Background
Shiro Saigo was born in February 4, 1866 in Aizuwakamatsu, in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan, the third son of a samurai, Shida Sadajiro.
西郷四郎
Shiro Saigo was born in February 4, 1866 in Aizuwakamatsu, in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan, the third son of a samurai, Shida Sadajiro.
In 1882, Saigo moved to Tokyo and in August of that year, he enrolled at the Kōdōkan, becoming Jigoro Kano"s second student. In 1883, along with Tsunejiro Tomita, he became one of the first two to be awarded yudansha rank in any martial art Saigo was responsible for an early surge of popularity for Kodokan Judo, when he demonstrated its superiority by easily defeating a much larger opponent:
Saigō took part in the 1886 Tokyo Police tournament in which students of Kano demonstrated their superiority over the Yōshin-ryū jūjutsu.
In 1890, Saigo left the Kōdōkan and retired to Nagasaki, devoting the rest of his life to Kyūdō.
The main character in Akira Kurosawa"s 1943 directorial debut, Sugata Sanshirō, was based on Shiro Saigo, the film being based on the novel of the same name written by Tsunejiro Tomita"s son, Tsuneo. When Jigoro Kano began to develop Judo from Jujutsu, his efforts met with opposition from Jujutsu practitioners.
However, Kano drew a loyal following that included exceptional fighters. Hence the term "" came into existence referring to Shiro Saigo along with Yamashita Yoshiaki, Yokoyama Sakujiro, and Tsunejiro Tomita.