Kodokan Judo was founded by Kano Jigoro Shihan, who as a youth began practicing Jujutsu* as a way to strengthen his frail body. Kano studied both the Tenjin Shinyo-ryu and Kito-ryu styles of classical Jujutsu, eventually mastering their deepest teachings, and supplemented this training with an avid interest in other combative forms as well. Integrating what he considered the positive points of these with his own ideas and inspirations, he established a revised body of physical technique, and also transformed the traditional Jujutsu principle of "defeating strength through flexibility" into a new principle of "maximum efficient use of physical and mental energy." The result was a new theoretical and technical system that Kano felt better matched the needs of modern people.
The essence of this system he expressed in the axiom "maximum efficient use of energy", a concept he considered both a cornerstone of martial arts and a principle useful in many aspects of life. Practical application of this principle, he felt, could contribute much to human and social development, including "mutual prosperity for self and others", which he identified as the proper goal of training. What Kano had created transcended mere technique to embrace a set of principles for perfecting the self. To reflect this, he replaced jutsu (technique) in the word "Ju-jutsu" with the suffix do (path) to create a new name for his art: judo. His training hall he named "Ko-do-kan," or "a place to teach the path."

   Kano has also been lauded as "the father of Japanese physical education." As principal of Tokyo Higher Normal School, he established a general physical education faculty aimed at training teachers capable of bringing quality physical education to Japan's youth. He also helped found the Japan Amateur Sports Association (Japan Sport Association), and in 1909 he became the first Asian member of the International Olympic Committee.

     Kano traveled abroad thirteen times, lecturing and demonstrating Judo in order to introduce his art to people around the world.
Today, the International Judo Federation includes representatives from about 200 countries and regions (as of 2013), with practitioners from all walks of life donning judo uniforms and stepping onto the mat to forge their minds, bodies, and spirits.
The following is a part of the preamble in the statutes of the International Judo Federation.

    Judo was created in 1882 by Kano Jigoro Shihan. As an educational method derived from the martial arts, judo became an official Olympic sport in 1964 (after being named as a demonstration sport at the 1940 Tokyo Olympic Games which were cancelled due to international conflict). Judo is a highly codified sport in which the mind controls the expression of the body and is a sport which contributes to educating individuals.

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      In 1923, Jigoro Kano opened a women's section. He focused on the technical study and on the kata and did not allow the practice in competition that he considered dangerous to the health of future mothers. Keiko Fukuda, who is the grand daughter of Hachinosuke Fukuda, who taught jujutsu to Kano, dedicated her life to spreading women's judo throughout the world.

     Beyond competitions and combat, judo involves technical research, practice of katas, self-defense work, physical preparation and sharpening of spirit. As a discipline derived from ancestral traditions, judo was designed by its Master Founder as an eminently modern and progressive activity.