| The 'Bulletin' is born ... | Margot Sathaye |
| First News Letter | Patrons |
| Trevor Leggett | Isao Inokuma |
| Richard Bowen | Ted Flindall |
| Ted Flindall - Long time member dies October 2006- see Ted Flindall |
 Richard
Bowen
Historian and Budokwai Vice President died Monday 24th January 2005.
Obituary
available. Please note that the video
'An Interlude with
Richard Bowen'
is now available in VHS or DVD format (state zone)
You may
order via the link
or send an email enquiry through our
feedback form. |
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Trevor Leggett
27.8.1914 - 2.8.2000 It is with great sadness that I have to report the death of Trevor Leggett - patron of the Kano Society. Full information is now available on a dedicated page TPL Patrons - Excellent news! Yukimitsu Kano - the President of the Kodokan has agreed to be a patron of the society and states that the Kodokan will fully support the Kano Society and hopes to have mutual co-operation for the same purpose of Judo. Kano Society Sponsored Events - See Events page July News-Letter from the Hon Sec - Malcolm Hodkinson - (please note that this letter was written just before Trevor Leggett's death - hence of course the October meeting was cancelled)Professor Malcolm Hodkinson 30 July 2000 Dear Friends and Members, I am writing this newsletter to you as one of those interested in the Kano Society who may not have ready access to our website [ where we hope to post a more extensive news item early in August. Those who attended the inaugural meeting back in January may have been disappointed by the apparent lack of action. In fact your executive committee [myself, Stan Brogan [treasurer], Diana Birch [web-mistress], Syd Hoare and Larry Ralph] have been far from idle and shall be holding the seventh meeting of the executive on 6/8/00. One of our early tasks was finalising the constitution which had been left in draft form at the end of the January meeting. This can be down-loaded from the website but, alternatively, if you have not already received a copy I would be happy to send you one if you would let me know. An important early decision was that those who joined early should not suffer from poor value for money! Accordingly it was decided that their subscription year should start only for May when our first real activity, the website, went live. It is now quite fully open though of course it will continue to develop and we hope to have new items on the site regularly. May should also have been the first open meeting of the Society, a lecture by Trevor Leggett at the Budokwai. Sadly, as you may perhaps have heard, this had to be cancelled because of a retraction of permission by the Budokwai Chairman and although permission was regranted we felt it was to late to allow the meeting to be properly re-organised and advertised after the period of uncertainty that had been caused. Happily we have been able to rearrange this important meeting which will now be held at the Judokan on Sunday, October 6th at 2.30; details to follow nearer the time. After this interrupted start, we intend to hold a regular programme of meetings. Any suggestions as to what kinds of meetings you would like to be held would be very welcome. Another major mile stone for the Society has been the acceptance of appointment as Patron of the Society, not only by Percy Sekine and Trevor Leggett in UK but by Yukimitsu Kano, grandson of Jigoro Kano and present President of the Kodokan Judo Institute, in Japan. Mr Kano’s acceptance is particularly important to us in that it is likely to be followed by acceptance of honorary life membership by a number of high ranking Japanese judoka who have links with judo in UK. Mr Kano’s acceptance owes much to the personal contacts that Warwick Stevens was able to make whilst in Japan this spring and he reports that our feelings as a Society that traditional values of judo are in need of reemphasis and support is strongly shared by many at the top of Japanese judo. Through the website we have also aroused keen interest and support from judoka in other countries, so far in USA, Canada and Portugal and a number of these interested parties are likely to become members. Our UK membership base remains small and we have, so far, not been attempting to achieve a faster growth until we had found our feet. However, we now feel that the Society is ready to expand far more widely. This is where you could help. Could you now begin to contact any suitable people who you feel would be in tune with our aims and encourage them to apply for membership. To help with this, I enclose a small number of copies of our brochure. If you use these up, please let me know and I would be happy to supply more. Anyone interested to join may either write to me or can enroll via the website. Finally, can I make a personal apology for taking so long to send you this first newsletter. My only excuse, apart from natural inertia, is that I only recently finished my final exams leading to a law qualification, Graduate Diploma of Law. At least I passed! I hope to do better from now on and to keep in regular contact. With best wishes, Yours sincerely, Malcolm Hodkinson
It is with great sadness that we report the death of Margot Sathaye who died on Saturday Morning 30th January 2000. Margot had fought bravely against cancer and died in a hospice. She had wanted to return to Japan to die but was not fit enough to travel.
Margot Sathaye - Obituary - by Alan Menzies Margot Sathaye , who died recently at 58 years of age , was a very special type of English woman who throughout her lifetime pursued excellence in the esoteric arts of Budo. One of her many achievements was being awarded a 7th Dan certificate in Judo by the Kodokan in Japan, which made her the highest graded non Japanese woman in the world. The certificate included the attachment of 'Master' in recognition of her many years spent in Japan studying and teaching Judo and teaching the subject in many parts of the world. Margot started Judo as a small girl of 13 at the Croydon and District Judo Society when Judo in the UK ,outside of London ,was in its infancy and there were few facilities for teaching boys and even less for teaching girls. She proved to be an apt pupil and rapidly progressed through the grades until she reached her first Dan at 16 the youngest lady Black Belt of her day , which at the time ,she confided in me, was really just the beginning, and so it turned out. She studied at the world famous Budokwai in London under many of the leading teachers of the day until her decision to go to Japan where the sport originated When Margot reached Japan she was one of a very few foreign women to study at the Kodokan As a young keen student she rapidly rose through the ranks eventually being awarded the singular honour 'Master' . She assisted in the coaching and training of the Japanese women's team as well as travelling widely to teach and train not only women but men as well. Her expertise in many aspects of Judo attracted not only Japanese women but many top class male players to the dojo where she trained and taught . Margot attended Ashburton School in Croydon and achieved great success in athletics and hockey. She captained the school hockey team, threw the javelin for Surrey Schools and was the Sports Captain of the School . Had she chosen any other activity she would surely have been just as successful. Her career in Judo began before the advent of women's national and international competition and therefore she did not have the opportunity to acquire the the accolades that later British women obtained. She spent over 21 years in Japan with many visits to other parts of the world teaching Judo, which she believed offered women a unique opportunity to find a level of excellence in a sport on a par with that enjoyed by men. Her teaching career included Benenden School , where she coached the girls often watched by Princess Anne who was at the school at the time. She was an official coach to London Schools and in recent years taught in Sweden and America. Alan. R.Menzies
It was reported in
the Yomiuri newspaper dated September 30, 2001 that
Isao Inokuma
had committed suicide in Tokyo on September 28. He was 63.
Born in Yokosuka,
Kanagawa Prefecture in 1938, he started judo at the age of 14. In
1959, aged 21, he won the All Japan Judo Championship at his first
attempt and won it again in 1963. A graduate of the prestigious
Tokyo University of Education (present-day Tsukuba University) he was
173 cm. tall, and his fighting weight was between 81 - 86 kilograms.
Despite his somewhat small physique, his aggressive style and superb
Tai-Otoshi and Ippon-Seoi-Nage techniques in particular helped him win
the heavyweight category gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games and
the open category gold medal at the 1965 World Championships in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil.
He retired from
contest judo in 1966, later becoming a professor at Tokai University.
From 1993 until his death he was president of Tokai Construction Co.
Ltd.. He leaves a wife and children.
Translated by: for more photographs of Isao Inokuma supplied by Dave Finch - please see
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