Gunji Koizumi

[9] In July 1900, shortly before he turned 15, he left home to seek his fortune in Tokyo, where he enrolled as a trainee telegrapher under a government scheme.

[9] He then travelled south to London, where he collaborated with former Bartitsu Club instructor Sadakazu Uyenishi, who was operating his own jujitsu school in Piccadilly Circus.

[10] During this period, Koizumi also taught jujitsu at the London Polytechnic and for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

[9] He tried to start an electric lighting company in Vauxhall Road, London, but lacked sufficient funds.

[3] Koizumi secured a location in Lower Grosvenor Place, along the back wall of Buckingham Palace,[3] and the Budokwai's premises opened on 26 January 1918.

[8] In 1919, Koizumi helped establish the Kyosai Kai, a society that aimed to provide medical, employment, and housing assistance to Japanese people in England.

[6] In July 1920, Jigoro Kano, founder of the Kodokan, visited the Budokwai while on his way to the Olympic Games in Antwerp.

[13] Through World War II, judo training continued at the Budokwai, but at great financial cost to Koizumi.

[9] Biographer Richard Bowen notes that, unusually, "Koizumi was not interned and indeed suffered no restrictions" during this time (p. 319).

[7] By the end of the decade, he had retired from business and had turned his full attention to teaching judo in the UK.

[17] On 19 September 1954, the Budokwai moved to new, larger premises; shortly after this, Koizumi returned to Japan for the first time in 50 years.

He was found wearing his best suit, reportedly with a plastic bag over his head,[16] sitting in his favourite chair beside the gas stove in his house[2] at Putney.