It looks like I'm going to get the opportunity to interview 93 year old judo Master Fukuda, who studied directly under Jigoro Kano and whose grandfather was one of the two primary jujutsu masters who taught Kano from which he devised judo. Does anyone have any history questions they might like asked?
I would like to know anything and everything about the Kosen school.
OK, thanks Ridgeback
Fukuda is the higest ranking woman in the world. she is easily one of the most knowledgeable kata people in the world, if not the top.
i do not know how much she'd be able to answer about kosen judo. it is a little practiced off-shoot of judo. id imagine youd be able to get more accurate information from another source.
if you want to ask her something, ask her what her experiences were as a young woman in judo. what her experienced were like through WWII. what her lifelong goals in judo have been. what she would like to see in the future of judo.
wether Kanos techniques were any different from that which he was taught or wether kano's adjustment of jiu-jitsu was more to do with its instructional format than any change in techniques.
Josh, Rick and others, thanks for all the suggestions, I will definitely do my homework before speaking with her
rsparks.
youll find a lot of historians debating quite a few of those "facts" with you, or at least giving a different POV about how they transipred exactly. i dont know enough to go into detail about it.
make sure to ask her where she first began learnirg judo, when she came to the USA (i am assuming she was born in Japan), how many other women were learning judo at the time, what the most signifigant changes in judo have been in her eyes, etc....
fats,
why are you doing the interview? is this going to be published somewhere? i don't have any specific questions, but this interview sounds like it would be a really interesting read.
joe
she is like the GI Jane of Judo, man....
Definitely find out more info on Fusen Ryu--especially it's teachers. From what I gathered, the Fusen Ryu school that focused on newaza was not of the main Fusen Ryu school.
Find out if they used the guard or if it was "created" by the Gracies.
ask her if she thinks that judo should name non-scoring positions as well as scoring positions...
ie. judo doesn't really have a name for the turtle!, guard, etc. and this really comes into play on groundwork and grip fighting wherein many moves don't get scored...but set-up a finish/throw that will get scored/named.
just a pet peeve of mine ;o)
Pretty awesome opportunity!
Yeah, anyone who has studied some humanities/social sciences realizes that POVs come into play with history, etc....no biggie, we just gotta keep it in mind...