The era of samurai rule came to an end with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, and Western culture began filtering in into Japanese society. Jujitsu fell into decline, but the enthusiasm of one young man rescued it from extinction. That man was Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo as we know it today. Kano excelled in schoolwork but had an inferiority complex about his small physique. So he became an a..