Judo Throws Real Hard When It's Sweaty

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Kimira remained a seventh dawn from the age of 30 until his death at 75. His final years however were marred by the petty vindictiveness of the kodakan authorities who froze his rank because he had Refused to return the championship flag. He continued to teach and train even while many of those he had defeated were promoted to eighth ninth and even tenth dawn in the early 1990s. A lifelong smoker was diagnosed with lung cancer after surgery and in his 70s kimira started doing push-ups in his room. He died on april 18th 1993 at the age of 75.

Masahiko Kimura (木村政彦, Kimura Masahiko, September 10, 1917 – April 18, 1993) was a Japanese judoka and professional wrestler who is widely considered one of the greatest judoka of all time.^[1]^[2]^[3] He won the All-Japan Judo Championships three times in a row for the first time in history and had never lost a judo match from 1936 to 1950. An author said," In the history of judo, no one is the strongest before Kimura and no one is the strongest after Kimura."^[4] He has often been described as the strongest judoka in history.^[5] In submission grappling, the reverse ude-garami arm lock is often called the "Kimura",^[6] due to his famous victory over Gracie jiu-jitsu founder Hélio Gracie. In the Japanese professional wrestling world, he is known for the controversial match he had with Rikidōzan.