The first dojo was opened in the Seattle area by a judoka named Kano in 1903, but this club closed after only a few months. Judo in the Pacific Northwest dates back to the beginning of the century, when judo was practiced in small, scattered clubs. f irst flourished on the West Coast because of its large Japanese population. Among the very first were Miada Kousen, Sataki Nobushitam, and Ito Takugoro. After the arrival of Tomita and Yamashita, many judo instructors came to America. for seven years and taught judo at Princeton and Columbia Universities. He was the first person to sign the rolls of the Kodokan he was instrumental in establishing judo in the U.S. Pacific Northwest In 1903, one year after YamashitaвЂ™s arrival in America, Shumeshiro Tomita journeyed to the U.S. In 1935, Yamashita was promoted to 10th dan, the first person to hold that rank. Through the help of the president, Yamashita taught judo at the Naval academy. Roosevelt studied judo for about a year, earning a brown belt in the process. After leaving office, he kept mats in his home. President Roosevelt was impressed and took judo lessons. Yamashita kept up the pressure until Graft groaned as his arm came close to breaking. In the mat work, Yamashita got an arm lock on Graft, but the wrestler would not give up. Finally, Yamashita decided that he would do mat work with Graft, since there seemed to be no end to the match. Although Yamashita threw him time after time, Graft continued to get up. Naval Academy and who was teaching President Roosevelt wrestling. There was a contest with a wrestler by the name of John Graft, who was the coach at the U.S. Yamashita was subsequently invited to Washington to give a demonstration at the White House. She mentioned to the president that Yamashita was teaching judo and that Roosevelt might be interested in the art. Wadsworth was a fine horsewoman and went to the same country club as did President Theodore Roosevelt. Thus judo traveled in prominent circles in its embryonic stage in America.ДЇor lack of wider participation this judo mission died out with YamashitaвЂ™s return to Japan in 1907. A menвЂ™s judo group made up from various embassies in the area appeared. These few women started the first judo class in the country. They had the sixth floor of a building covered with tatami mats. Wadsworth started taking judo lessons from Yamashita. Healso tried to arrange for Harvard University to hire Yamashita as a judo teacher.ДЄt the same time, Sen. Hill arranged for judo demonstrations in New York and Chicago. After Yamashita arrived, the Hill family decided that judo was much too dangerous for their children. Yamashita, concerning YamashitaвЂ™s coming to the U.S. Graham Hill, director of the Great Northern Railroad. He arrived in 1902 at the invitation of Mr. Yoshiaki Yamashita, then 6th dan, was the first person to teach judo in the U.S. Dewey discussed Kodokan judo with Kano and may have been instrumental in the beginning of a pioneering judo program at Columbia University. John Dewey of Columbia University went to the Kodokan to observe a demonstration. By 1908, the Kodokan had a total of 13 American members studying in Japan. Ladd studied nage (throwing), katame (mat work), atemi-waza (striking techniques), and koshiki-no-kata (self-defense forms). Ladd came to the Kodokan sometime during 1889, ten years after KanoвЂ™s demonstration for President Grant. The first American to study seriously at the Kodokan was Prof. There were several Americans present but this contact had no discernible result. The next contact came in 1889, when Kano lectured on the educational values of judo before a group of foreign dignitaries.

In any case, President Grant was exposed to the judo master at a very fertile and productive period in pre-Kodokan judoвЂ™s history. The official date given for the start of kodokan judo is 1882, and most likely Kano did not explain his Kodokan Judo then but may have lectured on his study of jujutsu. JUDO The first known meeting of Kodokan judo and any American occurred in 1879, when President U.S Grant was in Japan on a state visit and observed a demonstration of judo techniques by 19-year-old Jigoro Kano.

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