Sun, Jul 19, 2020 page10

• Judo matriarch spreads passion in Hokkaido

  • AFP, TOMA, Japan
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  Wakako Ueno raised three daughters to Olympic or world championship glory and now the matriarch of Japan’s most decorated judo dynasty is passing on her passion to the next generation.

  The 64-year-old puts about 10 children as young as seven through their paces in her tatami-mat dojo in the small town of Toma on the island of Hokkaido.

  Each session starts with the children sitting on their knees to recite the teachings of judo founder Jigoro Kano, who stares down at them from a small black-and-white portrait on the wall: “Judo is about harnessing your mental and physical strength in the most efficient way possible.”

  

  Young judoka stand according to rank, from white belt to brown belt, during a training session in Wakayama, Japan, on Feb. 28. When the Tokyo Olympic Games open a year late, one of the hottest tickets in town will be for judo, which was invented in Japan and first introduced at the 1964 Tokyo Games.

  Photo: AFP

  However, the coach said that she wants to transmit the enjoyment of judo to the next generation.

  “Judo is fun. It’s exciting. I want the children to experience that excitement,” she said.

  Ueno fell in love with the sport 40 years ago, learning it from her late husband. She still remembers feeling “exhilarated when she was able to throw her opponent cleanly.”

  At that time, there were few female judoka around and she grew frustrated.

  “There were no women at all. So I practiced with my husband, but I had no chance of winning,” Ueno said. “I was upset.”

  So, along with her husband, Wakako Ueno threw herself into preparing their eldest daughter, Masae Ueno, for international judo competition. She would go on to win gold at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games.

  “I had no choice. Judo was the same as eating. It was part of our lives,” said Masae Ueno, now 41 and working as a part-time judo coach in Tokyo.

  Her father took the lead in her training and he took no prisoners.

  She once had to stand in the middle of the tatami floor and fight 10 boys one by one.

  Female judoka were rare at that time, so her training partners were almost always stronger boys.

  “I had to keep pushing forward even if I was thrown by my opponents,” Masae Ueno said, adding that her father’s methods stripped some enjoyment out of the sport.

  “He was strict, so I have no memory of having fun doing judo. I did it because I had to,” she said, able to laugh at the memory decades later.

  Her sister, Yoshie Ueno, who won bronze at the 2012 London Games, recalls similar brutality from her father, who would swing a bamboo sword while yelling at underperforming students.

  “It was scary. Even if we wanted to run away, we couldn’t,” said the 36-year-old, now a national team coach.

  Nevertheless, she credits her upbringing with the family’s astonishing success on the mat.

  “Judo education was ingrained in us at home. That’s why we are who we are now,” she said. “There aren’t many families whose members all do judo — maybe a father, but rarely a mother as well.”

  The Uenos are keeping it in the family as youngest daughter, Tomoe, a 30-year-old former junior world champion, helps her run the dojo.

  Wakako Ueno is aiming to spread the word about judo, which is declining in popularity — from a peak of 250,000 practitioners in 1993 to about 150,000 in 2018, the All Japan Judo Federation said.

  “Baseball is on TV every day, soccer as well. Children are attracted to the sports that are shown on television,” she said.

  While judo spikes in popularity during the Olympics, once every four years is not enough, she said.

  Looking back, Wakako Ueno said that she and her husband might have driven their daughters too hard in their pursuit of victory.

  She said that she was so shocked when Masae Ueno crashed out of the 2000 Sydney Games after losing three matches — she could not even speak to her.

  “I regret that. Athletes are already under so much pressure. I decided after that to remember it is the efforts they are making that are the most important. It’s not all about the medals,” she said.

  Now she wants to continue her husband’s legacy in coaching and toughen up the younger generation — but without the strict training methods.

  “In judo, 20 percent is fun and maybe the remaining 80 percent is tough, but by overcoming this, you’ll be strong physically and mentally,” Wakako Ueno said.
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