Tactical – technical preparation of judo athletes participating in Japan championships

“White – red stripes” tournaments in which Jigoro Kano school children participated have been treated as first at tempts to organize judo competitions in Japan. Confron ta tions with schools of ju-jutsu had a character of rivalry to de monstrate the effectiveness of judo techniques in fight and were aimed at promoting moral-education models propagated by J. Kano Watson [1], Kodokan Institute [2]. Although the creator of judo was skeptical about judo as a sports competition, he acted actively from 1909 in structures of the Interna tional Olympic Committee promoting judo. The first official Championship of Japan (in open category) were held in 1930. Contemporary sports results gained by Japan competitors during the World Championship and the Olympic Games let rank Japanese team among the most effective ones. The objective of the study was to determine characteristic features of the technical-tactical preparation of aboveaverage Japanese judokas. Material and methods