Mikinosuke Kawaishi

Mikinosuke Kawaishi (川石 酒造之助, Kawaishi Mikinosuke^?, born 13 August 1899 – 30 January 1969) was a Japanese master of judo and jujutsu who achieved the rank of 7th Dan. His first name is often erroneously transcribed, particularly in France, as Mikonosuke instead of Mikinosuke. He led the development of judo in France, with Shozo Awazu, and much of Europe and is credited with introducing the colored belt system for differentiating early grades. The Fédération Française posthumously awarded him 10th Dan in judo and jujutsu .

Kawaishi was born in Kyoto in 1899 and having studied judo and jujutsu at the Dai Nippon Butokukai (Greater Japan Association of Martial Virtue). He left Japan in the mid-1920s to travel and see the world and began by touring the United States of America, teaching jujitsu particularly in New York City and San Diego. By 1928 he had arrived in the United Kingdom and soon established a school in Liverpool and with his close friend Gunji Koizumi. Koizumi was nearly 10 years his senior and was well established in the UK having formed the London Budokwai Club and a school at Oxford University. In 1931, he moved to London where he founded the Anglo-Japanese Judo Club and also began teaching judo at Oxford University with Koizumi.

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