Gunji Koizumi
| Gunji Koizumi | |
|---|---|
| Born |
8 July 1885 Komatsuka Oaza, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan |
| Died | 15 April 1965 (aged 79) Putney, London, United Kingdom Suicide |
| Other names | G.K. |
| Style | Judo |
| Rank | 8th dan (Kodokan) |
| Notable students | Richard Bowen, Charles Palmer, Sarah Mayer, Percy Sekine |
Gunji Koizumi (小泉 軍治 Koizumi Gunji?, 8 July 1885 – 15 April 1965), known affectionately by colleagues as G.K., was a Japanese master of judo who introduced this martial art to the United Kingdom, and came to be known as the 'Father of British Judo.' He was the founder of the Budokwai, a pioneering Japanese martial arts society in England. Koizumi helped establish the British Judo Association, and founded the European Judo Union. He held the rank of 8th dan in judo. Koizumi's apparent suicide in 1965 shocked the worldwide judo community.
Koizumi was born on 8 July 1885 in the village of Komatsuka Oaza (around 20 miles north of Tokyo at that time; the entire area is now part of metropolitan Tokyo) in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. He was the younger son of a tenant farmer, Shukichi Koizumi, and his wife, Katsu. Koizumi had an elder brother, Chiyokichi, and a younger sister, Iku. In 1897, aged 12, Koizumi began training in the art of kendo at school. Koizumi also began learning English from a neighbour who had been to America.
As the younger son in the family, he had the options of starting his own farm or being adopted into a family without a male heir (a Japanese custom); he disliked both options. In July 1900, shortly before he turned 15, he left home to seek his fortune in Tokyo, where he enrolled as a trainee telegrapher under a government scheme. In 1901, he started practising jujutsu under Tago Nobushige at the Tenjin Shinyo-ryu. Once qualified as a telegrapher he worked for a while in Tokyo before taking a job on the railways in Korea. In 1904, he trained under Yamada Nobukatsu, a former samurai. By now, Koizumi had decided that he wanted to study electricity, and that the best place to do so was in the United States of America. He travelled through Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and India, working as he went. While in Singapore in 1905, he trained under Tsunejiro Akishima.
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