Miscellaneous Notes:

[emattson]

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By Graham Noble

Boxing vs jujutsu/judo contests – Re the vogue for such contests in Hawaii, Charles Goodin searched through the old 1920s newspapers to write a nice article on the subject for “Classical Fighting Arts”: “Ju JItsu vs. Boxing and Wrestling: Three Months of Electrifying Mixed Matches in Hawaii”, (Nos. 5 and 6, 2004/2005).

The story of Sugata Sanshiro and Lister – The translation (into French and English) appeared in “Revue Judo Kodokan”, January, March and May 1969.

The Japanese champion boxer Piston Horiguchi – Leo Noonan’s article mentioning Horiguchi, “And in this corner the challengers from Japan”, appeared in the American magazine “The Fighters”, Vol. 1 No. 1, (a great magazine, by the way, unfortunately it only ran a few issues). There is a nice essay on Horiguchi (“The Exemplar of the Piston Attack”) by Joe Svinth, on his EJMAS site, and Horiguchi is also featured on the “Asian Boxing” website. This has a link to a Japanese documentary on Horiguchi, “The Story of Piston Horiguchi”.

Joe Svinth wrote: “During 1948 and 1949 Horiguchi tried a comeback but was easily beaten down. So in October 1950 he ended his life by walking in front of a moving train.”

Horiguchi fought in Hawaii in the mid-1930s and he was remembered there. Richard Kim mentioned him in a letter to me (October 21, 1985): “In closing I want to mention the Piston Horiguchi in your article, was the Champion of the Orient prior to WW2 and also fought in Hawaii. His American debut was not too successful because he fought only one way – just kept boring in, throwing punches piston-like, hence his name. He was for real.” And following the publication of my original Choki Motobu article in “Fighting Arts” magazine in 1986 the well-known judo and ju jitsu teacher Wally Jay wrote a letter to the magazine which included this: “On page 17 there were mentions of Piston Horiguchi and his punching power. He was one of the hardest-hitting boxers I have seen. I recall his fight with Hawaii’s world-class bantam-weight fighter who was never knocked out and he fought the best. Piston ‘conked’ David Kui Kong Young with a right hand blow that felled his opponent unconscious. Young was out the moment he was hit and it took quite a while to revive him. Before that one punch, Horiguchi had taken a terrific beating, battered by southpaw Young. Horiguchi had a streak of knockouts but never impressed anyone that he was a boxer. He was a puncher and when he got it in, it was all over. They could have counted to a hundred. Young would never have woke up.” Wally Jay summed Horiguchi up in a following reply to a query I made (letter September 11, 1985): “Horiguchi was a very poor boxer but he could take a lot of punishment. He was a dangerous puncher even when he was beaten badly . . . There are probably a number of fight managers in Hawaii or the boxing commission who will remember him.”

The newspaper reports of the day, by the way, disagree with Wally Jay’s recollection of Piston Horiguchi’s punching power. Joe Svinth quotes Honolulu sportswriter Don Watson as commenting that "Horiguchi has an unusual amount of stamina and fighting heart . . . [but his punch] isn't hard enough to dent a package of two day old poi."

Motobu and Hawaii – Thomas Feldman, a terrific researcher of karate history, sent me an interesting clipping from the Honolulu Star Bulletin, December 21, 1932. Headed “NYK Suing to Recover $1,051”, it reads:

“A suit to recover a fine of $1,051 paid by the Nippon Yusen Kaisha to Mrs. Jeanette A. Hyde, U.S. collector of customs at Honolulu was filed in federal court by N. Ohoka, manager of the local N.Y.K. office, against Mrs. Hyde today.

“The fine, according to the complaint, was imposed by Mrs. Hyde when the N.Y.K. liner Shinyo Maru brought as a passenger to Honolulu Choki Motobu, who was refused admittance as a temporary visitor to the United States because allegedly he could not read English or any other language or dialect, although he had otherwise complied with regulations applicable to aliens entering the United States as temporary visitors.

“The N.Y.K. claims that when Mrs. Hyde said she would refuse clearance papers to the Shinyo Maru until the fine was paid, the steamship company paid the fine under protest to prevent inconvenience to passengers and breach of mail and merchandising contracts.”

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"[but his punch] isn't hard enough to dent a package of two day old poi."

Poi is an important food in Hawaii; people talk about it quite a bit. Poi is taro root steamed and pounded, mixed with water until it becomes a smooth paste. It has a consistency of yogurt.