Most popular martial art in Japan?

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cino

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What is the most practiced martial art in japan? Karate, Judo, Aikido, JJJ? None of the above? How popular are TKD and Kung Fu there?
 
Martial arts aren't very popular but if I chose one I'd choose Judo since it's got such a huge scholastic anchor.

I'd rank them like this.

Judo<---->Karate<->Kendo<--->Aikido<->Boxing<------->TKD<----Kung Fu<----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->JJJ
 
Calibur said:
Martial arts aren't very popular but if I chose one I'd choose Judo since it's got such a huge scholastic anchor.

I'd rank them like this.

Judo<---->Karate<->Kendo<--->Aikido<->Boxing<------->TKD<----Kung Fu<----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->JJJ
Click to expand...

Calibur,

Where would wrestling fit? After JJJ?
 
Went to a open mat for judo in okinawa and it was around 30 black belts. I was talking to him and they take it as a elective in high school starting freshman year and when they graduate they are awarded black belts in 4 years
 
Would have been so sick if Judo was a gym class in America...

When these kids do karate/judo in school, do they generally wear a gi? Do these high schools also incorporate sparring?

Do you think martial arts are more common then sports like basketball,baseball, soccer, etc?
 
Judo. I would say kendo is more popular than karate. Karate is not as popular as you would think.
 
mattemate said:
Judo. I would say kendo is more popular than karate. Karate is not as popular as you would think.
Click to expand...

major edit

I (should have) put kendo higher because it's institutionalized. It can be part of a high school curriculum and you can get a University degree in Kendo. Police are expected to practice Kendo if they don't do Judo.

Karate is everywhere but it's not connected to the school system or police like Kendo is. It's a business not much different than it is in the US and it has peaks and valleys so kendo could be considered higher on consistency alone since it's more entrenched in Japanese infrastructure.

But I still see a lot more kids run around in karate gis than I see people running around with kendo gear. Also (maybe due to my kakutogi circles) I know a lot more adults who train hard karate styles
 
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Calibur said:
Martial arts aren't very popular but if I chose one I'd choose Judo since it's got such a huge scholastic anchor.

I'd rank them like this.

Judo<---->Karate<->Kendo<--->Aikido<->Boxing<------->TKD<----Kung Fu<----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->JJJ
Click to expand...

How big are the koryu arts over there, out of interest? Do they have much popularity due to cultural history or are they relatively small?
 
cino said:
Would have been so sick if Judo was a gym class in America...

When these kids do karate/judo in school, do they generally wear a gi? Do these high schools also incorporate sparring?

Do you think martial arts are more common then sports like basketball,baseball, soccer, etc?
Click to expand...

Gi judo with randori at the end everytime I've seen. I hear they're more careful about pairing people up since Judo deaths tend to occur when a large Jr high school child tosses a young jr high school child.

Soccer, baseball and track and field whoop the snot out of Judo and every other MA in terms of participation.
 
cino said:
Would have been so sick if Judo was a gym class in America...

When these kids do karate/judo in school, do they generally wear a gi? Do these high schools also incorporate sparring?

Do you think martial arts are more common then sports like basketball,baseball, soccer, etc?
Click to expand...

The kids did wear gis in Judo from what I remember and they did spar. It was a gym class so it had a lot of kids in it. However, the team sports like baseball, soccer, basketball, etc. were very popular with the high school students. The kids would stay after school for about three to fours hours practicing. This was my experience in Okinawa. I think main land would be similar.
 
Calibur said:
Tough to rank. To me Sumo is more of a life choice than anything else...if that makes sense.

AFAIK there is no such thing as a casual sumo wrestler.
Click to expand...

My impression is that it's more of a cultural artifact than a sport. I know the state sponsors wrestlers and that they tend to live together at the gym. I can't really think of an analogue in America.
 
Osstopher McGi said:
How big are the koryu arts over there, out of interest? Do they have much popularity due to cultural history or are they relatively small?
Click to expand...

Tough to say. It's a niche thing and it's not my niche so I couldnt tell you. I saw more Kobudo in the US than I do hear. That might be more popular in Okinawa. Jujutsu is rare enough that if you mention it to a normal japanese person they have to wrack their brain to figure out what you're talking about and even then they wouldn't know what the martial art was about.

Japanese archery is fairly common though....if you count that.
 
Uchi Mata said:
My impression is that it's more of a cultural artifact than a sport. I know the state sponsors wrestlers and that they tend to live together at the gym. I can't really think of an analogue in America.
Click to expand...

yeah, they typically live in a house where they get physically and psychologically abused. Generally speaking, Japanese are more acustomed to taking abuse than any westerner who was never in the military. Even than living in sumo stables is too much for most of them, so you don't have Japanese kids joining. Recently I've been training with this 13 year old who is absolutely massive and super tough. I am a sturdy lad and this kid can put crazy pressure on my neck and spine with no problem.

Turns out his dad owns a nearby sumo stable but the sumo life is too roughfor him. Tuypical story. Instead you've got monguls and eastern europeanscoming over and dominating the most traditional japanese sport and the most die hard conservative Japanese spectators have to accept it because young Japanese want no part of the sport.
 
cino said:
Would have been so sick if Judo was a gym class in America...

When these kids do karate/judo in school, do they generally wear a gi? Do these high schools also incorporate sparring?

Do you think martial arts are more common then sports like basketball,baseball, soccer, etc?
Click to expand...

Would be nice. I got a Physical education credit my junior year (half credit) for training judo/aikido but it took convincing to get it.
 
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