Judo

Judo (柔道 jūdō^?, meaning "gentle way") is a modern martial art, combat and Olympic sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano.  Judo practitioners are called judoka.

Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown an opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue an opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an opponent to submit by joint locking or by executing a strangle hold or choke.

Strikes and thrusts by hands and feet as well as weapons defenses are a part of judo, but only in pre-arranged forms (kata) and are not allowed in judo competition or free practice (randori).

Central to Kano's vision for Judo were the principles of seiryoku zen'yō (精力善用^?, maximum efficiency, minimum effort) and jita kyōei (自他共栄^?, mutual welfare and benefit). He illustrated the application of seiryoku zen'yō with the concept of jū yoku gō o seisu (柔よく剛を制す^?, gentleness controls hardness):

The philosophy and subsequent pedagogy developed for judo became the model for other modern Japanese martial arts that developed from koryū (古流^?, traditional schools). The worldwide spread of judo has led to the development of a number of offshoots such as Sambo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.