Oldest Judo Dojo Outside Japan

Seattle Judo Dojo

This Sunday The Seattle Times ran a very nice article on "Seattle Dojo", believed to be the oldest existing Judo Dojo outside of Japan. Here's THE LINK to the article.
This dojo, run by the Yamada family for generations, hosted visits by Judo founder Jigaro Kano twice, and was the school where Bruce Lee polished his grappling skills while living in Seattle. The building was designed by Kichio Allen Arai, the first Asian American architect in Seattle. The floor is sprung on 1930's Model A Ford truck springs to give it bounce.
Among the other Dojo's mentioned is Obukan Dojo in Portland, also believed to be the oldest Dojo in Portland, and home to the Onchi brothers, who tore up high school wrestling in my day.
Reading the article made me reflect sentimentally on my time at Master Choi's Tae Kwon Do school. There is a tremendous sense of community and family involvement, and the Dojo was a place that really grounded me in a time when I could have gotten in even more trouble than I did.

Training At Seattle Dojo

Get A Grip

Some damned good Judo here. I wanted to include this while we are in somewhat of a grappling theme for a few posts, but I can't let it go by without a little criticism.
Nearly all of these techniques require heavy clothing to latch on to. A guy in a T-shirt (or no shirt) is much harder to get a hold of. Furthermore, sweat makes it even harder to grab or hang on. The other thing is, once you have got the guy on the ground, you have to finish him off. In that case, you might as well be training in Brazilian Jijitsu. As I've stated before, even with my wrestling background, I don't think intentionally taking a fight to the ground is a good idea. It's just too easy for someone (who you are not fighting) to kick your head in while you are attempting an arm bar or choke on a guy. Now, in a law enforcement situation with back-up, it may be a good method, but not in the parking lot of some rowdy bar.
For these reasons, the next few posts may veer back into the stand-up grappling of Chin Na and Small-Circle Jujitsu...