11 Facts About Sadakazu Uyenishi

Sadakazu Uyenishi known as S K Uyenishi and under the stage name Raku, was a jujitsu practitioner, a professional wrestler and a figure of London Edwardian establishment from 1900 to 1908.

Sadakazu Uyenishi was one of the first Japanese jujitsu practitioners to both teach jujitsu and to compete using the art outside Japan.

Sada Kazu Sadakazu Uyenishi was born in 1880, probably at Osaka Prefecture in Honshu, the main island of Japan.

Sadakazu Uyenishi later referred to having won several jujitsu competitions during his teen years.

Sadakazu Uyenishi was a skilled exponent of rokushakubo and hanbo.

Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi began to distinguish themselves as professional wrestlers, competing successfully against much larger opponents in the contests promoted by Barton-Wright.

Sadakazu Uyenishi was an exotic "character" whose stylish dress-sense and gentlemanly bearing were considered noteworthy by several interviewers.

Nelson and writing under his professional wrestling alias of "Raku", Sadakazu Uyenishi produced his Text-Book of Ju-Jutsu, which became a popular reference work.

Three years later, while continuing his wrestling as a sideline, Sadakazu Uyenishi was employed as a hand-to-hand combat instructor at Aldershot Military School and at Shorncliffe Army Camp.

In late 1908 Sadakazu Uyenishi returned to Japan, leaving his Golden Square school in the charge of his senior student, William Garrud.

Notable individuals who were directly influenced by Sadakazu Uyenishi's teaching included William Garrud whose book The Complete Jujitsuan became a standard reference work on the subject; Edith Garrud, who went on to establish jujitsu classes for members of the militant Suffragette movement; and Emily Watts, whose 1906 book The Fine Art of Jujitsu was the first English work to record Kodokan judo kata.