Kuwashima and Welch

[Prince Loeffler]

I recently found an old Judo book by Shozo Kuwashima and Ashbel Welch. The book is printed in 1942. I tried googling for the authors and so far I found only the basic info on Shozo Kuwashima but hardly anything about Ashbel Welch. According to the book, Welch was an isurance broker who started in Jujitsu / Judo. Does anyone knows what became of Ashbel Welch ?

Thanks

[Joseph Svinth]

I don't know anything about Welch, and not much more about Kuwashima.

In 1935, the Nippon Athletic Club and NY Judo Club merged. Source: http://www.blackbeltmag.com/archives...andoldman.html. The head instructor was Theodore Shozo Kuwashima.

Per the Social Security Death Index: KUWASHIMA THEODORE SHOZO Born Feb. 6, 1892 Mother’s maiden name. PURUKA KUWASHIMA Birthplace: JAPAN Died: LOS ANGELES.

In New York City, Kano held a press conference at the Hotel Astor on 16 July 1936. After the obligatory luncheon, Kano attended a judo exhibition at the Jiu-Jitsu Club located at 114 W. 48th Street. His host was T. Shozo Kuwashima, and the Japanese-American Courier (18 Jul 1936, 1) reported that "among the judoists were not a few Japanese and American women who have taken up the art." New York Times may have some additional details.

Remembered today mostly for his book written with Ashbel R. Welch (Judo: Forty-One Lessons in the Modern Science of Jiu-Jitsu, 1938), Kuwashima was born in Kagawa Prefecture on February 6, 1892. He studied at Tokyo Agricultural College, and while there, trained in judo. In 1916, he emigrated to the United States, and in 1919, he started a judo club in Chicago. During the 1930s, he taught judo in Stockton and other Northern California locations. Later he taught judo in New York and New Jersey. His grade was 5-dan. Around 1939, Kuwashima went back to Chicago, where he operated a judo club until a skin disease forced his retirement in 1945. In 1947, Kuwashima returned to California. Demonstrators shown in British versions of Kuwashima’s book included Ted Mossom and Stan Bissell.

[Prince Loeffler]

I don't know anything about Welch, and not much more about Kuwashima.

In 1935, the Nippon Athletic Club and NY Judo Club merged. Source: http://www.blackbeltmag.com/archives...andoldman.html. The head instructor was Theodore Shozo Kuwashima.

Per the Social Security Death Index: KUWASHIMA THEODORE SHOZO Born Feb. 6, 1892 Mother’s maiden name. PURUKA KUWASHIMA Birthplace: JAPAN Died: LOS ANGELES.

In New York City, Kano held a press conference at the Hotel Astor on 16 July 1936. After the obligatory luncheon, Kano attended a judo exhibition at the Jiu-Jitsu Club located at 114 W. 48th Street. His host was T. Shozo Kuwashima, and the Japanese-American Courier (18 Jul 1936, 1) reported that "among the judoists were not a few Japanese and American women who have taken up the art." New York Times may have some additional details.

Remembered today mostly for his book written with Ashbel R. Welch (Judo: Forty-One Lessons in the Modern Science of Jiu-Jitsu, 1938), Kuwashima was born in Kagawa Prefecture on February 6, 1892. He studied at Tokyo Agricultural College, and while there, trained in judo. In 1916, he emigrated to the United States, and in 1919, he started a judo club in Chicago. During the 1930s, he taught judo in Stockton and other Northern California locations. Later he taught judo in New York and New Jersey. His grade was 5-dan. Around 1939, Kuwashima went back to Chicago, where he operated a judo club until a skin disease forced his retirement in 1945. In 1947, Kuwashima returned to California. Demonstrators shown in British versions of Kuwashima’s book included Ted Mossom and Stan Bissell.

This is a great info Mr. Svinth. I wonder what it was like for Kuwashima to open a dojo in Chicago. Was his Judo club the first Dojo in Chicago or the US ?

[bob thomas]

antiqua
Hi Joe,
nothing much.but I recieved instruction fromTed Mossom in 1962at the LJS in London.He was a fine judoka.Left Tai o toshi was his speciality.

Thats all

Bob

[Joseph Svinth]

To my knowledge, the oldest extant judo club in the US is Seattle Dojo, established about 1904 and holding tournaments since 1907. See http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_SeattleTimes_1299.htm and http://www.e-budokai.com/articles/seattle.htm .

There has been judo in Chicago since at least 1904, when Sen Katayama, then living near Houston, gave a judo demonstration at a Socialist Party Convention held in Chicago. See http://www.chipublib.org/001hwlc/gisconvention.html and http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/...w/YY/fya6.html .

By the 1910s, J.J. O'Brien was teaching jujutsu techniques to Chicago police, and from the 1910s on, there were assorted professional wrestlers working in the Midwest. Examples include Rubberman Higami and Matty Matsuda. Finally, as noted above, Japanese students were teaching (or at least doing) judo at places like University of Chicago until Congress curtailed Japanese immigration in 1924.

That said, Chicago's first important judo club was probably Harry Auspitz's Jiu-Jitsu Institute, which was established in 1938. The reason it became important was Masato Tamura. Tamura was a very successful Nisei judoka from Fife, Washington (a couple miles east of Tacoma). In January 1941, Masato Tamura's sister Thea saw a newspaper advertisement announcing a fulltime job teaching judo at Auspitz's Jiu-Jitsu Institute. She mentioned this to her brother, who immediately applied. He got the job and left Tacoma for the Windy City in March 1941. Thus, he managed to avoid relocation. In 1943, Tamura defeated Karl Pojello in a match that contributed to the inclusion of judo techniques in the US Navy's V-5 program. In 1944, Tamura bought the Jiu-Jitsu Institute from Harry Auspitz, and around 1945, his youngest brother, Vince, moved to Chicago to go to high school. In Chicago, Vince became one of the best US judoka of the immediate postwar generation. For more on Masato Tamura, see http://ejmas.com/jalt/2005jalt/jcsart_Svinth_1205.html and http://www.big-planet.org/Masato_Tamura.html . For Vince Tamura, see http://www.big-planet.org/Vince_Biography.htm .

John Osako was also teaching judo in Chicago during the late 1940s. In "Martial Musings," Robert W. Smith discusses training with Osako during this period. Osako later moved to Detroit, where he became a pioneer of judo in Michigan.

Besides being a Budokwai shodan, Stan Bissell was also a Commando CQB instructor during the war, and afterwards, he wrestled for the 1948 British Olympic squad. Dickie Bowen always said he was a tough 'un.