Later Life
At the end of the 1906 academic year, Yamashita left the United States for Japan. On 24 July 1906, he participated in a conference in Kyoto that had been called for the purpose of standardizing judo forms (kata) that could be taught in Japanese public schools.
From the 1910s to the 1930s, Yamashita worked as a judo teacher at Tokyo Higher Normal School (東京高等師範学校, Tōkyō Kōtō Shihan Gakkō?). In this capacity, he often attended judo tournaments and exhibitions. He also taught judo to the Tokyo Municipal Police. Thus, from September 1924 to April 1926, Yamashita was part of a committee that developed a new kata for Japanese police.
An example of Yamashita's teaching method is the advice:
| “ | Always try to think of improvement, and don't think that you are too good. The latter is very easy to do while learning judo. | ” |
Yamashita's last major public appearance was probably the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Kodokan, an event which took place in November 1934. British judoka Sarah Mayer described Yamashita's participation as follows:
| “ | One of the Imperial Princes was present and the Emperor sent a present of money. A speech was read from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education delivered a long oration. All the famous Judo men were there and there was a rather touching scene when Mr. Yamashita, the oldest pupil, came forward. He has lost his voice with advancing years and another man had to read his speech for him, but as he stood facing Prof. Kano I could not help thinking of the long years that these two men, now so old, had struggled to make Judo popular, and what a wonderful day it must be to them to have lived to see such an amazing achievement. Famous men demonstrated beautiful Kata when the speeches were over and Prof. Kano had dedicated three trees to his three teachers, and comic relief was provided by a match between me and Mr. Samura, who was good enough to get the worst of it. | ” |
His ultimate promotion to 10th dan was posthumous.
Read more about this topic: Yamashita Yoshiaki
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