about a reinstatement in 2017 were proven untrue, many people let a tear escape.

* UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject: Happened in 1886 when Sakujiro Yokoyama, TheBigGuy of Kodokan, faced Hansuke Nakamura, TheBrute of Ryoi Shinto-Ryu. Nakamura was more unstoppable than ever, as he had been humiliated by Tsunejiro Tomita and was seeking revenge against his school. Still, perhaps appropriately, they fought to a 55 minute draw.

* UrExample: Jigoro Kano introduced the white keikogi which was later used in karate, aikido, taekwondo and other arts with minimal modifications.
* TheWorfEffect: Perhaps inevitable due to being one of the first growing and popular martial arts to worldwide scale, but a lot of stories which build the badassery of other fighting styles often have it being demonstrated over one or more judo practitioners, who were the established badasses until that point. To enumerate: shuai jiao practitioner Chang Tung Sheng defeated judokas in China, mizongyi stylist Huo Yuanjia (yes, the one from ''Film/{{Fearless}}'') supposedly beat some judokas hard, aikijutsu master Sokaku Takeda was rumored to put a beating on the Kodokan guys, Mataemon Tanabe did the same, and Ad Santel had their famous UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling challenge matches.

* Still in MMA, and not counting the many fighters who simply have a rank in the art, some names have stood out for their impressive judo backgrounds, impressive judo skills, or both. In the PRIDE era, the so-called "judo mafia" was composed by Hidehiko Yoshida' and Wrestling/TsuyoshiKohsaka's respective teams and contained people like Kazuhiro Nakamura, Makoto Takimoto, Hirotaka Yokoi and Michihiro Omigawa, a bunch of madmen who came to the ring looking to bust chaps around with hip throws or die in the process. Other decorated judoka like Wrestling/NaoyaOgawa, Pawel Nastula and Dong-Sik Yoon went on their own way, being usually limited to short careers and conservative in-ring strategies. Later the UFC got people like Hector Lombard, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Karo Parysian, who inherited the former generation's desire of having judo throws on the cage, and more recently gold medal bad boy Satoshi Ishii has tried to make a name for himself.

'''Judo''' (translated as "gentle way") is a Japanese martial art and combat sport created by an educator named Jigoro Kano from several anciuent jujutsu styles. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the objective is to throw an opponent to the ground, as well as immobilize or otherwise subdue him with pins, joint locks and chokes.

* AxCrazy: Edson Carvalho was considered as one of the best judokas in Brazil during his time, but his spectacular public enmities and his not less spectacular short temper got him a bad reputation. He was expelled of Georges Mehdi's dojo for a brutally beating down Brazilian jiu-jitsu exponent Wallid Ismail, and had to face charges for attacking the president of the Brazilian Judo Federation, Joaquim Mamede, who had refused him a place on the national team in order to give it to his son, who Edson had beaten in a tournament.

* BloodKnight: Dutch pioneer Jon Bluming loved competition, according to the sources, a bit too much. He has been criticized (and liked by other people) for talking about breaking limbs and beating people down with excessive serenity.

** Any kind of leglock is unrecognized by the Kodokan school and thus banned in judo competition, even if judo books often name and explain them. This includes ''ashi hisigi'' (ankle lock), ''ashi dori garami'' (toehold), and the more popular ''hiza-juji-gatame'' (kneebar), which was reportedly very used in kosen judo before its prohibition.

** Many of the first generation members of the Kodokan school were traditional jujutsuka who had been bested in challenge matches. Sakujiro Yokoyama was possibly the first of them; he originally belonged to the Teshin Yoshin-Ryu, and only joined the school after crashing Shiro Saigo's promotion ceremony and being thoroughly beaten by him in the subsequent match.

* FourIsDeath: Back in the days of the contests between the Kodokan and other jujutsu schools, the four judokas Shiro Saigo, Yoshiaki Yamashita, Sakujiro Yokoyama and Tsunejiro Tomita were called ''Kodokan Shitenno'' ("The Four Heavenly Kings of Kodokan") for his victories against jujutsukas, being considered Jigoro Kano's PraetorianGuard.

* UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject: Happened in 1886 when Sakujiro Yokoyama, Kodokan school's BigGuy, faced Hansuke Nakamura from Ryoi Shinto-Ryu, considered the strongest jujutsuka in the entire Japan. Perhaps appropriately, it ended in a draw.

* Still in MMA, and not counting the many fighters who simply have a rank in the art, some names have stood out for their impressive judo backgrounds, impressive judo skills, or both. In the PRIDE era, the so-called "judo mafia" was composed by Hidehiko Yoshida' and Wrestling/TsuyoshiKohsaka's respective teams and contained people like Kazuhiro Nakamura, Makoto Takimoto, Hirotaka Yokoi and Michihiro Omigawa, a bunch of madmen who came to the ring looking to bust chaps around with hip throws or die in the process. Other decorated judoka like Wrestling/NaoyaOgawa, Pawel Nastula and Dong-Sik Yoon went on their own way, being usually limited to short careers fought conservatively. Later the UFC got people like Hector Lombard, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Karo Parysian, who inherited the former generation's desire of having judo throws on the cage, and more recently gold medal bad boy Satoshi Ishii has tried to make a name for himself.

Judo is un unified martial art, which means there is only one metaphorical school and one ruleset for all the competitions. There is, however, a minor modality called kosen judo, which is actually a remnant from the dark ages in which the art was still developing and had more open rules, and it still takes place in the Japanese universities in a league named Nanatei or Shichitei. Judo also gave birth to the martial arts of sambo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) after its expansion to Russia and Brazil, respectively, and its connection can be traced in their similar techniques.

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: There were many in the times of the foundation of Kodokan, as it was a recurrent archetype for the average jujutsu practitioner in Japan. Some of the first judoka were challengers who had been defeated by Kodokan members and had decided to join, and many of them (Sakujiro Yokoyama and Shiro Saigo being the best examples) never abandoned completely the attitude.

** The reverse has also happened: other nations like Georgia or Mongolia have successfully adapted their own traditional wrestling styles to excel in top-level Judo competition.

* StoneWall: A common competition tactic is to score a minor point and run out the clock, doing just enough to avoid penalties. It's not pretty and people don't like to see it, but it's the safe way to win when you're ahead on score.

** The European styles are quite varied, and can range from zealously classic to crazily eclectic. However, its players typically tilt to the technical side of the spectrum, and they specifically focus on having a deep bag of tricks, like counters, sacrifice throws, rare ground techniques and, back when they were legal, leg grabs.

* TurnInYourBadge: When the judoka killer Ad Santel came to Japan to knock the Kodokan's gates with a challenge on their own land. A group of judokas stepped forward and offered to fight for the honor of the art, Kano was angered and threatened them with expulsion, as he thought prizefighting wasn't the way of judo (and very probably feared that the school's reputation would be dented if they were defeated by a man from a circus discipline). The judokas's answer? "Well, expel us, we ARE fighting him."

* Still in MMA, and not counting the many fighters who simply have a rank in black belt, some names have stood out for their impressive judo backgrounds, impressive judo skills, or both. In the PRIDE era, the so-called "judo mafia" was composed by Hidehiko Yoshida' and Wrestling/TsuyoshiKohsaka's respective teams and contained people like Kazuhiro Nakamura, Makoto Takimoto, Hirotaka Yokoi and Michihiro Omigawa, a bunch of madmen who came to the ring looking to bust chaps around with hip throws or die in the process. Other decorated judoka like Wrestling/NaoyaOgawa, Pawel Nastula and Dong-Sik Yoon went on their own way, being usually limited to short careers fought conservatively. Later the UFC got people like Hector Lombard, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Karo Parysian, who inherited the former generation's desire of having judo throws on the cage, and more recently gold medal bad boy Satoshi Ishii has tried to make a name for himself.

'''Judo''' (translated as "gentle way") is a Japanese martial art and combat sport, created by Jigoro Kano from several jujutsu styles. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the objective is to throw an opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue him with pins, joint locks and chokes.

A discipline spread out worldwide, its philosophy and subsequent pedagogy became the model for other modern Japanese martial arts, and the art itself became part of the Japanese educative system, with judo clubs and teams established in almost every school and university. Judo is an Olympic sport, and its ruleset is regulated by the International Judo Federation. Japan as the originator of the sport usually tops the medal table (but not always). Their usual rivals are France, Brazil, Russia and South Korea.

The art also gave birth to other martial arts like sambo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) after its expansion to Russia and Brazil, respectively, and its connection can be spotted in their mostly similar techniques. There is also a related form of university competition called kosen, which is actually a remnant from other times in which judo was developing and had more open rules, and still perdurates.

And no, the "judo chop" is ''not'' an actual judo move. Asking your judoka friend to do this move will result in a dirty look from said friend, and may or may not cause him/her to throw you depending on how many times you ask.

* Martial arts madman Creator/DonnieYen performs a brilliant judo exhibition in the awarded final fight of ''Film/{{Flashpoint}}'', where he uses pinnings, armbars, triangle chokes, and of course more flashy throws like ''ippon seoi nage'', ''uchi mata'' and ''tomoe nage''.
* Any other modern Yen film is guaranteed to have judo in it, ''Special ID'' for instance.
* The incredibly grappling-rich ''Film/JohnWick'' features a character by Keanu Reeves whose main fighting style is judo.

* In the live action films of Franchise/{{Tintin}}, the title character uses a lot of judo throws to take off baddies.

* NamesTheSame: The name "Judo" had been already used by a jujutsu school originally Named Jikishin-Ryu 250 years before Jigoro Kano. For this reason, he gave the full name of "Kodokan Judo" in order to differentiate.
* TheNicknamer: Brazilian master Georges Mehdi is famous for giving his students colourful and often derisive nicknames. For instance Wallid Ismail, admittedly one of his most obsequious trainees, is known in BJJ circles as "Paraiba" (meaning "tough guy"), but for Mehdi he was simply "the pig."
* OneHitKill: Technically, any judo match. Victory can be accomplished by nailing a perfect picture throw.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Ask any judoka and they can probably pinpoint the exact IJF rule change that ruined the art for them, but none caused more angst than the leg grab ban in 2008.

* TheWorfEffect: Perhaps inevitable due to being one of the first growing and popular martial arts to worldwide scale, but a lot of stories which build the badassery of other fighting styles often have it being demonstrated over one or more judo practitioners, who were the established badasses until that point. To enumerate: shuai jiao practitioner Chang Tung Sheng defeated judokas in China, mizongyi stylist Huo Yuanjia (yes, the one from ''Film/{{Fearless}}'') supposedly beat some judokas hard, aikijutsu master Sokaku Takeda was rumored to put a beating in the Kodokan guys, Mataemon Tanabe did the same, and Ad Santel had their famous UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling challenge matches.
* WrestlerInAllOfUs: Many classic pro 'rassling moves are present in the judo moveset. Wrestling/JohnCena's Attitude Adjustment is known in judo as ''kata guruma'', Wrestling/ChrisJericho's Boston crab is present in ancient judo books under the name of ''ryo ashi hishigi'', the ''kawazu gake'' is a Russian legsweep, the ''tawara gaeshi'' is basically a gutwrench suplex, and other sacrifice throws like ''ura nage'' also resemble your typical belly to back suplex or side slam. Converselly, pro wrestling moves like the monkey flip and the over the shoulder arm drag are historically known to have been modelled after judo techniques like ''tomoe nage'' and ''ippon seoi nage'', respectively.

* Still in MMA, many fighters have stood out through its history for their judo backgrounds, judo skills, or both. In the PRIDE era, the so-called "judo mafia" was composed by Hidehiko Yoshida' and Wrestling/TsuyoshiKohsaka's respective teams and contained names like Kazuhiro Nakamura, Makoto Takimoto, Hirotaka Yokoi and Michihiro Omigawa, a bunch of madmen who came to the ring looking to bust chaps around with hip throws. Other decorated judoka like Wrestling/NaoyaOgawa, Pawel Nastula and Dong-Sik Yoon went on their own way, being usually limited to short careers fought conservatively. Later the UFC got people like Hector Lombard, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Karo Parysian, who inherited the former generation's desire of having judo throws on the cage, and more recently gold medal bad boy Satoshi Ishii has tried to make a name as well.