Yoshitsugu Yamashita, born in 1865 started very early with martial arts training at the Yoshin-ryu and Tenjin Shin'yo-ryu as his father was of the samurai class. This is what allowed him to enter the Kodokan Judo School quite young, very soon performing outstanding judo techniques and at the same time getting involved in mixed martial arts fights on the streets as he was a quarrelsome fellow.
It is known, that while still in Japan, he got involved in a fight with about fifteen people in a restaurant. Due to the excitement of the situation he overreacted and broke one fellow's neck killing him. The others ran off all bruised. The police arrested him, but very soon he was freed as he could prove that he was assaulted by all fifteen. Nevertheless he got temporarily suspended by the Kodokan.
In 1902 Sensei Kano, who was often contacted by judo enthusiasts of other nations wishing to have Kodokan teachers, decided to send Yamashita to the States, in order to teach judo to the Americans.
Yamashita started with a dojo in Washington DC and also taught at Harvard University, where his first student was Mary Lee, the grand-daughter of General Robert E. Lee. Then thanks to President Theodore Roosevelt, who also became one of his student, he became a judo teacher at the Naval Academy.
While there he accepted a mixed martial arts fight with an American wrestler, George Grant (6'3'' 230lb), whom he beat without any problems, throwing him twice with his outstanding judo techniques and then pinning him to the ground. Thanks to this victory, which impressed everybody there, his teaching contract was prolonged for another two years.
Even though he had all these successes, he was rather lonely in his life and had difficult times, because of the language, which he did not fully understand and a lack of money. Once he was challenged by a boxer from New York, who called him "small Japanese". Everybody got really excited about this mixed martial arts challenge between a judoka and a boxer and tickets for the match got literally sold out.
Each one of the fighters entered the ring with its typical outfit. The boxer charged Yamashita with his punches, but with no effect as the "little Japanese" was able to escape all of them. While doing this he studied the boxer and just waited for the opportunity to get his arm in order to throw him, which happened immediately with a hane goshi. The spectators just heard the loud noise of the boxer falling on the ground and a few seconds later again with a beautiful seoi nage.
Yamashita won the match, the crowd was so excited and enthusiastic, that later on a stamp was emitted in order to commemorate this moment of an outstanding judo techniques' performer also doing well in a mixed martial arts fight at the beginning of 1900.
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