Jigoro
Kano's Childhood As
the Founder of Kodokan Judo At the university, Kano studied subjects such as political science, economics, moral education, and aesthetics, and during this time, he began to hold especially strongly the value of education - learning from others, and then teaching others. In 1882, he established Kodokan and worked to spread Judo as its master. This was because he found in judo something very spectacular, and decided to dedicate his life to the spread of Judo as its teacher. He
Was an Exceptional Educator as Well Kano used his own income to manage all of these, and what was not enough he made up for through work in translation. From early in the morning until late at night, Kano turned all his energy into these educational activities. This was really the year that saw him embark as an educator. On top of all this, he became the head instructor of the Gakushuuin four years later. In 1891 he became the principal of the Fifth Intermediate and High School at Kumamoto, and in 1893 he assume the position of the principal of the Secondary Teacher's School of Tokyo (a school for teachers, which later became Tokyo Kyoiku University, currently Tsukuba University). He was only 34 years old. Tsukuba University also enjoys an excellent reputation in Japan today as a university for teachers. In 1899, he founded the Koubungakuin, a school for Chinese foreign students. Among his students was Lu-hsun (Rojin), who later became a great man of literature. If you examine his career, it is easy to understand what an exceptional and brilliant educator Kano was. For 26 years after that, he served as the principal of the Secondary Teacher's School, leaving a legacy of achievement for the development of education. It is, in fact, these roots that allowed Judo to have the close ties with education that it should have today. Turning
His Passion to the Spread of Physical Education Despite
the fact that, within Kodokan Judo, physical education is an important
factor, Kano also placed a lot of effort into the training of physical
education instructors at the Secondary Teacher's School. A grand sports festival
was held, and within the school, a number of sports sections including
new sports from abroad were born, including tennis, baseball, football,
and boating. Activities
as Japan's First International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member Thirteen years had passed since the holding of the First Modern Olympics in Athens, Greece, in 1896. However these was still no participation from an Asian country. Jigoro Kano was the first Asian member of the IOC. Still, there was no general sports organization in Japan that could send athletes to the Olympics, and of course, there were no athletes who could compete at such high levels. Thus, in 1911 the Japan Amateur Athletic Association was founded and Jigoro Kano was installed as the first president. At this meeting, it was decided that Japan would participate in its first Olympics at the 5th Olympic Games to be held in Stockholm, Sweden, the next year, 1912. This served as the basis for the wide spread and development of all varieties of sports. Even after that time, Jigoro Kano continued his work as an IOC member, and because of that work, he traveled abroad seven times for the Olympics and IOC meetings in the last 10 years of his life. He turned all his energies into the internationalization of sports in Japan. In 1938, it became time to reap the fruits of his labors, as it was formally decided to hold the 12th Olympic Games in 1940 in Tokyo. However, on 4 May of that year, Kano died of sickness aboard a ship during his return to Japan with that happy knowledge buried in his heard. He was 79 years old. Ironically, the 12th Olympic Games, which were Kano's wish, were canceled due to World War II. Afterwards, it was not until the 18th Tokyo Olympic Games held in 1964 that Japan was able to host its first Olympics.
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