Pages :

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Keiko Fukuda Judo 10th Dan


This new article is not about Taekwondo but about a Japanese woman, she was a Judo legend; she had the opportunity to learn from the best when there were only very few women in the martial arts field.




Keiko Fukuda, Born on April 12, 1913- February 9, 2013, was and still the highest ranked woman in the history of judo. She began training judo in 1935 when the founder Kano Jigoro invited her to study this martial art as a gesture of showing respect to her Grandfather (Fukuda Hachinosuke). That time there were 24 women training judo in the kodokan (Joshi-Bu/women section)
Keiko Fukuda became an instructor in 1937; she was promoted to the 5th Dan in 1953, and she was the first woman to receive the 6th Dan in 1962.




She was holding the 9th Dan rank from the kodokan in 2006, and then later she got the 10th Dan from USA Judo in July 2011 and from the USJF in September 2011.
She was the last surviving student of the founder of judo Kano Jigoro before her death in 2013.
Her grandfather Fukuda Hachinosuke was a samurai and a master of Tenjin Shinyō-ryū jujutsu and he was the first master who taught jujutsu to Kano Jigoro.
Grand master Fudoka who was only 150 cm and weighing about 45 kg, conducted many seminars and also was honored to demonstrate judo techniques with a partner at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.




She published the book Born for the Mat which is a Kodokan kata textbook for women in 1973, and published Ju-No-Kata: A Kodokan textbook, revised and expanded from Born for the Mat.
Fukuda died at the age of 99 at her home in San Francisco on February 9, 2013.
We hope this small article would give some credit to this Judo legend that spent her life inspiring women to practice one of the traditional Japanese martial arts.

3 comments:

  1. I am always getting confused between judo and bjj. I think this two game almost similar. That's why recently I am going to Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in Connecticut center for those confused.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing the info, keep up the good work going.... I really enjoyed exploring your site. good resource... aikido

    ReplyDelete