04 October 2009

The Kôdôkan Emblem

The Kôdôkan Emblem

Because the Kôdôkan is the original location for jûdô, its symbol can be seen in many dôjô throughout the world. As a symbol, displays can be found with and without the Japanese characters, kanji, for jû (柔), meaning gentleness, suppleness, yielding, or flexibility, and dô (道), meaning way, road, path, or teaching.

Many students have asked what this eight-petaled symbol means. There have been many answers given to this from the mundane cherry blossom to the extraordinary symbolism of Happo no Kuzushi. The only correct answer is the Yata no Kagami (八咫鏡、やたのかがみ).

Yata no Kagami



The Kôdôkan emblem is the Yata no Kagami. The Yata no Kagami is, according to history of Japan, one of the three gifts the Gods gave the first Japanese emperor to prove his “Divine Descendence.” The actual Yata no Kagami is currently believed to be enshrined in the inner sanctuary, naiku, at the Shintô temple of Ise.

Dr. Jigoro Kano designed this as the badge of the Kodokan and placed in the middle a red spot which represented the sun.


Yata has two meanings: (1) Eight sided, (2) Immeasurable, being of great height, depth, width, etc.

The colour (sic) of Yata no Kagami is white to represent purity, and the centre (sic) is red to represent the sun, which is the centre (sic) of our solar system, round which we depend for our life. In Japan many years ago the sun was thought to be the face of God and thus the truth.”

-from “The Story of the Kôdôkan Badge, Senta Yamada, 6th Dan

The Cherry Blossom


Many western jûdô students and clubs erroneously believe that the symbol is a cherry blossom. Much of this confusion can be attributed to miscommunication and the attribution by Draeger and Ishikawa in Judo Training Methods. The classical jûjustu ryuha frequently used the cherry blossom as a symbol.

One reason the cherry blossom was frequently a symbol for jûjutsu-ryu was that the cherry blossom was considered an especially beautiful and important symbol for Japanese samurai because at the height of its beauty it would inevitably fall to the ground to die. Samurai also had to be willing to sacrifice themselves in their prime, and the cherry blossom was evidence that this is the natural way of things and could even be beautiful and pure. Life is as delicate and light as the falling petals, and there is a natural time for all beautiful things to end. The samurai strove to understand the nature of life and death by meditating on the blossom of the cherry tree. This peace was tempered by the inner strength, power, and fighting spirit represented by the circle of red. Through the study of attack and defense in Judo we learn to harmonize our spirit and body, learning to both fight hard and let go softly.

Draeger and Ishikawa offer an interesting reasoning in this excerpt of their book, Judo Training Methods.

The standard emblem of the Kodokan is an 8 petaled flower of the cherry tree. It was adopted by feudal Samurai because the flower is detached from the branch at the apogee of its beauty in order to die. It symbolizes a degree of maturity within the individual which is summarized by the expression, "Strong within, but gentle without." The fire red color of the center of the emblem indicates the "fire" or "ardor" of the individual. The spirit of the Kodokan combines the strength of iron forged to red heat inside the silk, supple, and white flower. This is symbolic of the union of body strength and resistant suppleness and flexibility of the pure spirit developed by the Judo exponent of black belt grade. It is a sign of personal attainment.

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