Jigoro Kano is famous in Japan and world-wide for creating and establishing Kodokan Judo. He was born in Japan on October 28, 1860. He died in Japan on May 4, 1938. His art, Judo, introduced many concepts used in modern martial arts such as "ju" known as softness or gentleness, "kyu" and "dan" rankings with white belts and black belts, colored belts for "kyu" ranks, resistive or competitive practice known as"randori", and repetition training known as "uchikomi". His teachings later traveled to Brazil through his students such as Mitsuyo Maeda and led to the creation of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu through.

Jigoro Kano famously interacted with the founders and practitioners of many modern Japanese martial arts, such as Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido, as well as American and European wrestling and boxing practitioners, all of which inspired his development of Judo.