Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

spread throughout the world. It reached Japan in 1909 when Kanô Jigorô
[10] was selected to become the first Asian member of the International
Olympic Committee. Kanô Jigorô (1860–1938) was the ideal conduit for
introducing to Japan the Olympic creed of athletics mixed with ethics and
spiritualism. Kanô had initiated the academic study of physical education
in Japan when in 1899 he established a department of physical education
at Tokyo Teacher’s College (kôtô shihan gakkô [11]), an institution he
headed for twenty-seven years, from 1893 to 1920. He also founded the
Japanese Amateur Athletic Association and served as its president from
1911 to 1920. Kanô’s most famous achievement, though, is his Kôdôkan
[12] school of jûjutsu [13] (unarmed combat), from which modern jûdô developed.
From his student days Kanô had studied the German-style gymnastics
drills introduced to Japan in 1878 by the American George A. Leland
(1850–1924) as well as the new educational theories advocated by the
Swiss reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827), and he used ideas
from both to adapt jûjutsu training to the needs of youth education. He
presented jûjutsu in the rational terms of Western thought while emphasizing
its ties to Japanese tradition and culture. Kôdôkan grew in popularity
in large part because it incorporated the new European sports ethic: innovation
and rigorous empiricism, systematic training methods, repetitive
drills to develop fundamental skills, high standards of safety and hygiene,
public lectures and published textbooks, competitive contests with clear
rules and fair judging, tournaments with spectators, all presented as means
of ethical and spiritual development.
As early as 1889, Kanô had addressed the Japanese Education Association
on the educational value of teaching jûjutsu as part of the public
school curriculum. He argued that his methods presented pupils with a balanced
approach to physical education, competitive matches, and mental
cultivation. This initial attempt to introduce martial arts to the public
schools failed. After examining many different styles of jûjutsu and swordsmanship
(gekken or gekiken [14]) in 1890, the Ministry of Education ruled
that martial arts were physically, spiritually, and pedagogically inappropriate
for schools. This sweeping denunciation is important because it documents
how methods of martial art instruction at that time differed dramatically
from Kanô’s ideals and from modern educational standards.
Instead of martial arts, the Ministry of Education devised a physical education
curriculum based on military calisthenics (heishiki taisô [15]). The
Ministry stated that these gymnastic exercises would promote physical
health, obedience, and spiritual fortitude. As many Japanese scholars have
noted, the idea that this kind of physical training could promote spiritual
values reflected Christian pedagogical theory (see Endô 1994, 51). The
next generation of martial art instructors were schooled in this approach.
478 Religion and Spiritual Development: Japan