# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/kano-jigoro
# Generated: 2026-08-31T14:41:06.455Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/kano-jigoro"
name: "Kanō Jigorō"
slug: "kano-jigoro"
description: "He built judo from older fighting systems and exported it to the world — the first Japanese martial art to reach the Olympics and the template for the colored-belt ladder everyone now takes for granted."
tagline: "Japanese educator and judoka (1860–1938)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Portrait_of_late_Mr._Kano.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "Japan"
  isoCode: "JP"
category:
  name: "Educators"
  slug: "educators"
profileType:
  name: "Educator"
  slug: "educator"
birthDate: "1860-12-10"
deathDate: "1938-05-04"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           57.24
  momentum:             0.943459350953496
  historical:           24.737728
  currentAttention:     5.241440838630533
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: 18
tags:
  - name: "Business Professionals"
    slug: "business-professionals"
  - name: "Politician"
    slug: "politician"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "Japan"
    slug: "japan"
  - name: "Asia"
    slug: "asia"
  - name: "19th Century"
    slug: "19th-century"
sources:
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    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
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    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Kan%C5%8D%20Jigor%C5%8D"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
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    title: "Jigorō Kanō"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_Ciqoro"
    title: "Kano Ciqoro"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE_%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE"
    title: "Кано Джигоро"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigor%C5%8D_Kan%C5%8D"
    title: "Jigorō Kanō"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigoro_Kano"
    title: "Jigoro Kano"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Džigoró Kanó"
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    title: "Jigoro Kano"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Kanō Jigorō"
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    title: "Κάνο Τζίγκορο"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Kanō Jigorō"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Jigorō Kanō"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigor%C5%8D_Kan%C5%8D"
    title: "Jigorō Kanō"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kan%C5%8D_Jigor%C5%8D"
    title: "Kanō Jigorō"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "کانو جیگورو"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Jigorō Kanō"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Jigorō Kanō"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Jigoro Kano"
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    title: "ג'יגורו קאנו"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Jigoro Kano"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Ջիգորո Կանո"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_Jigoro"
    title: "Kano Jigoro"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://io.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigoro_Kano"
    title: "Jigoro Kano"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ru.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B7%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE_%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%BA%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%88_%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88"
    title: "جيغورو كانو"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%88_%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88"
    title: "جيجورو كانو"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Kanō Jigorō was born 10 December 1860 and trained as an educator before synthesizing judo from classical jujutsu schools in the late 19th century. He coined "maximum efficiency minimal effort" and "mutual welfare and benefit" as guiding principles, then invented the black-and-white belt system and dan rankings that became standard across martial arts. From 1898 to 1901 he directed primary education for Japan's Ministry of Education, then led Tokyo Higher Normal School from 1900 to 1920, using both posts to weave judo and kendo into the national curriculum. In 1909 he became the first Asian on the International Olympic Committee and spent three decades representing Japan at Games, ultimately lobbying for Tokyo to host in 1940. He promoted swimming, athletics, weightlifting, and helped systematize karate in Japan; some credit him as the father of modern Japanese strength training. He died 4 May 1938 with the First Order of Merit and the Grand Order of the Rising Sun, thirty-six years before the Olympics made men's judo official and sixty years before the sport inducted him as the inaugural member of its Hall of Fame.