Minoru "Frank" Hatashita (17 September 1919 – 24 August 1996) was the first Canadian

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

to achieve the rank of ''hachidan'' (8th

dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

) and was deeply involved in the development and promotion of

Judo in Canada The Japanese martial art and combat sport judo has been practised in Canada for over a century. The first long-term judo dojo in Canada, Tai Iku Dojo, was established by a Japanese immigrant named Shigetaka Sasaki, Shigetaka "Steve" Sasaki in Van ...

. He was the President of the Canadian Kodokan Black Belt Association (now

Judo Canada Judo Canada, formerly known as The Canadian Kodokan Black Belt Association, is the non-profit national governing body of the Japanese martial art and combat sport Judo in Canada, and a federation of Judo associations in each of the ten provinces ...

) for 18 years, President of the Pan-American Judo Union, Vice-President of the

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) was founded in July 1951. The IJF was originally composed of judo federations from Europe and Argentina. Countries from four continents were affiliated over the next ten years. Today the IJF has 200 National ...

, and Doug Rogers' coach at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

, where Rogers won silver. Hatashita was inducted into the

Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame The Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame is an honour roll of the top Canadian Olympic athletes, teams, coaches, and builders (officials, administrators, and volunteers). It was established in 1949. Selections are made by a committee appointed by the Canad ...

in 1975 and the Judo Canada Hall of Fame in 1996.

See also

References

Further reading