Kawaishi Judo
川石柔道French method of teaching judo by Kawaishi Mikinosuke, with French names and numbered techniques. Coloured belts are linked to it, and from 1956 it coexisted with the Kodokan.
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About Kawaishi Judo
The Kawaishi method (Méthode Kawaishi) is a way of teaching judo created in France by the Japanese judoka Kawaishi Mikinosuke (1899–1969). According to the dissertation of Hoshino Utsuru (Waseda University, 2019), Kawaishi left Japan for the United States in 1926, reached France in 1935 via Brazil and Britain, and in Paris became technical leader of the Jewish Jujutsu Club, later renamed the Club franco-japonais. According to Hoshino, Feldenkrais asked him for a new teaching method in 1937. After Feldenkrais left during the war, Kawaishi finished it alone, and it was complete by 1943. Its techniques have no Japanese names but are sorted in French by body part and numbered in the order of teaching, so o-soto-gari is the first leg technique. The method also included leg and neck locks that the Kodokan had already banned. The book Ma méthode de judo (1951) contains 147 techniques. Kawaishi was technical director of the French Judo and Jujitsu Federation (FFJJ), founded in December 1946 by Paul Bonet-Maury. Today's FFJDA arose only in April 1956 by merging the FFJJ with a Kodokan group, and both methods coexisted in it. In France coloured belts below the black belt are linked with Kawaishi, but sources disagree on whether he introduced them or took them over from the London Budokwai club.
History
According to the website nippon.com, Kawaishi Mikinosuke was born in Himeji in 1899 and died in Paris on 30 January 1969. The dissertation of Hoshino Utsuru (Waseda University, 2019), citing Magara Hiroshi (1977), states that he began judo in Himeji in 1914, received his first dan from the Butokukai in 1918, and entered Waseda University in 1919. In 1926 he left for the United States and reached France in 1935 via Brazil and Britain. In Paris he became technical leader of the Jewish Jujutsu Club (62 rue Beaubourg, founded in February 1936), which was later renamed the Club franco-japonais, a name that appears in an advertisement as early as June 1937. The regional committee of the French federation (Comité 13) gives the name Club franco-japonais from July 1936.
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In 1937 Feldenkrais asked Kawaishi for a new teaching method. After Feldenkrais left during the war, Kawaishi finished it alone, and it was complete by 1943 as the Méthode Kawaishi. According to the International Judo Federation (IJF), the first French black belt was Maurice Cottereau on 20 April 1939, and Kawaishi awarded him the belt. In July 1944 Kawaishi left for Japan, handed the club's technical leadership to Jean Beaujean, and according to nippon.com returned to Paris in 1948. In December 1946 the French Judo and Jujitsu Federation (FFJJ) was formed with Paul Bonet-Maury as president, according to the IJF its founder, and Kawaishi was its paid technical director. According to Hoshino, the first British-French friendly match in London in December 1947 took place on the initiative of Bonet-Maury, as Kawaishi was in Japan at the time. In 1951 his first book, Ma méthode de judo, was published. The FFJDA arose only in April 1956 by merging the FFJJ with the FATK, a group of Kodokan supporters, and an extraordinary congress of the FFJJ approved it on 22 April 1956 by 370 to 42.
How it differs
The Kawaishi method differed from Kodokan judo mainly in language and content. According to the dissertation of Hoshino Utsuru (2019), it used French names and numbers instead of Japanese names and allowed leg and neck locks that the Kodokan had banned. Hoshino points out that international judo used Japanese terms and Kodokan rules, so the French federation FFJJ found itself in a contradictory situation. The approach to teaching differed too: Kawaishi taught for high monthly fees, which a group of Kodokan supporters criticised, and nippon.com contrasts this with the amateurism of the Kodokan. In coloured belts, according to Hoshino, the Paris club in 1940 differed from the Kodokan, which in 1920 had only a few colours below the black belt.
Technique
The Kawaishi method replaced the Japanese names of techniques with French ones. According to the dissertation of Hoshino Utsuru (2019), techniques were sorted by body part, for example into leg throws and shoulder throws (lancement de jambe, lancement d'épaule), and numbered in the order in which they were taught, so o-soto-gari was the first leg technique. nippon.com describes the same numbering. The book Ma méthode de judo (Paris 1951), Kawaishi's first book, contains 147 techniques according to Hoshino, 80 of them immobilisation techniques (katame), including leg and neck locks already banned by the Kodokan. Hoshino explains the emphasis on self-defence by the influence of the Jewish clubs where Kawaishi began in Paris, and of Feldenkrais, who asked for the method.
Training
Kawaishi began in Paris as technical leader of the Jewish Jujutsu Club, later the Club franco-japonais, and according to Hoshino completed the method by 1943. Teaching was his livelihood: Hoshino gives a monthly fee of 250 francs in 1940 and a special course for 350 francs in 1941. The high fees were criticised by a group of Kodokan supporters, and nippon.com contrasts them with the amateurism of the Kodokan. According to the International Judo Federation, the first French black belt was Maurice Cottereau on 20 April 1939, whom the Comité 13 names as the club's first pupil. During Kawaishi's stay in Japan (1944 to 1948), Jean Beaujean led the teaching at the club.
Ranks and progression
Coloured belts below the black belt are linked with the Kawaishi method in France, but sources differ on who introduced them. The dissertation of Hoshino Utsuru (2019) states that in 1920 the Kodokan had only a few colours (light blue for beginners, white for 4th and 5th kyu, brown for 1st to 3rd kyu, and purple for youth), whereas in the Paris club, according to the newspaper L'Auto of November 1940, there were six colours before black: white, yellow (5th kyu), orange (4th), green (3rd), blue (2nd) and chestnut (1st kyu). Hoshino links the system to Kawaishi's method and to Feldenkrais.
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nippon.com writes that Kawaishi introduced the colours and that there were seven, and that in Japan there were supposedly only white and black, which Hoshino's data on the Kodokan do not confirm. The regional committee of the French federation (Comité 13) states in one text that Kawaishi took over a system worked out by English judoka around Koizumi Gunji, and in another that the Kodokan used white, brown and black and Kawaishi added yellow, orange, green and blue for pedagogical reasons. The International Judo Federation writes that at an exhibition at the London Budokwai club in 1927 the Japanese grading was supplemented with coloured belts for grades below black belt, and that the French later systematised them. Comité 13 gives the order: 6th kyu white, 5th yellow, 4th orange, 3rd green, 2nd blue, 1st brown, and the black belt for 1st dan.
Today
The FFJDA was formed in April 1956 by merging the FFJJ, which used the Kawaishi method, with a group of Kodokan supporters, and according to the dissertation of Hoshino Utsuru (2019) it accepted both methods side by side. International competitions were by then already governed by Kodokan rules and Japanese names, which according to Hoshino put the French federation in a contradictory situation. We have not found in sources when the federation formally abandoned the numbered terminology. According to nippon.com, Kawaishi left the federation several years after 1951. The French federation awarded him the 10th dan six years after his death. The regional committee of the French federation (Comité 13) gives the coloured belts linked with his name in France in the order white, yellow, orange, green, blue and brown before the black belt.
Did you know
Kawaishi began in Paris at the Jewish Jujutsu Club at 62 rue Beaubourg, founded in February 1936. Feldenkrais asked him for the method in 1937. On 20 April 1939 he awarded Maurice Cottereau the black belt as the first Frenchman. During the war Kawaishi left for Japan in July 1944 and returned only in 1948, so the first British-French match in London in December 1947 took place without him, on the initiative of the federation president Bonet-Maury. English Wikipedia states that Kawaishi organised a match with Koizumi in 1947, but we have not found this in scholarly sources. The French federation awarded him the posthumous 10th dan six years after his death.
Frequently asked questions
Who invented the coloured belts in judo?
Sources differ. nippon.com credits them to Kawaishi, the regional committee of the French federation writes that he took them over from English judoka around Koizumi Gunji, and the International Judo Federation states that they appeared in 1927 at the London Budokwai club and the French later systematised them.
How did the Kawaishi method differ from Kodokan judo?
Instead of Japanese names it used French designations and numbers by body part and order of teaching, and it allowed leg and neck locks that the Kodokan had banned.
Did Kawaishi found the French judo federation?
No. The Judo and Jujitsu Federation (FFJJ) was founded in December 1946 by Paul Bonet-Maury, and Kawaishi was its technical director. Today's FFJDA arose in April 1956 by merging the FFJJ with a group of Kodokan supporters.
Similar styles
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