Judo Memoirs of Jigoro Kano

To understand Judo as "do" (vs. sport) one has to understand the philosophy and history. Judo Memoirs of Jigoro Kano is on our reading list for all Sankyu and above at Villanova Judo. It is the best available text on Judo history and philosophy.If you practice Judo only as sport, Judo Memoirs will open your eyes to the bigger picture of the "do" as philosophy and educational system. If you are already on the pathway of the Ju-Do, there is no better single English language source for valuable information and insight. Judo Memoirs is a “MUST Read”!We can only hope that Mr. Watson continues his efforts, and provides the English speaking Judo community with more outstanding works. (Also note that Mr. Watson’s other book, The Father of Judo, is an excellent biography of Mr. Kano that we highly recommend.)

As an avid judoka, I found the history behind the creation and development of Judo absolutely vital to my growth and development in the art. Thank you Mr. Watson!! Well done!

-Interviews with Kano-Reports from others.-Gives a well rounded look at the life, accomplishments, and thoughts of Jigoro Kano.

Brian Watson has done us all a major service in making available these memoirs of Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo and one of the giants of 20th century Japan. The title is unfortunately a bit misleading, however, in that Kano says little about the actual practice of Judo or his students. The strength of the volume lies in Kano's descriptions of his youth and training, development of Judo over many years, and his philosophy of the martial arts. This book should be on the bookshelf of every serious martial arts history student and every judoka.

I think this book was put together well and was a great source of information for anyone seeking to know the true origin of Judo and who Jigoro Kano was. There were some parts where I did skip over such as the failure of the magazine, but as a whole I would recommend this book as a good view into who Jigoro Kano was and how Judo came about.

Master Kano was able to describe the most intricate aspects of Judo (and historical Martial Arts) in a manner that serious students can understand and further enrich their lives. He noted that with the change from the Feudal warring era to the more modern age the shift in emphasis went to developing the individual thru martial training. His presentation was superb and the examples used were terrific to help the reader understand the values available by training in Judo today.

These are the actual translated words of Jigaro Kano - the founder of judo. I with there was more biographical information to put the words in historical context. In any case, its an interesting read - but you need to be a judo fanatic to really get into the details.

I bought this book after meeting and having dinner with the author at the Press Club in Tokyo. Brian is a former judoka who has lived and trained in Japan for over 40 years. The book is well researched, well written, highly informative, and should be in every judoka's library. Highly recomended. Shugyo

I have given the book 5-stars as I consider it essential reading for any judoka. Most modern judoka require educating that judo was created as an education system, and not an Olympic sport, and this book does that perfectly.It does however has a serious flaw as its excellent contents are not referenced to their source.

Very good account of Kano's life. Brian Watson is an expert on Japanese judo, having spent several decades in the country.

A great insight into a great man

Ein sehr lesenswertes Buch, welchen mit vielen falschen Vorstellungen vom Judo aufräumt und auch einen Einblick in das Leben in Japan vor über 100 Jahren gibt. Für jeden Judoka ein Muss.Kleiner Fehler: Neben V. Putin wird auch A. Merkel als Judoka mit Schwarzem Gürtel genannt (Seite 166 im Afterword vom Autor), was jedoch eine Fehlinformation ist und wohl auf einen Zeitungsartikel zurückgeführt werden kann, bei dem der politische Stil von Frau Merkel sehr unglücklich mit dem einen Judokas verglichen wird.

Estudio bastante interesante, con datos poco conocidos, bien redactado. Es recomendable. En la linea del libro desconocido de Jigoro Kano: "judo kyohon" escrito en 1931