Kunisaburo Iizuka

Kunisaburo Iizuka (飯塚 国三郎, Iizuka Kunisaburō, July 13, 1875 – July 25, 1958) was a Japanese judoka and the fifth person to be promoted to 10th dan in Kodokan judo.

Although the academy had no judo club, Iizuka saw a man carrying a judogi one day, and followed him to the Kodokan; he enrolled as a student there in November, 1891.

[1] In 1906, Iizuka returned to Keio to take a job as judo coach to Keio University, where he taught Kaname Kuniyuki, Chuji Sakata and Yoshio Sugino, among others.

[1] He was one of the first of Jigoro Kano's students to be awarded a judan (10th-dan) ranking, in 1946.

[2] As well as teaching judo, Iizuka was also an ordained negi (Shinto priest) at Fukuoka Prefectural Shuyukan Senior High School, and was master of the Imperial Fisheries Institute.