Kodomo-no-Kata

Kodomo-no-kata (kata for children) is a new judo kata introduced by Kodakan in 2019 in cooperation with the International Judo Federation (IJF) and French Judo Federation.

Kano (Jigoro) Shihan invented Judo after developing the concept of “effective instruction,” which had been little noticed by Ju-jutsu. The new kata can be seen as an extension of his teaching methods.

The focus of Kodokan judo is to promote Judo equally as education for life and not just for competition and the new kata is intended to group together the most important elements children should learn first when they take up Judo.

The kata was designed in response to demand from outside Japan where there are few instructors and it is hoped the new kata will be used as the introduction to Nage-no-kata to effectively teach kata to children.

Resources

• Kodakan website

• BJA website

• French Judo Federation