Sensei Keiko Fukuda

[GeneChing]

Fukuda Sensei was previously mentioned on our World Congress on Qigong and TCM in San Francisco thread.

Judo master makes 10th degree black belt
Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, August 6, 2011


Lance Iversen / The Chronicle
Sensei Keiko Fukuda of S.F. became the first woman to be promoted to judo's highest level.

After 98 years, the phone call finally came.

Last week, Sensei Keiko Fukuda of San Francisco became the first woman to be promoted to judo's highest level: 10th degree black belt.

Only three people in the world, all men living in Japan, have ever reached that mark.

The martial arts promotion by USA Judo brought 98-year-old Fukuda to tears at the women's dojo where she still teaches in Noe Valley. (Fukuda was the subject of a Chronicle Datebook profile on July 25.)

She gave up marriage and left her homeland to dedicate her life to judo, fighting gender discrimination that kept her at lower belt levels decades longer than men less skilled than she.

"The time was right," said U.S. Judo Federation promotion board member Eiko Saito Shepherd.

A celebration is being planned for mid-October to coincide with Fukuda's annual International Kata Championship at San Francisco City College.

"All my life," Fukuda said, "this has been my dream."

[Lucas]

Wow!!! Serious congratulations to her.

[sanjuro_ronin]

When I am old as dust, I want to get a Judan too !!

[Lucas]

dust is very yielding!!!

[Mulong]

A 98-year-old woman who dedicated much of her life to judo has earned the martial art's highest honor.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Sensei Keiko Fukuda was awarded a tenth-degree black belt. She is the first woman and one of only four people to achieve that rank.

When she lived in Japan as a young girl, Fukuda studied calligraphy, flower arrangement and tea ceremony, according to Nerve.com.

A clip from the documentary Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful explained that Fukuda endured gender discrimination and chose Judo over marriage in order to pursue her dream. (Scroll down for video.)

"This was my marriage," Fukuda said through tears. "This is when my life destiny was set."

News of Fukuda's accomplishment comes one week after a story about an 82-year-old skydiving grandma and a separate piece about a 99-year-old woman who loves Nintendo.

WATCH a clip from Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_921212.html

[Lucas]

You're late!!! But to your credit, it is a different article.

http://kungfumagazine.com/forum/show...27#post1121327

[SPJ]

if you may live to 98 Y.O. or almost a century

that is an achievement already.

[GeneChing]

In immeasurable loss to the martial world.

USA Judo

10th Dan Keiko Fukuda,
Last Student of Jigoro Kano, passes

Keiko Fukuda, the first woman awarded the rank of 10th dan in judo, passed away yesterday in San Francisco. She was 99.

“This is a dream come true,” Fukuda said in the summer of 2011, shortly after she was awarded judo’s highest rank by USA Judo, the national governing body for the Olympic sport in the United States.

Fukuda’s first reaction was “total surprise,” according to her caretaker, Shelley Fernandez, interviewed at the time. Then came a sense of great pride, “especially knowing that this promotion would help women’s judo,” Fukuda told Fernandez.

The last surviving student of the founder of judo, Jigoro Kano, Fukuda had separated from tradition as a young woman, choosing to train in judo under Kano rather than marry.

Fukuda eventually followed Kano’s wish that she and other students teach judo around the world. She came to the United States to do just that in 1966. She became a leader in women’s rights by example and voice, forcing away the ceiling that had prevented her from ascending in rank sooner.

Fukuda’s life is the subject of a documentary, ”Mrs. Judo: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful.” Go to the website for trailers to the film at http://www.mrsjudomovie.com/film/the-trailer/

USA Judo will report details on services as soon as they are available.

By Ernest Pund, USA Judo Communications