In 1938, as captain of the British team and a 3rd Dan
black belt, he went to Japan to continue his practice, sponsored by the
Japanese Ambassador in London. Six months later, he received his 4th Dan, an
outstanding performance in that era for a foreigner. He then gained his
contest 5thDan before being interned when the Japanese entered the war in
1941. Leggett did not complain at being imprisoned, quoting to himself one
of his favourite poems:
He even practised judo with his jailers, until he and
other British diplomats were exchanged for their counterparts at the
Japanese embassy in London.
Between 1943 and 1945 Leggett served in India at the
British South-East Asia military headquarters, using his Japanese for
intelligence work.From 1946 he combined his work at the BBC with judo
teaching at the Budokwai. The sessions were extremely arduous and included
classes in katsu (resuscitation) for black belts, in which
individuals were strangled unconscious and then revived by their partners.
Almost all the British international competitors until
the early 1969s were trained by Leggett in an era when Britain won the
European men’s team title three years in a row. But he then abruptly pulled
out of direct involvement with judo having decided that he had produced
enough competitors and coaches. His influence endured, however, and many of
Britain’s successes in the Olympic Games over the past 30 years have been
the result of his teaching, with most medal winners being taught by his
pupils, or by his pupils’ pupils.
Learning Judo In Japan -
An English Woman’s
Experience
An Englishwoman's Description of Learning Judo in Japan:
Letters from Sarah Mayer to Gunji Koizumi, 1934-1935, reprinted courtesy of
Richard Bowen
On March 1, 1935, the Japan Times and Mail ran the
following caption under a photograph: "Mrs. Sarah Mayer of London, who on
Wednesday [February 27, 1935] realized her ambition when the Kyoto Butokukai
awarded her the rank of shodan [first Dan] in judo which she had been
conscientiously learning since May of last year. She is the first foreign
woman to win such a distinction."
The following are transcripts of letters that Mayer wrote
to Gunji Koizumi, of her experiences.
Calcutta Feb. 7th 1934
Dear Mr. Koizumi,
I got here yesterday after wandering across India. I went
to Jaipur - Delhi -Agra -Benares and a host of small places near to them. It
was all very interesting and very expensive! The Taj Mahal is too lovely for
description. I nearly burst into tears when I saw it. I was in four times to
see it. At dawn -- in the afternoon -- at sunset and under the full moon
which just arrived for my benefit. Apart from this I liked Jaipur best I
think. It is so very Indian -- quite unspoilt and most interesting. Jackals
howled under my windows all night. A peacock walked into my bathroom and
almost fell into my bath. Hundreds of monkeys run on the housetops and the
birds and butterflies are wonderful because no one is allowed to kill
anything… and the tigers seem to get about one man a week -- but nobody
cares. I went for miles on an elephant -- a most extraordinary sensation and
I should think very good for the abdominal muscles!
The two Japanese that you gave me letters to -- Mr.
Hamada and Prof. R. Kimura -- are neither of them in Lucknow but Mr.
Kurihara, the consul in Bombay, was very nice to me and took me to see the
Towers of Silence and out once to a séance etc. The Calcutta consul here
this morning and he has been very helpful.
On Friday I leave for Rangoon and from there I go up the
river to Irrawaddy and then to Bhamo. After that I shall go straight to
Singapore and try to find a small cargo ship which will call at plenty of
places on the way to China. I shall have to miss out Siam and Indo-China for
the time being because India has been so expensive.
I shall be in Japan for the cherry blossoms so please
write to me there to tell me how you are getting on. I shall arrange for
Thos. Cook -- Tokyo -- to send letters to me wherever I am -- so if you
write them I shall be sure of getting your letter.
I have had too many adventures to tell you in a letter
but I shall have plenty to relate when I see you again. I had a lovely time
on the ship coming out. I sat next to the captain who was a most attractive
person and he was most attentive. He moved me out of my cabin and gave me
the best one on the ship and we had a lovely swimming bath and swam all day
and danced every night, so I enjoyed myself thoroughly. If all the captains
I meet are so kind to me, I shall never want to come back.
Every good wish to you all. Tell me how the house is
progressing when you write. Good luck. Yours very sincerely,
Sarah Mayer
***
Yamato Hotel, 27th June [1934]
Dear Mr. Koizumi,
Forgive me for typing this, but in the first place it is
so hot and damp that if I rest my arm on the table it sticks to it and
secondly because I have burnt my hand with a box of matches which burst into
flames a few days ago. I had always understood that this was a safe country
-- but the Japanese matches and the motors [automobiles] are a danger to
life and limb. I have got so nervous of the matches which set light to the
whole box every time I strike one that -- together with the exhortations of
my judo instructor -- I should not be surprised if I were not finally
induced to give up smoking altogether!
I am still in Kobe. This is really because everyone is so
kind to me at the Butokuden and Mr. Yamamoto is so patient with me that I do
not feel inclined to leave here just yet.
I enclose some newspaper cuttings which may amuse you.
The reporters have made rather a muddle of what I told them and all this
talk about the stomach throw [tomoenage] is nonsense. It is the last
thing I should do under any circumstances and you may remember that when I
see it coming I generally give a scream of terror and give myself up. So on
this memorable occasion -- when all the Kobe Police sat down to watch me
with stupefaction and amazement -- you may be sure that whatever I did, it
was not the stomach throw!
On the first occasion that I went there I was with
difficulty persuaded to put on my judo costume and when I did I found to my
horror that hundreds of men had left their practice of judo and kendo and
were sitting in solemn rows waiting to see what I was going to do. Mr.
Yamamoto looked quite unhappy too. He handled me as if I was a bomb that
might explode at any minute. To make matters worse a row of men with
flashlight cameras were in attendance; and I've never wished myself out of a
country as I wished myself far from Japan at that moment. Mr. Yamamoto
allowed me to throw him about for a bit and as I was feeling desperate I
attacked him with might and main -- feeling that death itself would be
better than disgracing myself forever before such an assembly. When this had
gone on for a short while Mr. Yamamoto tried in a very gentle way to get me
down, but I have not been kicked on the shins by [Yukio] Tani for nothing
and I was determined to stand on my legs for as long as possible if I broke
every bone in my body.
During this awful experience an august personage of high
rank in judo who wore kimono and fanned himself placidly, walked around us.
In his face I thought was an expression of distinct lack of enthusiasm and
he terrified me.
Then the cameramen came forward, but just as they were
about to take photographs, the august person stopped them with an imperative
wave of his fan. I thought that he probably thought that I had brought all
these reporters with me and that this was all against the spirit of judo,
and I wished that I could explain to him that it was not my fault and that I
had been dragged there very much against my will and that I had only gone to
the place because I had been assured that I should not have to do anything
but watch others doing judo. Nobody spoke English so I was helpless, but I
need not have worried. All that august person did was untie my belt and
cross my coat over the other way, and when he was sure that I was neatly
dressed, he signed to the photographers to proceed.
After this I sat down to watch whilst an American
wrestler tried his hand on Mr. Yamamoto and several others. This unhappy
young man had been foolish enough to boast publicly that he could do
anything he liked with any judo man in the world once he got his arms round
him. I had heard him boasting and I warned him, but he wouldn't listen to
me. And for the next half-hour we watched him being handled like a child by
various men who were picked out for the purpose. I thought that the American
was a bit unlucky to have fallen into the hands of fifth Dan men -- but I
certainly thought that it served him right, as well as being relieved that
it distracted attention from me and gave me time to recover my wind.
And so now I go every morning to the Butokoden at eight
o'clock and Mr. Yamamoto gives me a lesson. He is very gentle and kind, but
he no longer treats me as if I were a delicate piece of porcelain. In fact
after a couple of hours I feel as if I had been in the clutches of a playful
elephant! He seemed rather astonished and embarrassed that I was not averse
to ground work and told me through an interpreter that it was because I was
a woman and he thought I should object to it for that reason. I told him
that I did not consider myself to have any sex when I was doing judo so he
took heart and sat on me for a time until I began to repent of my rashness,
and now he shows me no mercy. He weighs over 200 lbs. and if he leans on me
I might just as well try to remove a mountain.
The other day there were contests and I was invited to
attend. I sat from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. at a table with the judges (thank
heaven we didn't have to sit on the floor) and had lunch with them in the
interval. Many important judo men had come to watch and they were very nice
to me and gave me cards upon which they wrote their rank 5th, 6th, 7th, and
8th Dan. I gave them my cards and wondered whether I ought to write "white
belt" on it in large letters, but decided on the whole that the least said
was soonest mended.
Anyway I am getting used to them all now and they are
getting used to me. I have even recovered from the shock of finding that I
was expected to share the bathroom -- not to mention the bath -- with the
entire Kobe police force. And how lovely the Japanese bath is after hard
exercise -- especially the buckets and buckets of cold water which I pour
over myself afterwards. And everyone is so kind to me, and send me flowers
and presents and take me all over the place. Fortunately there is a Japanese
journalist here who speaks English perfectly and who I am able to consult on
the difficult question of proper behaviour so that I don't do the wrong
thing too often.
Mr. Yamabe has written to me and says he will arrange
everything for me in Kyoto when I go there and [Ichiro] Hatta has written
urging me to go straight to Tokyo and let him teach me judo there. He also
says that he will take care of me there. He has sent me an introduction to
the head of the judo place at Kyoto, but Mr. Yamamoto says that he will
write to them there when I am ready to go.
I must go to Kyoto and see other places as well, but if I
find that I don't get such good judo practice there I think I shall return
here.
In any case I shall stay in Japan until October or
November and I must learn the language because it is so awkward sometimes
not to be able to understand a word that is said to me. I am having lessons
every day now.
I am feeling very fit in spite of having burnt my hand,
cutting my foot on broken glass, having an electric fan fall on my head the
other day and a few minor accidents of that kind. To say nothing of landing
upon my head this morning several times running, when Mr. Yamamoto did the
stomach throw. I suppose if he does it often enough I shall learn to fall on
some other part of my anatomy -- at least that seems to be his theory.
He is aided in his lessons by a number of others who
stand round and tell him what I am doing wrong if he can't see it for
himself. Under this treatment there would be hope for me yet if I were
twenty years younger, but as it is they are keeping me in very good
condition which is the main thing. With collar bones being broken on all
sides of me and shoulders and elbows being put out every day by these
strenuous young men, I haven't the face to protest when I bump my head or to
squeal with fright when I see the stomach throw coming. And if I break my
neck I break it and that's all there is to it.
One lesson I have certainly learned since I left home,
and that is that I am not so fragile as I thought, and that it is amazing
what dangers one can come through unharmed. That I ever returned from the
interior of China and got by Tibet is a miracle in itself, and now when I
sit in a Japanese motorcar and it careers through the streets at sixty miles
an hour I just think that if we have a head-on collision, we have one, and
that's all there is to it. At one time I should have sat there with every
muscle in my body at tension and with my nerves worn to a shred.
I suppose it is because I am in good health and enjoying
myself and because nothing very serious has happened to me so far. If it
were otherwise I might feel different. They say that no man is a philosopher
with the toothache!
Robin [Mayer's husband] has gone to America for a trip.
He has gone on the "Berengaria." How that would bore me! One might just as
well be in an hotel as travel in one of these huge luxury liners. I have so
enjoyed the small ships that I have been on, where sometimes I have been the
only passenger. No rules, no regulations, dress as you please and the whole
of the crew to wait on you. What more can a woman want?
I've written you a terribly long letter but I thought it
might interest you to hear about it all.
My permanent address in Japan is c/o Thos. Cook, Kobe. Do
write and tell me how the moxa treatment is getting on.
My love to Hanna [Koizumi's daughter] and Mrs. Koizumi,
and best wishes to everyone at the Budokwai. Tell Mr. Tani that I am having
a lovely time but that no one here treats me as gently as he did. I now
realize how tenderly he used to drop me upon the mat!
Kindest regards, Yours very sincerely,
Sarah B. Mayer
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Extract
from article which appeared in the Times after Trevor Leggett’s death