Mikinosuke Kawaishi
A Japanese judoka who taught in Paris from 1935, co-founded the French Judo Federation and is credited with the colored belt system.
Quick Facts
FranceBiography
Mikinosuke Kawaishi was born on 13 August 1899 in Himeji. He is the founder of the Kawaishi Judo method and, together with Shozo Awazu, helped develop judo in France.
He studied judo at the Dai Nippon Butokukai in Kyoto. In the mid-1920s he left Japan and taught jujutsu in the USA, in New York and San Diego. In 1928 he arrived in Great Britain and founded a school in Liverpool. In 1931 he moved to London, founded the Anglo-Japanese Judo Club and received 3rd dan from Jigoro Kano.
In 1935 he moved to Paris as a 4th dan, where he was tasked with teaching jujutsu to the French police and opened the first public jujutsu school in the Latin Quarter. During the Second World War he was imprisoned in Manchuria, and after the war he returned to Paris. In 1946 he co-founded the French Judo Federation with Moshe Feldenkrais and became its technical director. In 1947 he co-organized the first international judo tournament between Great Britain and France and founded the Kawaishi Cup. He is credited with introducing the colored belt system from white to brown, meant to distinguish the level of Western practitioners.
He died on 30 January 1969 and is buried in Plessis-Robinson near Paris. The French Judo Federation posthumously awarded him 10th dan.
Associated Martial Arts
Organisations
- Fédération Française de JudoCo-founder · 1946
Ranks and titles
- 10th danJudo