Rena Kanokogi
Encyclopedia
Rena "Rusty" Kanokogi née Glickman, was a renowned Jewish-American
American Jews
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...

 judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...

 expert from Brooklyn, New York. In 1959, disguised as a man, she won a medal at a YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...

 judo tournament, but had to return it after acknowledging that she was a woman. Traveling to Japan to continue her judo training, Kanokogi became the first woman allowed to train in the men's group at the Kodokan
Kodokan
, or the Kodokan Institute, is the headquarters of the worldwide judo community. Literally, kō means "to lecture" or "to spread information," dō means "the way," and kan is "a public building or hall," together translating roughly as "a place for the study or promotion of the way." The Kodokan was...

. She is perhaps best known for pioneering women's judo competition at the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

.

Early life

Kanokogi was born on July 30, 1935, in Brooklyn, New York, United States of America. The family home in Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....

 was not a stable one, and she began working in various jobs at the age of 7. In her adolescence, she led a street gang known as the Apaches. Her mother worked by selling hot dogs. In the 1950s, she used her brother's weights for weight training
Weight training
Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength and size of skeletal muscles. It uses the weight force of gravity to oppose the force generated by muscle through concentric or eccentric contraction...

 and also worked out on the punching bag at the gymnasium. By the mid-1950s, Kanokogi had married for the first time, becoming Rena Stewart. She bore a son, Chris Stewart, who would later add his stepfather's surname, Kanokogi, to his own name. Kanokogi and her first husband divorced after a short period of marriage. She was working as a switchboard operator at this time.

In 1955, a male friend showed Kanokogi a judo technique that he had learned, and she immediately became interested in the martial art. Kanokogi recalled that she was attracted to the art because it calmed her down and helped her develop self-control. She learned judo in her local neighborhood and tried to fight in judo competitions, but was barred because she was a woman. She acquired the nickname "Rusty" after a local dog.

Judo career

In 1959, Kanokogi competed at the YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...

 judo championship in Utica, New York
Utica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....

, disguised as a man. Women were not explicitly barred from the competition, but no woman had ever tried to participate before. She had cut her hair short, and taped down her breasts. She was an alternate on her team, and had to step in when a male member was injured and unable to compete. She won the match against her opponent and her team won the contest, but she was then pulled aside and the tournament organizer asked her whether she was a woman. She nodded, and was stripped of her medal.

In 1962, with no further options for her development in the US, Kanokogi traveled to the Kodokan
Kodokan
, or the Kodokan Institute, is the headquarters of the worldwide judo community. Literally, kō means "to lecture" or "to spread information," dō means "the way," and kan is "a public building or hall," together translating roughly as "a place for the study or promotion of the way." The Kodokan was...

 in Tokyo, Japan. Women had trained in the Kodokan since 1926, but in their own groups (not in the same groups as men). After "pulverizing" the other students in the women's training group, she became the first woman allowed to train in the men's group at the Kodokan. She was promoted to the rank of 2nd dan while at the Kodokan. There, she met her future husband, Ryohei Kanokogi, who held black belt
Black belt (martial arts)
In martial arts, the black belt is a way to describe a graduate of a field where a practitioner's level is often marked by the color of the belt. The black belt is commonly the highest belt color used and denotes a degree of competence. It is often associated with a teaching grade though...

 status in judo, karate
Karate
is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...

, and jodo
Jodo
, meaning "the way of the jō", or is a Japanese martial art using short staffs called jō. The art is similar to bōjutsu, and is strongly focused upon defense against the Japanese sword. The jō is a short staff, usually about 3 to 5 feet long...

, and was on the Nichidai University
Nihon University
Nihon University is the largest university in Japan. Akiyoshi Yamada, the minister of justice, founded Nihon Law School in October 1889....

 judo team. The couple married in 1964 in New York. At the time, he was ranked 5th dan and she was ranked 2nd dan. Kiyoshi Shiina, another judo master, was the best man at the Kanokogis' wedding. She served as the coach for the US Women's National Team in 1976, which included one of the top women in the 1970s, Maureen Braziel
Maureen Braziel
Maureen Braziel was one of the pioneers of Women's Judo competition. . She has been thought of as being one the top Judoka in the United States. , and within the 1970s. . She won the silver medal heavyweight in the 1971 British Open, and bronze in the open division. . She was the first female to...

.

In 1965, Kanokogi directed the first junior judo tournament held in New York: the New York City YMCA Junior Judo Championships. The following year, she directed the New York Women's Invitational Shiai.

Kanokogi sponsored the first women's judo world championship in 1980, by taking a mortgage on her home, and was the driving force behind the introduction of women's judo at the 1988 Summer Olympics—she had threatened to sue the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...

. In 1988, Kanokogi was Coach of the first United States Olympic Women's Judo Team. In 1991, she was inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. She was the first woman to be promoted to the rank of 7th dan
Dan (rank)
The ranking system is a Japanese mark of level, which is used in modern fine arts and martial arts. Originally invented in a Go school in the Edo period, this system was applied to martial arts by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo and later introduced to other East Asia countries.In the modern...

in judo.

Later life

At the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

 in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Kanokogi was a commentator for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

's coverage of judo. In 2008, she was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun
Order of the Rising Sun
The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese Government, created on April 10, 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight from the rising sun...

, 4th Class (Gold Rays with Rosette), one of Japan's highest civilian honors. In April 2009, she was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. In August that year, some 50 years after she had been stripped of her YMCA judo medal, the New York State YMCA awarded her a gold medal to honor her lifetime's work.

Kanokogi died on November 21, 2009, at the Lutheran Medical Center in New York, following a battle with leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...

. She was survived by her husband, children Ted Kanokogi and Jean Kanokogi, and two grandchildren according to one newspaper article, as well as eldest son Chris Stewart and a third grandchild.

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