Now here’s a truly uplifting story — 98 year old Keiko Fukuda of San Francisco got a call last week that she was waiting for quite a long time. She was promoted to Judo’s highest level, the 10th black belt. This is truly an amazing feat because only three people in the world have ever reached this highest of levels and they’re all men living in Japan.
Sensei Fukuda still teaches hand techniques to her judo students at the women’s dojo in San Francisco’s Noe Valley. She is also the only living student of judo’s founder Jigoro Kano, who opened his first judo school in 1882. A life-long practitioner, Fukuda sacrificed everything, giving up marriage and leaving Japan to dedicate her life to judo. She also faced gender discrimination all her life, relegating her with lower degree belts, while male counterparts who were less skilled than her, matriculated to higher level belts.
“The time was right.” said Eiko Saito Shepherd, a board member of the U.S. Judo Federation. When Sensei Fukuda got the call last week that she would receive the 10th level black belt, she cried. ”This has been my lifelong dream,” said the 10th degree black belt Sensei.
Whoa! 98-year-old Keiko Fukuda is such an inspiration! It's amazing how she's still able to do all those things at such an age. She must have taken lots of healthy food when she was younger, and her hobby made her even healthier. Indeed, age is just a number.
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