Reflexive modernization and the disembedding of Judo from 1946 to the 2000 Sydney Olympics

This article considers some of the sociologically significant changes to jūdō in its process of transformation from a Budō based martial art into a modern competitive spectator sport. Taking the period of time from 1946 until the Sydney Olympics, an examination is undertaken using Giddens’s notion of reflexive modernization in which key aspects of the original jūdō are disembedded or ‘lifted out’ of the practice. They are then re-embedded with western structures, practices and meanings. Central themes to emerge from this analysis are the social forces of internationalization, institutionalization and commodification of jūdō over this period, each of which contributes to a reflexive modernization process. It is concluded that the evolution of this activity in its now dominant sporting form is taking jūdō further and further away from the aims, methods and ideas derived from the philosophical principles on which it was originally conceived. Ironically, in spite of this, it appears that many western practitioners are attempting to re-embed the very aspects of eastern movement forms, such as Budō, that have been disembedded, a situation that prompts us to call for further work in this area.