Tsunetane Oda

Quick Facts

Date of Birth3/10/1892

Date of Death2/11/1955

Country of OriginJapan

Also known asJoin

Biography

Tsunetane Oda was a Japanese judoka who promoted ground fighting, ne-waza, and is linked to the emergence of so-called kosen judo. According to Japanese Wikipedia he was born on 10 March 1892 in the village of Funatsu in Yamanashi Prefecture and died on 11 February 1955. The characters of his name are sometimes misread as Join.

According to English Wikipedia he began judo in Numazu in 1909 and joined the Kodokan on 24 July 1910. According to Japanese Wikipedia he obtained his first dan on 13 July 1912, while English Wikipedia gives 1911. After studying at Kokugakuin University he taught judo at the Seventh Higher School in Kagoshima.

In January 1918 he began training the Second Higher School team in Sendai, and in April led it to a match with the First Higher School. According to a 2014 study by Tetsuya Nakajima, he thereby publicly criticized Kano and defended ne-waza as a fully valid means of fighting. Kano was displeased with such emphasis on ground fighting, and in 1924 the Kodokan changed the refereeing rules to restrict ne-waza. With Hajime Isogai he developed the judo of the koto senmon gakko schools, now known as kosen judo.

He wrote the books Judo wa kou shite kate (1920) and Judo taikan (1929). According to a 1988 study by Masaharu Fujioka, he regarded throwing and ne-waza as equal and mutually supporting. His ground-fighting system was called Tsunetane-ryu. We have not been able to verify a quotation from his books in the original.

Early life

According to Japanese Wikipedia, Tsunetane Oda was born on 10 March 1892 in the village of Funatsu in Minamitsuru District in Yamanashi Prefecture. The characters of his name 常胤 are read Tsunetane, but some sources give the wrong reading Join. According to English Wikipedia he began judo in 1909, at the age of seventeen, at a school in Numazu. He died on 11 February 1955 at the age of 62, and Japanese Wikipedia refers to an obituary in the magazine Judo from March 1955.

Training and teachers

According to Japanese Wikipedia he joined the Kodokan on 24 July 1910 and obtained his first dan on 13 July 1912, while English Wikipedia gives the year 1911. We have not found an official Kodokan record. English Wikipedia names Kotaro Okano, Jigoro Kano and Kyuzo Mifune as his teachers and a ninth dan, both without a source. According to Japanese Wikipedia he completed Kokugakuin University in March 1917 and then taught judo at the Seventh Higher School in Kagoshima.

Contribution and innovations

He arrived in Sendai on 7 January 1918 to train the judo team of the Second Higher School, and on 7 April 1918 he led it to a match against the team of the First Higher School. According to a 2014 study by Tetsuya Nakajima, he publicly criticized Kano in the process and defended ne-waza as a fully valid means of fighting. The study sees in his criticism the first public challenge to the Kodokan from student judo. In July 1921 he led the team of the Fourth Higher School in Kanazawa at the national tournament of koto senmon gakko schools. With Hajime Isogai he developed judo focused on ne-waza, today known as kosen judo. He wrote the books Judo wa kou shite kate (1920) and Judo taikan (1929).

Legends and documented facts

The year of his first dan differs, Japanese Wikipedia gives 13 July 1912, English Wikipedia the year 1911. The sources also give the year he finished studies at Kokugakuin as 1917, 1914 or 1918. Japanese Wikipedia links his dojo Shoshikan in Tokyo's Shinbashi with the year 1924, when he settled there, but we have not found the year the dojo was founded. According to a 1988 study by Masaharu Fujioka, Oda regarded throwing and ne-waza as equal and the dispute over their order as secondary.

Legacy

According to the study by Nakajima, Kano was not satisfied with the intensive use of ne-waza, and in 1924 the Kodokan changed the refereeing rules to restrict ground fighting. Kano and the Kodokan criticized the kosen tournaments and the competition of the four imperial universities precisely because of excessive ne-waza. According to Japanese Wikipedia he built his own system of ground fighting independent of the old jujutsu schools, which was called Tsunetane-ryu. Toshikazu Okada published a book about him in 2010, Tsunetane-ryu judo ne-waza.

Teachers, students and family

Associated Martial Arts