Mrs. Judo
Sat Oct 26, 2013 3:30 PM EDT
Josiah Quincy School, Chinatown (885 Washington St., Boston)
Description
"Mrs. Judo: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful" documents the life-long journey of Keiko Fukuda’s decision to defy thousands of years of tradition, choose her own path, and become judo history’s only woman to attain the pinnacle 10th degree black belt.
Fukuda was born into an upper-class samurai family in Tokyo, where the path for women was to marry. But Fukuda’s life was predestined two generations earlier when her grandfather (a jiujitsu master) became the first teacher for Jigoro Kano, who went on to develop judo. When she was 21, Fukuda was invited by Kano, to join the newly formed women’s division of the Kodokan (the home of judo).
In 1966, Fukuda immigrated to the U.S. and settled in San Francisco during the height of the women’s movement and opened her own judo club. One of her students, Dr. Shelley Fernandez was the president of NOW. Fernandez took on the cause of judo inequality for women and petitioned to have Fukuda promoted to 6th degree after she was frozen at 5th degree for 30 years.
Fukuda passed on February 9, 2013. She was 99 years old, and had taught judo in San Francisco until just before her death. She was last direct student of judo’s founder, Jigoro Kano.
Fukuda was born into an upper-class samurai family in Tokyo, where the path for women was to marry. But Fukuda’s life was predestined two generations earlier when her grandfather (a jiujitsu master) became the first teacher for Jigoro Kano, who went on to develop judo. When she was 21, Fukuda was invited by Kano, to join the newly formed women’s division of the Kodokan (the home of judo).
In 1966, Fukuda immigrated to the U.S. and settled in San Francisco during the height of the women’s movement and opened her own judo club. One of her students, Dr. Shelley Fernandez was the president of NOW. Fernandez took on the cause of judo inequality for women and petitioned to have Fukuda promoted to 6th degree after she was frozen at 5th degree for 30 years.
Fukuda passed on February 9, 2013. She was 99 years old, and had taught judo in San Francisco until just before her death. She was last direct student of judo’s founder, Jigoro Kano.
Location
Josiah Quincy School, Chinatown (885 Washington St., Boston)