Masahiko Kimura

Masahiko Kimura (木村 政彦, Kimura Masahiko^?, September 10, 1917 — April 18, 1993) was a Japanese judoka (Judo practitioner) who is widely considered one of the greatest judoka of all time.^[1][2][3] Kimura (5 ft 7 in 170cm; 85 kg, 187 lb) was born on September 10, 1917 in Kumamoto, Japan.

Biography

At age 16, after 6 years of judo, Kimura was promoted to 4th dan. He had defeated 6 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 8 consecutive opponents at Kodokan (headquarters for the main governing body of Judo). He reportedly lost only 4 Judo matches in his lifetime. Kimura's remarkable success can in part be attributed to his fanatical training regimen -- at the height of his career, this involved a thousand push-ups and nine hours' practice each day. Kimura's training regimen also involved significant weight training and resistance training in which he would push and pull on trees.

Kimura vs. Hélio Gracie

In 1955, Kimura, at 38 years old, participated in a match in which he defeated Hélio Gracie of the famous Gracie Jiu Jitsu family in a submission judo match held in Brazil. During the fight, Kimura threw Gracie repeatedly with ippon-seoinage (one arm shoulder throw), osotogari (major outer sweep), and haraigoshi (sweeping hip throw). Kimura reportedly threw Gracie repeatedly in an effort to knock him unconscious. However, the floor of the fighting area was apparently too soft to allow this to happen. Kimura also inflicted painful, suffocating grappling techniques on Gracie such as kuzure-kamishiho-gatame (modified upper four corner hold), kesa-gatame (scarf hold), and sankaku-gatame (triangle choke). Finally, thirteen minutes into the bout, Kimura positioned himself to apply a reverse ude-garami (arm entanglement, a shoulderlock). Gracie refused to submit, even after his arm broke, forcing Kimura to continue the lock on Gracie's broken arm. At this point, Carlos Gracie, Helio's older brother, threw in the towel to end the match to protect his brother's health. In 1994, Helio admitted in an interview that he had in fact been choked unconscious earlier in the match, but had revived and continued fighting.

As a tribute to Kimura's victory, the reverse ude-garami technique has since been commonly referred to as the Kimura lock, or simply the Kimura, in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and, more recently, mixed martial arts circles.

Kimura in Professional Wrestling

In the early 1950's, Kimura was invited by Rikidozan to compete as a professional wrestler. They performed both as tag team partners and as opponents, but Kimura was not marketed or publicized as much as Rikidozan, primarily due to Rikidozan's own opposition (Rikidozan was actually Zainichi Korean, and thus he reportedly felt conflicted or insecure about having a real Japanese in competition with him for publicity). The Rikidozan vs. Kimura match for the Japanese Professional Wrestling Heavyweight title was the first high-profile match between two native professional wrestlers.

Kimura formed International Pro Wrestling Force (IPWF), a promotion based in his hometown of Kumamoto, as a local affiliate of The Japan Wrestling Association (JWA). Although JWA later took over operations, IPWF is remembered for being the first Japanese promotion to introduce Mexican Lucha Libre wrestlers.

Some biographers note that his professional wrestling career began shortly after his wife was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and it is speculated by some that he began professional wrestling to pay for her medication. Indeed, the predicament was likely beyond the financial means of a police instructor, which was his paying job prior to professional wrestling.

Kimura vs. Valdemar Santana

Kimura went to Brazil again in 1959 to conduct his last Professional Judo/Wrestling tour. He was challenged by Valdemar Santana to a "real" (not choreographed) submission match. Santana was champion in Gracie Jiujitsu, Capoeira, and boxing. He was 27 years old, 6 feet tall, and weighed 205 lb. In 1958, Santana knocked out Hélio Gracie in a fight lasting 3 hours 45 minutes. Kimura threw Santana with seoinage, hanegoshi, and osotogari. He then applied his famous ude-garami (keylock), winning the match.

Santana requested a rematch under vale tudo rules--the first fight was apparently grappling only--and this time, the result was a draw after 40 minutes in a bout in which both competitors reportedly drew blood.

Death

Kimura passed away on April 18, 1993 at the age of 75 from lung cancer.

References

1. ^ Jim Chen, Theodore Chen. The Man Who Defeated Helio Gracie. July 3, 2003.
2. ^ Andrew Lundy, John Molinaro, Dan Tavares. Japanese Athletes. CBC Sports. November 15, 2006
3. ^ Lawrence Eng. Grappling: Fact and Fiction. October 7th, 2000.

• Masahiko Kimura Biography
• My Judo Excerpts from the book by Masahiko Kimura
• Interview with Hélio Gracie Gracie recalls the famous challenge match

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