IGX

Keiko Fukuda, the highest-ranked woman in judo, who taught others the sport at a school in San Francisco into her late 90s, has died. She was 99.
Her death Feb. 9 in her San Francisco home was confirmed on the website of the Soko Joshi Judo Club, a women's dojo in Noe Valley where she taught for more than 40 years.
Ms. Fukuda began practicing judo at 21 under judo founder Jigoro Kano, who invited her to train with him because her grandfather was a renowned jujitsu master. "At first, all I could think of was how aggressive the maneuvers were, and how unusual it was to see women spreading their legs," Ms. Fukuda told The Chronicle in 2011.
She became a fifth-degree black belt in the early 1950s, the highest rank for women at the time, and performed a slower version of judo called ju-no-kata at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. But her progress stalled as the male-dominated sport took 20 years to promote her to sixth dan - it finally did thanks to a petition effort started by her student and housemate Shelley Fernandez.
In 2011, she was promoted to 10th dan, the highest level possible, by USA Judo at 98 years old. She was still giving three martial arts lessons a week at the time.
"The kind of judo I teach is an old one, it comes from the samurais, and there aren't many of the older generation left who can teach these katas," Ms. Fukuda said.
Ms. Fukuda first came to California in 1953 at the invitation of a judo club and would eventually become a U.S. citizen. She taught at seminars all over the world and said one of her favorite judo moments was winning over a room of skeptical men when she taught top judo instructors in France at age 76.
Fernandez said Ms. Fukuda's passing marks the end of an era in the sport.
"She was the last living student of the founder of judo," Fernandez said. "No one else can say that."