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 Judo Championships. Canada's greatest success in international competition, however, has been at the Pan American Games, with a total of 76 medals ranging from gold to bronze awarded since 1967 (see '' for lists of the results). Judo is also practised by visually impaired athletes, and became a Paralympic sport in 1988 for men and 2004 for women. While often referred to as 'blind judo', it includes athletes with three different levels of visual impairment, all of whom may compete against one another so long as they are in the same weight category. The only differences between Olympic and Paralympic