New book coming up!

[Neil Yamamoto]

http://ejmas.com/judobook/index.htm

Since Joe won't spam the board, I will.

Joe's new book, Getting a Grip: Judo in the Nikkei Communities of the Pacific Northwest, 1900-1950 is due in June 2003.

Having helped scan pictures and having read most of the material, I can highly recommend this book since it does what other judo books don't do, tells the story about how judo played a large important part in the community and why it continues to do so today in the Pacific Northwest.

The pictures are alone worth the cost to history buffs or those who can't read well. :D

So, follow the link above and pre-order your copy now!

[John Lindsey]

I will have to put Joe and his book in a "spotlight on budo" forum if he is up to the task.

[Joseph Svinth]

The book is at long last at the printer's. The tribulations of getting it there could result in a book itself, but probably nobody but Ellis, Don, and other folks who have self-published a book would fully appreciate the stories.

So, suffice it to say that the research was the easy part. Nonetheless, with luck, the book should be out by June.

Buy boxes for all your friends, too, otherwise I'll have a garage full of firestarter and no money with which to buy matches.

Oh. For sample chapters, see

http://aikinews.com/articles/_article.asp?ArticleID=996
http://www.michionline.org/fall00/page14.html

[D.Kaiser]

Mr Svinth, any chance you have included information on the Fairchild AFB Judo club and the Sekikan Judo club here in Spokane, WA?

[Joseph Svinth]

Fairchild only got a short mention. First, it shows up at the tail end of the era. Second, it was established as the result of SAC policies. Thus, it doesn't have a lot to do with JA clubs. That said, I have written about it in detail elsewhere -- see http://ejmas.com/jnc/jncart_svinth_0201.htm . The 1960s would be worth documenting, too, as Robey Reed was active at Fairchild in those days. Meanwhile, Stu Bush was at McChord, and George Wilson was at Ft. Lewis.

Sei Ki Kai rates a chapter, though. As you probably know, Sei Ki Kai dates to the late 1930s, and is the only surviving Tentoku Kan affiliate. Thus, it's the second-oldest active club in Washington. (Seattle Dojo, formally established in 1907, is of course much older.)

Richard Yamamoto (no relation to Neil) was still active at Sei Ki Kai when I was doing my research. Hopefully, he is still healthy and well. Another longtime Sei Ki Kai instructor (the brother of the club founder, actually) is now in California, where he's some kind of mucketymuck in the Nanka grading committee.

A couple pictures, too, including one that shows who was there when the Sei Ki Kan kanji was unveiled for the first time in 1940. (The 2600th anniversary of the legendary founding of the Empire, and all that.)

[Walker]

Joe - you’re such a stud puppy.
The dream is realized and the nightmare begins. :D

[D.Kaiser]

Excellent Mr Svinth. I was active for a while in the Seikikan in the mid '70s and Yamamoto Sensei was my instructor. I have also heard some of the history of this dojo going back to the '30s. Back in the day, if you wanted to do Judo or Aikido in Spokane you went to the Seikikan Dojo.

BTW, did you ever work for the 81st Bde S-1 in '90-91? I used to call my Bn's weekly strength reports into a SGT Svinth when I worked in the Bn S-1 Section.

[Joseph Svinth]

That was me. I was later readiness NCO of HHC Brigade. Then they called me up the drill right after Annual Training, and asked me if I wanted an early out.

The Seattle judo research started a couple weeks later.

***

Re Spokane Dojo, the founder of the club was Takeo Horiuchi. Born in Seattle, Horiuchi began studying judo at the Seattle Dojo around 1926. Two years later he quit the Seattle Dojo for the newly formed Kurosaka Dojo, which later became Tentoku Kan. By the mid-1930s, Horiuchi was among the best judoka in the Northwest (his peers included Fife’s Masato Tamura), and as a result he was promoted to 2-dan in November 1935. So, when he moved to Spokane in 1937, community leaders became excited about the idea of having their own Kodokan judo club. To advertise the proposed organization, Horiuchi gave a judo demonstration during the dedication of Spokane’s Grant Street Church, with its predominantly Japanese congregation, on April 24, 1938.

The Spokane Dojo was established in a storeroom of Spokane’s Nichi Baye Hotel on December 10, 1938. Besides providing the space (the workout area measured about 25’ x 35’) the hotel, which was operated by Shioji Yamamoto and his family, also provided the showers. Soiled uniforms meanwhile were washed for free at the nearby Nishifue laundry. Training took place Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings at 6:30 p.m. As in many prewar Northwest judo clubs, the mat was canvas over sawdust.

On January 7, 1940, Tentoku Kan's Tatsuo Yorita, 4-dan, Susumu Nitta, 4-dan, and Hideo Hama, 3-dan, visited Spokane Dojo. After Yorita and Nitta showed nage-no-kata, Hama renamed the Spokane Dojo the Seiki Kan. Although not literally translatable, sei means "moral justice" or "righteousness," ki describes the psychic and spiritual connections between body and mind, and kan means "hall." Next, a club patron named Motoyoshi Kurusu handed out some inspirational awards, and finally, the moment the boys had been waiting for -- everyone went to dinner at the Palace Café.

***

Tatsuo Yorita got married shortly after, and left judo, but Susuma Nitta was a leader of the Seattle Dojo during the late 1940s and early 1950s, and Hideo Hama was influential in Chicago judo during the 1950s and 1960s.

[D.Kaiser]

Thanks for the info, I'll pick up a copy of your book when it comes out. A bit of trivia, H.E. Davey of the Kokusai Budoin and the Shudokan Martial Arts association and the author of a book on Aiki Jujutsu received his Shodan in Judo from the Seikikan Dojo and his father was the dojo director for quite some time. BTW, I was cleaning out some old magazines and found a copy of Judo Illustraded Magazine from Sep '73 with a very short article and a couple of pics (1937) of the Seattle Judo Dojo. If you do not have this magazine or a copy of the article please e-mail me and I will send it to you.