Teaching My Teammates: Judo Terms & Concepts (2): Kodokan & the Gokyo
The Kodokan Judo Institute was founded by Kano Jigoro in 1882. Could’ve been 1881 to make it easier to remember as a palindrome, but no. It’s 1882, just one number more.
Ko = Lecture
Do = Way, Road, Path
Kan = Public Building
Kodokan means “a public place to study the way.” What way? Judo.
Ju = Gentle
Do = Way
Judo means the “Gentle Way.” Say that to my joints after several hard rounds of randori. The Kodokan maintains a syllabus of five groups of Judo nage waza (throwing techniques) called the Gokyo no Waza (the five teachings of throwing techniques).
Go = Five
Kyo = Teachings
No = (possessive article, not a word per se)
Waza = Technique(s)
There are currently 67 throws in the Gokyo no Waza. The Kodokan recognizes 68 nage waza, separating ippon seoi nage and seoi nage (formerly known as morote seoi nage), but the Gokyo no Waza only lists “seoi nage,” making the count 67. Could’ve been 69 to make it a funny number and easier to remember, but no. It’s 67, just a few off.
A neat way to remember is this that Kodokan is a bigger word than Gokyo. So Kodokan will have one number more (1882 instead of 1881) because it’s a bigger word. Gokyo will have a few numbers less (67 instead of 69) because it’s a smaller word. Hopefully the Gokyo doesn’t get revised and the number changes. Then my learning tool gets thrown off.
It might seem like a “trivia” kind of thing but the Gokyo not only serves as a codification of what the Kodokan recognizes as Judo. It is also theorized to serve as a teaching method. There is lots of speculation about why the Gokyo is organized the way that it is but there is no definitive answer from the Kodokan to my knowledge.
Some theories are that the Gokyo is arranged by:
1. The difficulty of the throw’s technical demand
2. The difficulty of the ukemi (break fall)
3. How easy it is to combine the throws into renraku waza (combination techniques)
4. Having earlier groups be “building blocks” for later groups
What do you think the reason is? Have you looked at the Gokyo? If you haven’t, Wikipedia cites the official Kodokan page. So you can Google Translate the Kodokan’s website or blindly trust Wikipedia.
