Keiko Fukuda

Keiko Fukuda
Fukuda in March 2012
Born	(1913-04-12)April 12, 1913 Tokyo, Japan
Died	February 9, 2013(2013-02-09) (aged 99) San Francisco, California, United States of America
Style	Judo
Teacher(s)	Kanō Jigorō, Kyuzo Mifune
Rank	10th dan judo (USA Judo, US Judo Federation), 9th dan judo (Kodokan)
Notable school(s)	Soko Joshi Judo Club
Website	www.sokojoshijudo.com

Keiko Fukuda (福田 敬子, Fukuda Keiko^?, April 12, 1913 – February 9, 2013) was a Japanese American martial artist. She was the highest-ranked female judoka in history, holding the rank of 9th dan from the Kodokan (2006), and 10th dan from USA Judo (July 2011) and from the United States Judo Federation (USJF) (September 2011), and was the last surviving student of Kanō Jigorō, founder of judo. She was a renowned pioneer of women's judo, together with her senpai Masako Noritomi (1913-1982) being the first woman promoted to 6th dan (c. 1972). In 2006 the Kodokan promoted Fukuda to 9th dan. She is also the first and, so far, only woman to have been promoted to 10th dan in the art of judo. After completing her formal education in Japan, Fukuda visited the United States of America to teach in the 1950s and 1960s, and eventually settled there. She continued to teach her art in the San Francisco Bay Area until her death in 2013.

Fukuda was born on April 12, 1913, in Tokyo. Her father died when she was very young. As a youth, she learned the arts of calligraphy, flower arrangement, and the tea ceremony; typical pursuits for a woman in Japan at that time. Despite her conventional upbringing, Fukuda felt close to judo through memories of her grandfather, and one day went with her mother to watch a judo training session. A few months later, she decided to begin training for herself. Her mother and brother supported this decision, but her uncle was opposed to the idea. Her mother and brother had thought that Fukuda would eventually marry one of the judo practitioners, but she never married, instead becoming a judo expert herself.