The symposium, titled “Jigoro Kano and Education: His Legacy and the Challenges of the 21st

The symposium, titled “Jigoro Kano and Education: His Legacy and the Challenges of the 21st Century,” ran from Oct. 1 to 3 at the University of Tsukuba as part of 2026 Tsukuba Global Science Week. Researchers from Japan and abroad gathered to debate Kano’s thought, judo, and the meaning of sport in contemporary society.

Sanada traces Kano’s path from judo founder to educator

On Oct. 2, Hisashi Sanada, director of the Kano memorial center, delivered an introductory presentation titled “Jigoro Kano and Education: A Biography.” He walked through Kano’s life and career as an educator, arguing that Kano’s ideas matter well beyond judo and hold important value for today’s Olympic education and for building character through sport. Sanada also introduced the center’s education and research activities, which are grounded in Kano’s principles, to the international audience.

637 students’ answers reveal how “Sport-Dō” is understood today

On Oct. 1, center researcher Shunsuke Horikawa and colleagues presented a study titled “The Structure of Contemporary Sport Practitioners’ Understanding of ‘Sport-Dō’: A Quantitative Text Analysis of Free-Response Data from University Students.” The researchers analyzed free-response answers from 637 university students who had taken lectures on Kano’s philosophy, laying out the structure and characteristics of how student athletes understand the concept of “Sport-Dō” — the “way” of sport that Kano championed.

Why Kano still matters in 2026

The symposium’s discussions ranged across character formation through judo, internationalization, and the meaning of “dō” — the “way” — in the modern era.