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TI: Well, so in my notes I have that when you were about ten is when you were first introduced to judo.

YU: Yes.

TI: Was this in Garden Grove?

YU: Yeah, well Garden Grove, Westminster, Stanton, the cities were all close together, and we had a Japanese school that was in Stanton.

TI: Okay. So not in Garden Grove, but it's kind of like --

YU: Well, we did have a Garden Grove too, Japanese school, but that one, we went, we did go to Garden Grove, that, but maybe it's a little mixed up here, but went to Garden Grove grammar school and then later on we went to Stanton Japanese.

TI: Okay. And so so you did take Japanese language also, or Japanese --

YU: We went to Japanese school, yes.

TI: Okay. And then tell me about being introduced to judo. What was the class like? Was it a dojo, or how did they do judo?

YU: There was a dojo that was built with sawdust and canvas covering, and we were introduced to judo there.

TI: And at this age, what were your thoughts or impressions about judo? Was this something that you were interested in?

YU: Well, it was something different, fun. And we were not really allowed to do much except we dressed up, we watched our older brothers practice judo, and then after they went in to get dressed and things we'd tumble around with our friends.

TI: Okay. But, so you started off, you were one of the younger ones, but then over time you became, I guess, one of the older ones over, as you went every year? Is that how it worked?

YU: Yeah. As time went on we got, really took it up more and competed in tournaments and things like that.

TI: Now, at a young age, did you show a strong aptitude for judo? Was this something that people noticed that you would be good at judo?

YU: No. I enjoyed judo, and people my age, my size, we were, we would compete against each other and they would beat me and I'd beat them next time, and so that's how we grew up. Never that I'm superior to you or anything like that.

TI: So at this early age, did you ever, did it ever occur to you that judo would become a really large part of your life?

YU: No, it never occurred to me.

TI: Okay. How about school? If one of your friends or a teacher were to describe you as a student, how would they describe you?

YU: I would say that they would probably say, "He was a good student, didn't get into trouble. Everything, all assignments, he completed."

TI: And when you got into, like, high school, how about sports? Did you participate in sports?

YU: Yes. In high, I could hardly wait until I got in high school so that we could play football or basketball, tennis, and things like that.

TI: And so did you, like football, what position did you play?

YU: I played a position, fullback. Today, when you say fullback people don't know too much what they, what you're talking about, halfback or anything like that because they're all backfield or quarterback's the only one. But at that time we had two halfbacks, a fullback, and a quarterback. And the full, we played on what was called the Pop Warner system, and under Pop Warner's system you had the two halfbacks on both sides and the quarterback was in the back, and the fullback was right behind the center. So I was small and I had a friend, his name was Tom Sullivan, he was about six feet one or so and fairly large, hundred and eighty-five pounds, so he played center. And so the coach says, "Okay, we'll devise a play for Yosh. It'll be called Yosh X, and whenever we need one yard or a half yard we would send Yosh in, and the center will lunge, give the ball to Yosh, and the center would lunge forward and Yosh would follow him and pick up the half yard or one yard needed for first down." So that was, that was a kind of play that we had, and it was fun. I never got hurt because the guys in front of me always hit the linebackers.

TI: So this is interesting, so the fullback would kind of be standing where kind of the quarterback --

YU: Quarterback today, right.

TI: But then, when you would stand there in a normal play, would the ball then be hiked to the quarterback or would it...

YU: No, it would be hiked to me, 'cause I'm right behind him. And he would, instead of passing it to me fast he would just give it to me, and I would get the ball and I would just, then he would lunge forward and I would follow him, and we would pick up a half a yard or one yard.

TI: Okay. Now, when they didn't call the Yosh X play, what would normally happen?

YU: Well, that's when we needed the one yard.

TI: Right, right. But when they didn't need -- I'm just curious about how football worked back then. So would the football be more like a shotgun in the, in the...

YU: Well, they did that too, but one of the reasons that I would not get called in is because maybe we're, we needed five yards, and they knew that we would never get the five yards.

TI: Yeah. But then the other team, whenever they see you come in, they'd know that the Yosh X play was being called. [Laughs]

YU: Well, they didn't have that kind of scouting. [Laughs]

TI: Okay. When you were in high school, did you still continue with judo? Is that something that you were still doing?

YU: We, I did a little bit. Not as much, intensely, but I did continue some, yes.

<End Segment 4 - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.