Judo

Forged Fitness is regarded as the best Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the Triangle.  Now we are becoming a Judo power house as well.

We have recently added Frank Benzaquen a 6th Dan Japanese Jiu-Jitsu and Judo under O’Sensei Phil Porter who is considered the father of American Jiu-jitsu.  We are also fortunate to have Shawn Madden 3rd Dan under Dr. Sachio Ashida who was the 1976 Olympic Judo coach and the official Kodakan representative in the United States.

Judo is derived from Jujutsu. It was created by Professor Jigoro Kano  who was born in Japan on October 28, 1860 and who died May 4, 1938  after a lifetime of promoting Judo.

Mastering several styles of jujutsu  including Kito-Ryu and Tenjin-shinyo Ryu in his youth he began to  develop his own system based on modern sports principles. In 1882 he  founded the Kodokan Judo Institute in Tokyo where he began teaching and  which still is the international authority for Judo.

The name Judo was chosen because it means the gentle or yielding way.  Kano emphasized the larger educational value of training in attack and  defense so that it could be a path or way of life that all people could  participate in and benefit from. He eliminated some of the traditional  jujutsu techniques and changed training methods so that most of the  moves could be done with full force to create a decisive victory without  injury. The popularity of Judo increased dramatically after a famous  contest hosted by the Tokyo police in 1886 where the Judo team defeated  the most well-known jujutsu school of the time. It then became a part of  the Japanese physical education system and began its spread around the  world.