Is getting a black belt on your life's to-do list? Then this elderly woman in San Francisco just might be your hero. Just two years before her 100th birthday, Sensei Keiko Fukuda has become the first woman to achieve a tenth-degree black belt --- the highest rank in Judo . Fukuda is now one of only four living people who have earned the tenth-degree black belt. Throughout history, only 16 people have ever achieved this honor. Fukuda began practicing Judo in 1935 and is the only surviving student of its founder, Kano Jiguro. At her teacher's requirement, she learned English to help spread Judo internationally. During a time when getting married, building a family and becoming a housewife were the norms ,Fukuda broke from tradition, continuing Judo instead of getting married. "All I did was Judo ... This was my marriage," Fukuda replied tearfully to the San Francisco Chronicle. "This is when my destiny was set. I just imagined how long the road would be." She described the Jiguro's school as "old-fashioned and sexist about belts and ranks". In fact, an edict that prevented women from achieving any higher than a fifth-degree black belt kept Fukuda at that level for 30 years. She finally got the sixth degree in 1972 when a women's division was created. Fukuda thinks Judo and her life to be "gentle, kind and beautiful, yet firm and strong, both mentally and physically". Fukuda says this kind of beauty is not external . She explained. "I believe this inner beauty is true beauty... All my life this has been my dream." Her dream was turned into reality, and the 98-year-old Sensei Keiko Fukuda continues to teach Judo three times a week at a women's Judo training center.
How old was Keiko when she got the tenth-degree black belt?
What did she learn in order to help spread Judo?
How many people have achieved this honor?
Did she get married?
When did she reach the sixth degree?
Does she consider her life gentle?
What is true beauty to Fukuda?
Who started the art of Judo?
Where is she now?
What city is Fukuda in?
98
Just two years before her 100th birthday
English
English to help spread Judo internationally
16
16 people have ever achieved this honor.
No
All I did was Judo ... This was my marriage
1972
She finally got the sixth degree in 1972
Yes
gentle, kind and beautiful
Inner beauty
Fukuda says this kind of beauty is not external . She explained. "I believe this inner beauty is true beauty.
Sensei Keiko Fukuda
Sensei Keiko Fukuda
Judo training center
Judo training center
San Francisco
San Francisco