Judo in Canada Sasaki's students went on to establish their own dojos across Canada. The Canadian Kodokan Black Belt Association was incorporated in 1956 and recognized by the International Judo Federation in 1958. Now known as Judo Canada, it is the national governing body and a federation of associations in each of the ten provinces and three territories. Today, an estimated 30,000 Canadians participate in Judo programs in approximately 400 clubs across Canada. Judo uses a hierarchical ranking system divided into "kyū" and "dan" grades that its founder, Jigoro Kano, adapted from the ranking system for the traditional board game Go. "Kyū" grades
Judo in Canada aspects of Judo. The most complete history of Canadian Judo is Glynn Leyshon's "Judoka: the history of Judo in Canada" (1998). However, while Leyshon is Professor Emeritus of Kinesiology at the University of Western Ontario, "Judoka" is a popular history published by Judo Canada rather than an academic study. Anne Doré's article "Japanese-Canadian Sport History in the Fraser Valley: Judo and Baseball in the Interwar Years" (2002) and Joseph Svinth's book "Getting a Grip: Judo in the Nikkei Communities of the Pacific Northwest, 1900-1950" (2003) both address the history of Judo in British Columbia. Luiz Moraes' PhD thesis in Education