ROSIGNANO. One of the legends of martial arts, the Maestra, has passed away in Rosignano Keiko Wakabayashi, born in 1931 (born on November 23), a teacher who dedicated her entire life to the study of martial arts. She lived in Rosignano and her ashes will be transported in the next few days to Japan, her homeland. In 1947 Keiko was already a Shinden ryu black belt and she studied Naginata and Yari.
In 1938 he began studying Aikido and thus began his journey on Kenjutsu, Bojutsu, Kodachi, Tessen jutsu, Shuriken, BattoJutsu. Like a true Samurai she does not stop and is not content to deepen her study of Martial Arts, and so in 1970 she began practicing Judo and in the same period became a black belt in Aikido. For many years you taught self-defense techniques to the Folgore paratroopers in Livorno. Having her as an opponent, according to those who knew her, was not convenient. Even if she seemed harmless, her petite Keiko, as her students remember her, was able to knock you out and neutralize you in a few seconds. At the barracks of the Folgore brigade in Livorno Keiko Wakabayshi trained the soldiers in hand-to-hand combat techniques.
The “grandmother-samurai”, as Keiko was nicknamed by the English press, was considered living proof that in the discipline of martial arts, strength and size matter up to a certain point. «Everything there is to know I learned from the great samurai Ueshiba Kissomaru», Keiko herself revealed years ago. “Nothing in life is impossible”: this is the most important lesson that she imparted to her robust students.
The samurai grandmother lived in Rosignano with her family. Her remains are exhibited in the Santini funeral home in Cecina in Viale della Repubblica where those who knew her will be able to say their final goodbyes.
ACSI is mourning the passing of Master Keiko Wakabayashi. «She, descended from a samurai family, is an expert in the school of JJ Kashima Shin Ryu, a practice and teaching that she inherited directly from the eighteenth and last head of the school, master Kunii Zen’Ya. Today our thoughts go to her loved ones and to those who loved her. With the certainty that Keiko’s memory will live forever in the hearts and minds of those who had the privilege of knowing her.”
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2023-10-21 13:25:18
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