Saigo, Shiro

The early years

Shiro Saigo was born on February 4, 1866 in Aizuwakamatsu, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. He was the third son of a samurai Sida Sadajiro. At the age of three, Bosin , fleeing the war , moved to the city of Tsugawa (now the city of Aga in Niigata Prefecture). As a child, he studied the fighting style of the Aizu clan.

In 1882, Saigo came to Tokyo , and in August of that year he entered Kodokan , becoming the second student of Jigoro Kano. In 1883, together with Tsunejiro, Tomita was awarded the title of Judas. On the same day that they graduated, he accepted the challenge of Sakujiro Yokoyama, the much harder master of ju-jutsu , and defeated him, prompting Yokoyama (the future great judo ) to join the school. A man of great maneuverability, Shiro was known by the nickname “Cat” because of his ability to land on his feet when throwing, the skill he observed with real cats , and the fact that he trained by jumping from the second floor of the building. He developed a personal technique called Arashi Yama ^[1] . It may have been related to the judo technique of the Yama Arashi , although Tsunejiro Tomita believed that his personal technique was lost after his death.

Judo

A feature of Saigoµ was the ability to defeat much more massive opponents. This provided an early surge in the popularity of Kodokan judo . In 1884, Saigoµ became famous for his victory over the master Yoshin-ryu ju-jitsu Matsugoro Okuda, having made three successful throws and completed the series with the “signature” technique of the Arashi pit.

Saigoµ also participated in the tournament between the Kodokan and Totsuka School, which is related to Yoshin-ryu ju-jutsu. He got a significantly larger opponent - Entaro Kochi. Entaro Kochi was superior to the opponent at the beginning of the match, but Ciro eluded him and invariably landed on his feet when throwing. Entaro was gradually tired and left a gap in his defense. Shiro Saigo was able to complete his arashi pit twice. As a result of the first throw, Entaro Kochi received a concussion, and the second reception ended for the master of ju-jutsu fracture of the shoulder.

After this victory, Mamoru Funakoshi, the governor of Chiba Prefecture, personally went to the Kodokan dojo to take part in a judo lecture, accompanied by the leading masters of the Totsuka Yoshin-ryu school. After Saigo had demonstrated the randori , guests from Totsuk's school praised him, calling him a genius.

In addition, Saigoµ fought with Shusaburo Suno from Totsuka’s school, who was famous for his ability to bend iron rods with his hands and smash thick boards with his fists. Sano was 30 kilograms heavier than his opponent and specifically trained to withstand arashi pit intake. He succeeded: he threw Saigo and tied with his weight, but the judoka avoided defeat, used the ude-gatame technique and forced Suno to surrender.

Leaving the Kodokan

In 1890, Saigoµ was forced to leave the Kodokan because of his involvement in a street fight. According to sources, a drunk Shiro challenged a sumo wrestler named Araumi, knocking him out with a throw. After Araumi bit Saigoµ's leg, a fight broke out between supporters of Shiro and Araumi. Saigoµ also had a fight with the police: he injured some of the policemen who tried to pacify him, and even threw some others into a nearby river. However, he was sent to prison, from where he was released by Jigoro Kano. After this incident, Saigo went off to Nagasaki , devoting most of his time to kyudo . However, after Saigoµ's death, as a sign of reconciliation, Jigoro Kano assigned him the 6th dan ^[2] .

Shiro Saigo became the prototype of Sugata Sansiro, the main character in the film The Judo Genius .

• Siro Saigo at Judo Info
• Ben Holmes. Shiro Saigo - Judo's Secret Weapon? (eng.) . bestjudo.com (July 12, 2009). Date of treatment June 10, 2019.
• Ellis Amdur. Hidden in Plain Sight: Esoteric Power Training within Japanese Martial Traditions . - Freelance Academy Press, 2018-08-09. - 474 p. - ISBN 9781937439378 .