was a Japanese

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, 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 Nipponi ...

ka.

Biography

Toku was born in

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

, Japan in 1887. He started training in

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

and

kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords (shinai) as well as protective armor (bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and has spread ...

at elementary school, becoming a frequent tournament winner; in one of his first showings, he defeated 165 opponents in a single judo league. It was said he refused to learn

ukemi () is in Japanese martial arts the person who "receives" a technique. The exact role of ''uke'' varies between the different arts and often within the art itself depending on the situation. For instance, in aikido, judo kata, and bujinkan ninj ...

waza on the saying he would never be thrown. John Stevens, ''Three Budo Masters'' After being scouted by

Kaichiro Samura (1880–1964) was a Japanese judoka. He was one of the longest living 10th dan (belt degree) judo practitioners in the world. He joined the Kodokan in 1898 and was awarded his 10th dan in April 1948. In 1899 he became head of the judo section a ...

, he moved to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and joined the Kodokan school in May 1906. He soon became known there for his harsh training regime, which gained him the nickname of and the reputation of being the strongest judoka of his time. He was one of the school's biggest names along with future 10th dan Shotaro Tabata and

Kyuzo Mifune has been categorized as one of the greatest exponents of the art of judo after the founder, Kanō Jigorō. He is considered by many to be the greatest judo technician ever, after Kanō. Early life Mifune was born on April 21, 1883, in Kuji Cit ...

, the latter prompting a public rivalry in which they were known as and .''Judo Ichidai: Toku Sanpo'', 2007, Minakata''Nippon Kakutogi Omoshiro Shiwa'', 1993,

Mainichi Shinbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language news website called ''The Mainichi'' (prev ...

''Showa Buto Den'', 2009, Shuppan Geijutsu Sanpo Toku

Toku famously challenged

master and

Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" throu ...

founder

Gichin Funakoshi was a japanese martial artist who is regarded as the founder of Shotakan karate, perhaps the most widely known style of karate, and is known as a "father of modern karate". Following the teachings of Anko Itosu and Anko Asato,Funakoshi, Gichi ...

to a match, without ever receiving an answer. Toku himself did, however, answer to a challenge made by 15 sailors of the

Brazilian Navy ) , colors= Blue and white , colors_label= Colors , march= "Cisne Branco" ( en, "White Swan") (same name as training ship ''Cisne Branco'' , mascot= , equipment= 1 multipurpose aircraft carrier7 submarines6 frigates2 corvettes4 amphibious warf ...

to the Kodokan in 1912, defeating them all soundly and injuring several of them. This would temporarily end Toku's career in the Kodokan, as the Brazilian embassy lodged a formal complaint which forced Jigoro Kano to expel Toku from the school. Kano still offered to maintain him economically, though Toku refused, choosing to become a wandering martial arts teacher instead. There are several anecdotes of Toku's freelance period. According to some sources, around this time he lost a

dojoyaburi In the history of Japanese martial arts, , also known as , is the action of visiting a rival martial arts school in order to challenge its members. This usually led to , a fight between the visitor and a member of the school, usually its head or a f ...

match against the leader of the

Kashima Shin-ryū is a Japanese ''koryū'' martial art whose foundation dates back to the early 16th century.Karl Friday, Friday, Karl F. with Seki Humitake, ''Legacies of the Sword: The Kashima Shin-ryū and Samurai Martial Culture'', Honolulu: University of Ha ...

jujutsu Jujutsu ( ; ja, link=no, 柔術 , ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdu ...

school, Zenya Kunii, who was reportedly undefeated through his life. Admired by the ease Kunii had thrown him multiple times with, Toku trained briefly under him. It is also said Toku enlisted in the Japanese military for a time before being discharged by health reasons, not without featuring an incident where he knocked out a

stallion A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" nec ...

for kicking him. Afterwards, being rejected from teaching in the

Dai Nippon Butoku Kai ''Dai Nippon Butoku Kai'' (DNBK, ja, 大日本武徳会, en, "Greater Japan Martial Virtue Society") was a martial arts organization with strong ties to WWII-era Japanese government, originally established in 1895 in Kyoto. Following the end of ...

due to the Kodokan's influence, he performed the

Shikoku Pilgrimage The or is a multi-site pilgrimage of 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kūkai (''Kōbō Daishi'') on the island of Shikoku, Japan. A popular and distinctive feature of the island's cultural landscape, and with a long histor ...

, where he trained with empoverished martial artists like him. This time of his life ended in 1917 when Toku was pardoned by Kano and reinstated as a Kodokan teacher, immediately taking Iwazo Hayashi as his pupil. At 40 years old and 6th dan, Toku became a usual participant of the predecessor league to the modern

All-Japan Judo Championships is a judo tournament held every year in Japan. The men's tournament is held in Nippon Budokan on 29 April and the women's tournament (dubbed "Empress cup All-Japan women's Judo championships") is held in Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium in April. T ...

. Although he suffered a hard defeat by

yoko shiho gatame is one of the seven mat holds, Osaekomi-waza, of Kodokan Judo. In grappling terms, it is categorized as a side control hold. Technique description

to Torao Uto in 1930, he reached the league's third place in 1932. After these competitions, he passed the rest of his career teaching at the Waseda,

Nippon Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and Takushoku Universities. He also founded his own dojo and taught other future martial arts masters like

Minoru Mochizuki was a Japanese martial artist who founded the dojo Yoseikan. He was a 10th dan in Aikido, 9th dan in Jujutsu, 8th dan in Iaido, 8th dan in Judo, 8th dan in Kobudo, 5th dan in Kendo, 5th dan in Karate, and a 5th dan in Jojutsu. Mochizuki was ...

, Kori Hisataka and

Kenichi Sawai was a Japanese martial artist and a colonel in the Japanese army. Sawai is known for his background in the martial art style Yiquan, his association with founder of Kyokushin Karate, Mas Oyama and influence on various notable early Kyokushin prac ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Toku was killed in a Tokyo air raid in 1945. A statue of Toku was later erected in the Amagi High School. He would be described by training partner and

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

influencer

Geo Omori or Geo Omori as he became known in Brazil, was a Japanese-born Brazilian martial artist who is credited for being one of the creators of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toku, Sanpo 1887 births 1945 deaths Japanese male judoka Judoka trainers People from the Amami Islands Japanese civilians killed in World War II Deaths by airstrike during World War II Deaths by American airstrikes 19th-century Japanese people 20th-century Japanese people