Yoshihiro Uchida (April 1, 1920 – June 27, 2024) was an American

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

coach, businessman, and educator who was best known for his contributions to judo. Uchida had been the head judo coach at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

for over 70 years, and had played a leading part in the development of the university's judo program. His brother George Uchida was the 1972 US Olympic judo coach. He turned 100 in April 2020, and died on June 27, 2024, at the age of 104.

Early life

Uchida was born in the

Imperial Valley The Imperial Valley ( or ''Valle Imperial'') of Southern California lies in Imperial and Riverside counties, with an urban area centered on the city of El Centro. The Valley is bordered by the Colorado River to the east and, in part, the S ...

town of

Calexico, California Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California ...

, to Japanese immigrants who worked as farm laborers. Later growing up in Garden Grove, Uchida began competing in

at age 10. Uchida studied

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

at San Jose State, and in 1940 was made the student-coach of the Physical Education Department's judo program. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, while members of his family were sent to

internment camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...

, Uchida was drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during

and served as a medical technician. He returned to San Jose State in 1946 to complete his degree and to restart the judo program.

Judo career

After graduating in 1947, Uchida remained the coach at SJSU, a part-time position, while working as a laboratory technician at O'Connor Hospital and then a lab supervisor at San Jose Hospital. During this time, Uchida and

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

judo coach Henry Stone began developing rules to allow their students to compete against each other, including a

weight class Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports including Rowing (sport), rowing, Weightlifting#Weightlifting sports, weight lifting, and especi ...

system, moving judo away from a martial art for self defense to a

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

for

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

. Stone and Uchida persuaded the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU) to sanction judo in 1953; the first AAU National Championship in judo was held at San Jose State in that year. From 1960 to 1961, Uchida served as president of the Judo Black Belt Federation of America, which under his leadership started a pilot program for a national ranking system. With

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academies, United States service academy in Air Force Academy, Colorado, Air Force Academy Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. I ...

(USAFA) judo coach Phil Porter, Uchida co-organized the first National Collegiate Judo Championship in 1962 at USAFA. Uchida's San Jose State Spartans won the first of their over 40 national championships under his leadership at the inaugural tournament. Uchida represented the United States as the team coach of the first Olympic Judo Tournament at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. The team included two of Uchida's students from San Jose State, Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Paul Maruyama. James Bregman won a bronze medal in the middleweight class, becoming the first American to medal in the sport. Uchida continued promoting the sport after the 1964 Olympics. He organized the first U.S. High School Judo Championships and the first U.S. Open tournament, both hosted at San Jose State. , his San Jose State Spartans judo teams have won 45 of the 51 National Collegiate Judo Championships. In February 2007, the San Jose State program was named one of six USA Judo National Training Sites.

Business career

In 1957, Uchida bought and operated a failing

medical laboratory A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are conducted out on clinical specimens to obtain information about the health of a patient to aid in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Clinical medical labor ...

in order to earn enough income to qualify for a home loan. Having bought the lab for $3,000 with a $75 down payment, Uchida made the lab profitable within one month by soliciting business from doctors with whom he worked previously. Uchida's laboratory business grew to 40 locations. In 1989, he sold the business to Unilab for $30 million. He used the funds from the sale to start Uchida Enterprises. With 78 other investors, Uchida formed the San Jose Nihonmachi Corporation, which invested over $80 million to develop housing and businesses in San Jose's Japantown neighborhood. Uchida also helped form the Japanese American Chamber of Commerce of Silicon Valley.

Honors and awards

For his contributions to judo, Uchida was awarded the

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese Order (distinction), order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six c ...

with Golden Rays in 1986 by Emperor

Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

of Japan. He was inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. Uchida has also received many awards from San Jose State, including the university's highest award (the Tower Award) in 1992 and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 2004. Additionally, the physical education building on campus that houses the judo dojo was renamed "Yoshihiro Uchida Hall" in 1997.

References

External links