14 April 2020

Death of Sensei Murata

Its with great sadness that we hear of the death of a true judoka, Naoki Murata sensei, 8th Dan Kodokan. Sensei Murata and I exchanged many emails talking about Judo, how it has evolved, its rich history and his opinions on western judo against Japanese Judo.

In 2015 when we first visited the Kodokan, he very kindly gave a talk to our group on the history of Judo and Jigoro Kano. He was fun and entertaining.
2019 visit, he once again gave his time for free to talk to me in length about his view and philosophy of Judo, this time from the comfort of his office. I loved when he talked about his Exam for 8th Dan and performing his Kata under extreme pain which made him bed bound for a week or so afterwards.

He was a real Judo historian who was always wanting to hear other peoples thoughts and stories. He once told me that we should keep living life as a Judoka, keep learning, keep practicing Jita Kyoei, Mutual Welfare and Benefit in everything we do.

He gave me a signed book which I cherish and so appreciate him for his time, sharing of knowledge, friendship, memories and support.

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