The chronicle=news., 1912-11-07
JAPANESE BILLIARD PLAYER
IS AFTER THE WORLD IT'LL

New York. Nov. With a bill
Hard ball In cach poke, and ycarn.
Ing 10 speak German. Kodji Yamada,
trim little Jap. set out from tn,
lowered streets OF Toxic two year
ago for Berlin. I don't know how h,
succeeded n a ling luist. bu; :o,iay h,
is In New York ready to tackle ex.
pcrts like Hoppe. Siosson. Sutton an.
Morningstar for the billiard cham
pionshIp OF the world. Moreover, h,
II one OF the favoritcs in the betting
And when n Jap who is no, yc,
twcnty-four years old can travel
around the world In two years on /,
billiard cue and get u classical .du.
cation besides II gives us u fain; idet
OF what that nation might really d,
II II ever got chance TO cut loose.
Young Mr.. Yamada was stilI wob-
bly, on his Sea legs when he was found
In SCISSORS billiard parior and h,
admitted that his head was sill VERY
much dizz.' No;withstanding tina,
fact he had n crowd looking at him
with mouths agape as he nurscd the
l
mass. shots that would have been an
honor to the late Jake Schacfer.
This wonderful little lap 1. en-.
tered In the tournament for tn. is:
balk line billiard championship OF tn.
world that begins November II. Ev
en- with unsteady legs and a dizz,
head from the long sea trip he as
/ tOtl udeff fhs old, mo, Ia. ri ....,
ful technique. and 1t is freely pre-
dicted that Hoppe is about to meet n
focman worthy OF his steel.
famada is a modest little fcllow.
and has little to say about his rapid
rise TO fame. He couldn't say much II
he wanted to as his knowledge OF
English is very limited. He speaks
German very we'll. but that didn't
help any too far AS the writer was
! concerned. He also tried ltaIion on
his American admirers but again ".
were baked. Finally We go, hold
OF n Jap for an Interpreter and found
out something about this young man
who has electrified the billiard
world.
| '"""u" y ih'ueI, u steMs. runs Y
| big hotel and restaurant In Toxic.
One of the side attractions is n bill.
Hard parlor. In Japan the game is
played on small tables. with four
large balls. II was on that kind of a
table that famada. five years ago,
got his stroke. With that kind OF a
layout he could have run points the
rest OF his life without missing. so
hearing about the three ball game, he
found harder table. and began to
master that. He has friend, Matsu
Okla. who was professor in the
japanese university. This great
scholar was also bug on billiards
and took fancy to Yamada. He per-
suaded him 20 go with him to Berlin
so that he could be educated In let
tiers and at the same time pick up u
few things in billiards for the en-
tertainment of the Jap professor.
In six months all Berlin was talk
ing about the coming billiard star.
and he defeated everybody In Ger
many. News OF his achievement fin.
ally reached New Lork. and Yamada
was persuaded to visit the United
States and take part in the tourna-
ment for the worlds championship.
He became professional when he
first went to Berlin and through bill
lizards earned enough money to pay
his college expenses
No player in the world has n bet
ter massc shot than Yamada. He
makes those difficult twists with
either hand-a thing that very few
players have ever hccn able to do.