<Begin Segment 6>

MN: Now let me ask you about the martial arts. Did you take judo or kendo?

KM: Yes, judo. I took judo when I was, I guess from about age, a teenager I guess, 'til oh, maybe up to the time I was about eighteen or seventeen, eighteen, I graduated from high school, I used to do, go to judo, and we used to have matches with various other dojos, too.

MN: Now, which judodojo did you go to?

KM: Oh, I don't remember the name of it. It was in Glendale. Maybe only about three or four blocks from my house, there was a dojo.

MN: So you just walked to the dojo?

KM: Uh-huh, right, or ride a bike.

MN: How many times a week were classes held?

KM: I guess at least once a week.

MN: Was this dojo next to a community center?

KM: No, it was... no, it was all by itself. No community center.

MN: Do you remember the sensei's name?

KM: No.

MN: Did this judo dojo have any girl students?

KM: No.

MN: What ranking were you able to reach in judo?

KM: What's my... I never did get to be shodan, one below that. Ikyu.

MN: Now you mentioned the shiai. How often and where did you have the shiai?

KM: Well, we used to have, I remember like in Little Tokyo you had Rafu Dojo or whatever you want to call it, and they had a bit arena type of place, so we used to have various matches with them and some other dojos that were outskirts of L.A. But I guess the tournaments were, well, I wasn't good enough to be in the upper tournaments, so most of 'em were team efforts. [Laughs]

MN: Now did your father take you to the shiais at the Rafu Dojo?

KM: Huh?

MN: Did your father take you to the shiai when it was at the Rafu Dojo?

KM: Oh, yeah.

MN: What did you folks do after the competitions?

KM: What did we do? I don't remember.

MN: I mean, did you go into Little Tokyo and have a --

KM: Oh, probably, we probably had dinner or something out in Little Tokyo, yeah.

MN: Now, did knowing judo help you in other ways like at your regular school? Did you ever have to defend yourself?

KM: Oh, yeah. I used to, I didn't practice it, but it's to defend yourself, yeah. I used to get in, once in a while, get in a fight with the white guys, but I don't know why, but I've gotten bloody noses from being hit by some of the kids.

MN: Now you had one particular fight your senior year in high school.

KM: Uh-huh, yeah. I had a fight with a kid, and then I remember we used to have a graduation sweater that used to have a class year on it, on the side, so that you could wear it senior year in high school. And I think I got in a fight with this kid and he gave me a bloody nose and I was wearing that sweater, so I got blood all over it. So I didn't want my mother to know what happened so I washed it with hot water. And the wool shrunk on me, so I had to throw it away. But she was wondering what happened to the sweater.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.