I had mentioned before how Bruce Lee had started my interest in the martial arts back in the early seventies, with the release of "Enter the Dragon". Many other heroes would follow that fed my passion for martial arts via the silver screen from Toshiro Mifune in "Seven Samurai" and "Yojimbo", the numerous stars of Hong Kong cinema like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Michele Yeoh and Jet Li to name but a few and then new styles of martial artists like Tony Jaa with Ong-Bak. Obviously at the moment I worship the path of Keanu Reeves due to a series of films about a certain "John Wick" who apparently has issues with dog ownership and car maintenance.
As a real martial artist though silver screen heroes aren't the only heroes that you learn to admire and I'm sure you have noticed the gentleman with the good physique in the photo. This is Chiyonofuji (The Wolf) who would dominate Sumo wrestling in the eighties, which is fortunately when channel Four decided too originally bring Sumo coverage to British TV screens. I would be glued to the channel Four coverage every Sunday, listening to the narration by Syd Hoare as Chiyonofuji skilfully dispatched opponents that were often much much heavier. Chiyonofuji would be one of my greatest heroes and a big influence on how I have developed my martial arts skills since. Another great Sumo champion, Hakuho has recently retired after a very successful career, which included him beating most of Chiyonofuji's records. Hakuho is a great champion and many now call him the greatest, which I totally understand but still there was a special magic that I felt watching Chiyonofuji that I never felt with Hakuho.
I hear you all crying out "You are a Judoka, why are you going on about Sumo heroes ?" Well I also had my Judo heroes and one of the all time greats was Yasuhiro Yamashita who would dominate world class Judo from the mid seventies through till 1985 when he would retire from competition with a record of being undefeated in competition for over a decade.
During the nineties I would work my way through the Dan grade system going from 1st Kyu up to 3rd Dan within that one decade before stopping, which actually means that I have not improved my Judo grade within this century. I and my friend Gary would often attend the London Judo Society at Stockwell, which was run by the same Syd Hoare who had been narrating the channel Four Sumo programmes back in the eighties.
Imagine our shock at one of these Dan grading sessions on a Sunday afternoon to see Yasuhiro Yamashita wondering around the dojo watching the action. A living breathing superhero of Judo in our midst. My friend Gary got called out to fight and I was watching at the side with some other friends as we waited to be called. My friend Gary went to the ground with his opponent who then rolled him and applied a strangle during the roll. The strangle went on during the roll and Gary passed out before he could tap. We stood watching with concern as they tended to our unconscious friend but then Yamashita strolled by and our eyes immediately were glued to our hero. Yamashita paused at the side of the mat and looked at Gary as the officials attended to him. Then Yamashita rolled his eyes and looked away with disdain as Gary had allowed himself to be defeated in such a way. Yamashita walked on without even a glance back to check on Gary's welfare. We watched him walk away and then suddenly remembered Gary and our eyes immediately went back to our fallen comrade. They had sat Gary up now but his head was rolling slightly and he had the appearance of someone who had downed 10 pints of beer and just been hit by the cold air. Gary made a full recovery and we would tease him for years for being dissed by Yamashita. What I have since realised is that actually Gary was the winner that day and we was the losers. In a recent chat with Gary he actually admitted he loves his Yamashita story and feels pride when it is told. It made me realise that Gary was the winner that day as he has a Yamashita story, maybe it is that Yamashita showed disdain that he had allowed himself to be strangled but still Yamashita had noticed him and he had been given a story that he can carry with pride, while I was not noticed by Yamashita that day and can only tell Gary's story of his encounter with his hero.