Masahiko Kimura

Masahiko Kimura (木村 政彦, Kimura Masahiko, September 10, 1917 – April 18, 1993) was a Japanese judoka and professional wrestler who is widely considered one of the greatest judoka of all time. In submission grappling, the reverse ude-garami arm lock is often called the "Kimura", due to his famous victory over Gracie jiu-jitsu developer Hélio Gracie. In the Japanese professional wrestling world, he is known for the controversial match he had with Rikidōzan.

Biography

Kimura was born on September 10, 1917 in Kumamoto, Japan. Masahiko Kimura began training Judo at age of 9 and was promoted to yondan (4th dan) at the age of 15 after six years of Judo. He had defeated six opponents (who were all 3rd and 4th dan) in a row. In 1935 at age 18 he became the youngest ever godan (5th degree black belt) when he defeated eight consecutive opponents at Kodokan (headquarters for the main governing body of Judo).

Kimura's remarkable success can in part be attributed to his fanatical training regimen, managed by his teacher, Tatsukuma Ushijima. Kimura reportedly lost only four judo matches in his lifetime, all occurring in 1935. He considered quitting judo after those losses, but through the encouragement of friends he began training again. He consistently practiced the leg throw osoto gari (large outer reap) against a tree. Daily randori or sparring sessions at Tokyo Police and Kodokan dojos resulted in numerous opponents suffering from concussions and losing consciousness. Many opponents asked Kimura not to use his osoto gari.

Masahiko Kimura (disambiguation)

Masahiko Kimura is a Japanese judo practitioner.

Masahiko Kimura is the name of:

Masahiko Kimura (footballer)

Masahiko Kimura (born October 1, 1984) is a Japanese football player.

Club statistics

References

Masahiko Kimura (bonsai artist)

Masahiko Kimura (木村 正彦, Kimura Masahiko, 1940-) was born in Ōmiya-ku, Saitama, Japan on March 31, 1940 and is a widely recognized bonsai master. He is not related to the judo practitioner also named Masahiko Kimura.

His father died when Masahiko was 11. By the wishes of his mother, at age 15 he started spending his time as an apprentice under the bonsai master Motosuke Hamano of Toju-en Bonsai Garden. This was for eleven years until about 1966. (Kimura would later say that during his teens he really wanted to be a rock and roll musician.) After this he took to working in the horticulture field on his own.

He went on to become known as the "Magical Technician of Kindai Shuppan." (Kimura has said that he personally doesn't really care for the title of "Magician.") His breathtaking sculpting and styling of trees on behalf of that Kyoto bonsai magazine publisher was done using hand and power tools of his own design. His skill with carving deadwood quickly made him well known in the bonsai community. While his work was at first highly controversial, his energy and vision soon became as respected as his art. A characteristic of his trees is a defined interplay of artistically sculptured deadwood with a smaller amount of more traditionally appearing live wood snaking up from the soil to foliage apex. Many of his trees have a more elaborate starkness than is ordinarily found in the wild, innovatively creative without historic model.