First (and only) female judo master dies at age 99

[Martok]

She sounds like she was a cool old lady; I would have liked to have met her.  RIP Ms. Fukuda. 

Keiko Fukuda, who has died aged 99, was the only woman to be awarded a 10th dan in judo, the martial art's highest rank.

That she received this accolade only in 2011, when she was 98, was probably due to her gender; she had been promoted to 5th dan in 1953, and in old age reflected: "They decided women didn't need any better ranks than fifth degree. I was fifth degree for 30 years."

Standing 4ft 10in tall and weighing less than 100lb, Keiko Fukuda took up judo in her native Japan when she was in her early twenties having been schooled in the traditional arts of calligraphy, flower arrangement and the intricacies of the tea ceremony.

Instead of marrying, however, she devoted herself to her martial art and in the 1960s moved to the United States, becoming a revered teacher of judo in California. She eventually took American citizenship.

Keiko Fukuda was born in Tokyo on April 12 1913. Her grandfather, Hachinosuke Fukuda, was a member of the samurai class and had taught ju-jitsu to Jigoro Kano, who founded Japanese judo at his school in Tokyo, the Kodokan, in 1882.

Keiko Fukuda enrolled at the Kodokan in 1935, shortly after Kano had inaugurated classes for women, and was one of only two dozen girls in the school. She also took a degree in Japanese Literature at Showa Women's University.

By 1953 she was a 5th dan, and in that year was invited to teach at a judo club in Oakland, California. She stayed for two years, then returned to her homeland. In 1966 she was asked back to California, where she was offered a job teaching at Mills College, Oakland, a post she filled from 1967 to 1978.

Meanwhile, Keiko Fukuda established her Soko Joshi Judo Club for women practitioners, which continues to this day in San Francisco. She also taught in Australia, Canada, France, Norway and the Philippines, and is widely credited with the creation of more opportunities for women wishing to practise judo.

In 2006, the Kodokan in Tokyo — the headquarters of the worldwide judo community — awarded her the 9th dan, the first time it had bestowed this rank on a woman. The award in 2011 of 10th dan, however, was not from the Kodokan but from USA Judo, the national governing body in America.

Keiko Fukuda, who received Japan's Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1990, was the subject of a documentary entitled Mrs Judo: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful.

She published two textbooks: Born for the Mat (1973) and Ju-No-Kata (2005).


Keiko Fukuda, born April 12 1913, died February 10 2013

[Jarhead0331]

She wasn't a "kung fu" master if she was a "10th dan in Judo."  That would make her a Judo master.  Just sayin'.

[Martok]

Well that's embarrassing.  :-[  What makes it worse is I genuinely meant to type in "judo" in the first place; not even sure how "kung-fu" got into my head. 

Guess I should think about hitting the sack pretty soon... 

[LongBlade]

Not sure how it works in Judo. Generally speaking there is a line, after which most of the ranks are...nebulous. It's not fair to say honorary, but bestowing rank beyond a certain level is someswhat subjective. Typically in Karate it's 3rd dan. In Kendo it's sixth.

So I'm not completely surprised it was an American body that awarded her the 10th dan.

But take a look at this:

Her grandfather, Hachinosuke Fukuda, was a member of the samurai class and had taught ju-jitsu to Jigoro Kano, who founded Japanese judo at his school in Tokyo, the Kodokan, in 1882.

That's quite a legacy. Curious it wasn't recognized by a Japanese body.