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Judo Affiliations & Federations (2026)

Judo has no national franchise — no chain of identical dojos the way some martial arts do. Instead, a dojo affiliates with a national governing body (USA Judo, USJA, or USJF) or trains under a traditional lineage (Kodokan, Tenri). That affiliation is about insurance, rank certification, and tournament access — not a shared storefront. Here's the small, honest table we can identify from our directory, and the richer question it points to: what else do these dojos teach? Updated 2026-07-19.

Governing bodies & lineages

These are the national governing bodies and traditional lineages we can identify by dojo name and public listing across the 856 dojos in the directory, ranked by how many affiliated dojos we found. An affiliation in judo isn't a brand franchise — it signals insurance, standardized kyu/dan (belt) rank certification, and access to sanctioned shiai competition, which is why so many dojos carry one.

#	Affiliation	Dojos in directory
1	Kodokan	12
2	USA Judo	3
3	Tenri Judo	2
4	United States Judo Association (USJA)	1
5	United States Judo Federation (USJF)	1

Most dojos in the directory are independent clubs: 837 — 97.8% don't name a governing body or lineage in our data (many small community clubs simply don't list one publicly, even when they carry insurance through one). And an affiliation is a starting point, not a guarantee — every dojo is still its own room and its own sensei, so the instructor's rank and lineage, the culture, and how well beginners are looked after matter as much as the name over the door. New to the ranks? See judo belts & ranks.

What else do judo dojos teach?

Judo dojos are rarely single-art. 65.7% of them also train at least one other martial art, an average of 2.6 other disciplines each — many American judo clubs are really full grappling houses. Self-Defense is the most common companion art, on the schedule at 51.6% of dojos.

Discipline	Judo dojos that also teach it	Share of all dojos
Self-Defense	442	51.6%
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu	406	47.4%
Wrestling	194	22.7%
MMA	179	20.9%
Karate	146	17.1%
Sambo	47	5.5%
Aikido	43	5%

Browse any of these as its own layer — every dojo that pairs judo with, say, Brazilian jiu-jitsu or wrestling — from the disciplines directory. Weighing arts against each other? Start with judo vs BJJ.

How many arts under one roof?

Counting judo plus every other art a dojo trains, the typical dojo is a small club, not a one-style studio. The most common profile is a dojo teaching judo plus 0 other arts. Only 294 dojos show judo on its own so far — and some of those simply haven't had their full schedule surface in our crawl yet.

Other arts taught (besides judo)	Dojos
Judo only (so far)	294
+ 1 other art	133
+ 2 other arts	160
+ 3 other arts	125
+ 4 other arts	97
+ 5 other arts	41
+ 6 other arts	6

These are evidence floors — a dojo counts an art only once its website or a reviewer names it — so single-art counts shrink as the crawl fills in.

Cite this data

Suggested attribution: “Judo Affiliations & Federations” — JudoClasses.net, 2026, linked to https://www.judoclasses.net/judo-stats/chains/. The tables are CC BY 4.0: chart them, quote them, publish them — just link back. Want a custom cut (by state, metro, or discipline)? Email us.

Download the full CSV Data updated 2026-07-19

Methodology: affiliation assignment comes from dojo names, their websites, and public governing-body and club listings; a dojo is counted independent unless it clearly names a known governing body or lineage. The disciplines mix is mined from each dojo's website and its customer reviews — a discipline counts only when named in the dojo's own copy or a reviewer's words, never guessed from the business category — so all shares are floors that grow with each re-crawl of our 856-dojo directory. Share = dojos teaching that art ÷ all directory dojos. We are not affiliated with any dojo, governing body, or federation. More data: the stats hub and America's judo capitals.