One Tuesday evening I went to watch my very good friend Milou doing what he does best, judo. He is a professional judoka, who set up his own club with former trainer and longtime friend Steph, in their home city of Strasbourg. This is such an important part of his life, his work, his passion, his reason for being in Japan, that I had wanted to go and watch for a long time. The perfect opportunity came when Steph was in Kyoto visiting, as he could explain to me some of the moves and the structure of the classes, which, he noted, were very different to judo classes in France. The wooden dojo itself has an interesting history, opened in 1946 in the grounds of the Yamazaki family home, at a time when post-WWII occupying forces had banned judo and certain other martial arts. Sometimes allied personnel themselves would attend these secret dojos, and once it was realised that judo did not encourage militarism, judo was legalised once more. The dojo is currently managed by Yamazaki sensei who took over from her father and who despite her petite, slim, very friendly appearance holds one of the highest ranks in judo, 7th dan black belt. すごいでしょう！
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