President, the Kodokan
UEMURA Haruki
I would like to express my heart-felt new year’s wishes to you all in the beginning of year 2025.
After the Paris Olympics and Paralympics held three years after the Tokyo Games, I happened to recall what had happened so far and took notice of the calligraphy of “Tsutomuru-Kore-Tanoshi” (To work hard leads to enjoy it) by KANO Jigoro Shihan. The writing was displayed on the wall of Kano Juku, a private school run by KANO Shihan for youth education together with Kodokan.
Kano Shihan described this phrase in the “Alumni Magazine of Kano Juku” in 1912 as follows: “To play and enjoy something, in general, does not lead to rest your body and mind. A truly trained person can purely enjoy working without playing it, therefore, he can endure and concentrate on working even all day long as long as he takes a rest whenever he needs even if he does not try to enjoy it. This is the essence of the phrase, “Tsutomuru-Kore-Tanoshi,” which I recently wrote as a slogan of Kano Juku.”
“We all have only a limited amount of time. I, therefore, wish to make the best use of 365 days a year and move forward step by step, while having more friends and colleagues around the world who can share the responsibilities to succeed Judo properly to the next generation.” This is a renewed feeling of mine at the dawn of year 2025.
What Kodokan should do right now is to disseminate the “Philosophy of Judo” toward the world in an easily understandable manner. We will be insistent on the essence of Judo, clearly distinguish between what we can change and what we should not, verbalize that ideals into words and communicate them so that people can understand easily.
The characteristic of Judo, as demonstrated in the teaching of KANO Shihan, is to train your body and cultivate your mind through the practice of attack and defense, while learning from the traditional martial arts, and to acquire the essence of way of living as a human. For younger generation, instead of thinking it too hard, you can be exposed to Judo, at first, as a form of physical exercise and start by working on it. You can learn “Kata” or the basics of Judo and repeat it to be more proficient. After then, you can explore to develop your techniques through “Randori.” It is essential to know what you can and cannot in that process and make efforts to overcome what you cannot do. You can “learn” Judo by acquiring knowledge, imitating what the other people do and being creative to contemplate what to do.
Some techniques can be dangerous depending on how they are applied. For “Shime-waza” and “Kansetsu-waza” categorized in “Katame-waza,” those techniques are intended to let your opponent “yield” to you instead of trying to hurt him. When you are applied to such a technique and it is effective enough, you should gracefully admit that you are defeated to give a signal of “Maitta.” The same is true for “Nage-waza” and when you are thrown with a fine technique, you should spontaneously make a position to take “Ukemi.” To do “Ukemi” gracefully means to show your respect to your opponent’s skills which also leads to expressing your spirit of “Rei.”
In iterating such training day after day, you should set your own goal and do what you must do just as you have to do to reach that aim. It is important to continue such a process. As a matter of course, you may run into a wall, but you must be creative and imaginative to overcome difficulties by yourself. By achieving your goal one after another, you will gain more confidence and that confidence will be the basis for you to reach much higher objectives. You will find another joy to get to that stage and the repetition of such quests will lead to your personal growth.
Let me say a few words on our sport and competitions. In the Judo competitions in the Paris Olympics, 11 countries won gold medals and 26 countries and regions won medals. I believe that this was the manifested result of the efforts made by each member country and region under the leadership of the International Judo Federation (IJF).
Judo was adopted as an official Olympic sport for the first time in the 1964 Tokyo Games and it has rapidly become practiced all over the world since then. As the Judo matches have become more competitive in its nature, weight class matches, which differ from the conventional Open category competitions, have become mainstream. At present, most of the tournaments in Japan as well as international competitions are organized under the IJF’s Refereeing Rules on the premise of matches with weight classifications. Under such Rules, in which only the competitors in the same weight category fight with each other, as some offense and defense with the use of conventional Judo techniques are restricted so some matches may be less dynamic or look lackluster. To exercise techniques which are skillful enough to attract spectators’ attention and win by “Ippon,” it is imperative to implement “Ma” (how to take the appropriate distance, positioning and timing) such as taking an extra step before applying a technique or taking advantage of an offensive moment.
It is true that we need to restrict excessive defensive positions, some “Kumite” purely intended to prevent the opponent from attacking or fake motions pretending to attack, but it has ended up too many prohibiting rules just by saying “You must not do this” or “You cannot do that.” There should be optimum “Techniques” for each individual depending on such physical properties as height and weight as well as temperament and personality. Even if the final sequence for one technique is the same, how to use the body, to shift the center of gravity and to start the sequence to apply that technique can be widely different from person to person, so it is necessary to make the best use of individual characteristics to increase the number of options in Judo matches by thinking “You can do this, too” or “You can do that, as well.”
In the first place, the Refereeing Rules are the Code of Conduct, which has been collectively devised by us all, to enable everyone to compete fairly and squarely in accordance with the spirit of Kodokan Judo. As instructors and coaches, we must fully understand the Rules to guide competitors and practitioners. Those who are teaching Judo should encourage their pupils to be imaginative and creative. Such self-improvement leads to your own and unique techniques: that is the beauty of Judo and I hope that more people enjoy such experiences.
During the Paris Olympics, I felt that the Judo venue was filled with the desire to “Improve a Judo sport” and that Judo enthusiasts from all over the world, including the IJF officials, were exploring for the best and brightest aspects of Judo. It is not an easy task to bring various opinions into a common idea, but there is no doubt that we are trying to move in the same direction. I believe that we can achieve that goal if we work harmoniously together with the rest of the world. Toward the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games, we have clear visions and goals in our mind to discuss what the Judo Rules should be and I hope that Judo competition will get closer to its ideal state.
Last year, I visited as many local sites as I could, including the Coaching Workshop held on the day before the National Junior High School Judo Tournaments in Saku City, Nagano Prefecture and another venue in Yonaguni Island in Okinawa Prefecture and met with many passionate Judo instructors. I really felt that I could listen to a variety of opinions and deepen mutual understanding through dialogues with them. One coach said, “Mondo should be a mutual exchange of experiences”: we mutually explore each other’s shortcomings and complement with each other. I was convinced that it was true and, while sensing what I could experience only in such venues, I strongly felt that there is no limit to what I can learn further and renewed my appreciation to feel that “Judo has been supported and sustained by such dedicated people.”
It is said that when KANO Shihan was greeted as “Otsukare-sama-deshita (Thank you for your hard and tiresome work),” he replied by saying “If you are tired, it is because you did not make the most efficient use of your energy.” These words should mean that you cannot get tired as long as you make the most efficient use of your energy and I believe that KANO Shihan could confidently say so because he always carried that idea into practice. For “Tsutomuru-Kore-Tanoshi” (To work hard leads to enjoy it) as I cited at the outset of this Address, KANO Shihan also wrote as follows: “Although we are busy every day for our own business, we all witness that our ideas and principles are often being supported and disseminated by our friends, colleagues and sympathizers. That is the essence of “Tsutomuru-Kore-Tanoshi” that we can truly enjoy working so hard.” You can make the best use of your limited time for the most important matter and enjoy doing so, as well. For us, that should be the time in which we are engaged in Judo.
We have learned from the words and teachings left behind by KANO Jigoro Shihan as wisdom for living in the present time and as guidance for solving various problems and challenges. To inherit the heritage established by our predecessors and create a new history of Kodokan Judo, we must strive to practice “Seiryoku-zenyo” and “Jita-kyoei” and disseminate the spirit and essence of Kodokan Judo both at home and abroad.
As we did so far, we will continue to organize the “Kodokan Local & Regional Seminars” for Kata, basic instructions and referee training and the “Kodokan Youth Cultivation Training Workshops” and “Dojo Visits” held with the co-sponsorship of Token Corporation Co., Ltd. to promote Judo and revitalize the local communites.
I would like to call for your continuing guidance, support and cooperation from all the members of Kodokan for the entire year. Last but not least, I wish for your happy new year.
