Emily Diana Watts

Born into a wealthy family in England during the latter Victorian era, she studied dance from a young age.

By 1903 Watts had developed a strong interest in jujitsu and joined the Golden Square dojo of Sadakazu Uyenishi and Akitaro Ono.

[citation needed] The book included an introduction by Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford.

[4] Watts spent much of the subsequent four decades touring the international lecture circuit, performing demonstrations of her system.

By the 1940s she had circled the globe five times, meeting Mahatma Gandhi and befriending George Bernard Shaw and other notables.