Yamashita Yoshitsugu student of Kanō Jigorō
Biography
Early years
Yamashita was born in Kanazawa, then the capital of the powerful Kaga Domain. His father was of the samurai class. As a boy, Yamashita trained in the traditional (koryū) Japanese martial arts schools of Yōshin-ryū and Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū jujutsu. In August 1884, he joined the Kodokan judo dojo of his childhood friend Kano Jigoro as its nineteenth member. He advanced to first degree black belt (shodan) rank in three months, fourth degree (yodan) ranking in two years, and sixth degree (rokudan) in fourteen years. He was prone to discuss the philosophy of judo with Kano, as Yamashita initially believed power should be applied before technique.He was a member of the Kodokan team that competed with Tokyo Metropolitan Police jujutsu teams during the mid-1880s, and during the 1890s, his jobs included teaching judo at the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy and Tokyo Imperial University (modern University of Tokyo). His role as a Kodokan competitor was specially notable in the Kodokan-Totsuka rivalry, in 1886. He fought and dominated famed jujutsuka Taro Terushima, although the match went to a draw when Terushima resorted to groundwork. He later rematched him, knocking him out with a hard ippon seoi nage.A notoriously violent man, Yamashita was known for his many street fights. In the most famous instance, he got involved in a brawl with no less than 17 laborers in Tokyo due to a dispute in a restaurant. Despite their vast numeric advantage, added to the fact that some of them wielded knives, Yamashita and a fellow judoka disposed of all the men, purposely breaking the arms of three of them in the process. Shortly after, Yoshiaki would get into another quarrel with another cadre of laborers, this time him against 15 of them, but it ended up the same way: Yamashita maimed his attackers with chokes and throws, and even killed some of them by breaking their necks. He was arrested, but was easily acquitted after proving the uneven nature of the brawls. However, he was still suspended by the Kodokan for excessive use of violence. When confronted by Kano himself, Yamashita protested and went to the extent of challenging his master to a fight, but Kano convinced to stop his violent ways by making him realize that some day he might be harmed the same way he liked to harm people.
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