Jigoro Kano (嘉納 治五郎, 10 December 1860 – 4 May 1938[3]) was a Japanese educator, athlete, and the founder of Judo. Along with Ju-Jutsu, Judo was one of the first Japanese martial arts to gain widespread international recognition, and the first to become an official Olympic sport. Pedagogical innovations attributed to Kanō include the use of black and white belts, and the introduction of dan ranking to show the relative ranking among members of a martial art style. Well-known mottoes attributed to Kanō include "good use of energy" (精力善用 seiryoku zen'yō) and "mutual welfare and benefit" (自他共栄 jita kyōei).

A swordsman of the Hokushin Ittō-ryū, Naitō taught kendo to the Japanese Police force, and was also the first teacher at the Budo Senmon Gakko. He helped to create the Dai Nihon Teikoku Kendo Kata, a group that promulgated the practice of kendo in Japanese schools and universities under the auspices of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai.

Shiro Saigo (西郷四郎, Saigō Shirō, February 4, 1866 – December 22, 1922) was one of the earliest disciples of Judo. Saigo, together with Tsunejiro Tomita, became first in history of judo to be awarded Shodan by the founder of judo Jigoro Kano, who established the kyu-dan ranking system. He was one of the Kōdōkan Shitennō or Four Guardians of the Kodokan along with Yoshitsugu Yamashita, Sakujiro Yokoyama, and Tsunejiro Tomita.

Ryōhei Uchida (内田 良平, Uchida Ryōhei, 11 February 1873 – 26 July 1937) was a Japanese ultranationalist political theorist, Pan-Asianist, and martial artist, active in the pre-war Empire of Japan. He was also an accomplished jūdōka, a favorite of Kanō shihan 師範 (master), one of the three most senior 5th dan rank holders in Kodokan history, and a noted street brawler. He was the son of Shinto Muso-ryu practitioner Uchida Ryōgorō, and from an early age was interested in many forms of Japanese traditional martial arts, including kyūdō, kendo, judo and sumo.

Ogawa Kinnosuke was born in 1884 in Aiichi prefecture. He began kendo whilst in school, at around 13/15 years of age, under kendo hanshi Kato Kiichi and later under Kohori Yasutada. In his late teens and very early 20s he taught kendo at a middle school and joined the army (field gunnery position) before being employed by Nagoya police department. He was a student and later an instructor at the Budo Senmon Gakko, as well as in the Nagoya police. He was a Butokukai hanshi and was Busen's principle kendo instructor in the 1930's and up until 1945.

Mikinosuke Kawaishi (川石 酒造之助, Kawaishi Mikinosuke, born 13 August 1899 – 30 January 1969) was a Japanese master of jujutsu and judo who achieved the rank of 7th Dan. He led the development of Judo in France, with Shozo Awazu, and much of Europe and is credited with introducing the colored belt system for differentiating early grades. However, written accounts from the archives of London's Budokwai judo club, founded in 1918, record the use of colored judo belts at the 1926 9th annual Budokwai Display, and a list of ranked colored judokas appears in the Budokwai Committee Minutes of June 1927. Kawaishi visited London and the Budokwai in 1928, and was probably inspired to bring the colored belt system to France. The Fédération Française posthumously awarded him 10th Dan in judo and jujutsu.

Keiko Fukuda (Japanese: 福田 敬子, Hepburn: Fukuda Keiko, April 12, 1913 – February 9, 2013) was a Japanese-American martial artist. She was the highest-ranked female judoka in history, holding the rank of 9th dan from the Kodokan (2006), and 10th dan from USA Judo (July 2011) and from the United States Judo Federation (USJF) (September 2011), and was the last surviving student of Kanō Jigorō, founder of judo. She was a renowned pioneer of women's judo, together with her senpai Masako Noritomi (1913–1982) being the first woman promoted to 6th dan (c. 1972). In 2006 the Kodokan promoted Fukuda to 9th dan.[8] She is also the first and, so far, only woman to have been promoted to 10th dan in the art of judo.

Kenshiro Abbe was a prominent Japanese master of judo, aikido, and kendo. He introduced aikido to the United Kingdom in 1955, and founded the Kyushindo system. Abbe was a graduate of the Budo Senmon Gakko, having studied judo and kendo there. Following an illustrious early career in the martial arts, he served in the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II. He then trained in aikido under its founder, Morihei Ueshiba, for a decade. Abbe held dan ranks in several martial arts, most notably 8th dan in judo, 6th dan in aikido, and 6th dan in kendo. After introducing aikido to the UK, he established several Japanese martial arts councils there during the late 1950s. He returned to Japan in 1964 and remained there for most of the remainder of his life.

Takahiko Ishikawa (石川隆彦, Ishikawa Takahiko, 1917–2008) was an All Japan Judo Champion. In the 1949 All-Japan Judo Championships Tahahiko fought Masahiko Kimura to a draw. In the following year he became the champion and subsequently placed three more times in the semi-finals and then retired.

Kobayashi Kiyoshi (小林清) was the «father» of Portuguese Judo and one of the founders of the Portuguese Judo Federation, and the greatest promoter of Judo in Portugal. Sensei Kobayashi was one of the highest grades in the world, 9th dan given Kodokan by in 1999.

Morihiro Saito (斉藤 守弘 Saitō Morihiro) was a teacher of the Japanese martial art of aikido, with many students around the world. Saito's practice of aikido spanned 56 years, from the age of 18, when he first met aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba, until his death in 2002. The kind of aikido that Saito's students do is often referred to as Iwama aikido or Iwama style. In Europe, Saito, along with many of his students, formed a dan-ranking network of dojos called Iwama Ryu, with ranks received directly from Saito rather than or in addition to those from the Aikikai although Saito never left that organization.

Ivan Gene LeBell (October 9, 1932 – August 9, 2022) was an American judoka, stuntman, actor and professional wrestler. Nicknamed "Judo Gene" and "The Godfather of Grappling", he is credited with popularizing grappling in professional fighting circles, serving as a precursor to modern mixed martial arts. He worked on over 1,000 films and TV shows and authored 12 books.