自他共栄 jita kyōei Mutual Benefit

自他共栄 is you and others prospering together, which follows when people put their energy to its best use. Its long form is help one another, yield to one another, prosper together. In his essay on the mission of judo, Kanō turned it first on quarrels at home, between persons and between groups, and then on Japan's standing abroad. Whether it is for your training partners or for the wider world is yours.

The phrase is composed of the words 自他 (read jita) meaning "oneself and others" and 共栄 (read kyōei) meaning "mutual prosperity".

The Kodokan Cultural Society, which Kanō Jigorō founded in 1922, carried 自他共栄 in its print that year as the second of judo's two principles, and in a signed essay of 1925 Kanō set its long form, 相助・相譲・自他共栄, as the natural result of the first, 精力善用, the best use of energy; the four characters themselves are in print from 1906, before judo took them up.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 自他共栄.

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