1918
Jimmie
2013
Jimmie Sadaki Onchi
March 26, 1918 — January 24, 2013
Sadaki (James) Onchi, a (Nisei) second generation Japanese-American Oregon pioneer, literally spread the martial art of Judo in Portland to thousands over a period of seventy five years with a lifetime of dedication to Judo and Kendo and to cross-cultural understanding between the United States and Japan.
• On April 1994 Jim is one of only fifty Judoka in the United States to be inducted into the US Judo Hall of Fame.
• On December 8, 2002 Jim was honored and presented by the Japanese Consul General of Portland with the Decoration of the "5th Class, Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays" from the Emperor of Japan for his years of dedication and devotion to the sport of Judo between Japan and the United States.
• Jim is also one of very few in the world of the Japanese martial art of Judo to attain the Black Belt level of (Hatchidan) 8th Degree on July 16, 2003, from the Kodokan in Japan.
• On September 24, 2008 Jim is presented with the Black Belt level of (Kudan) 9th Degree from The US Judo Federation.
THE EARLY YEARS ON THE ONCHI FARM
Jim was born on March 26, 1918 in Montavilla, Oregon. From about 1912, Jim's father, Yukisaburo Onchi and mother, Mizu (Takeshita) Onchi, rented and worked farm land in the rural area of Multnomah County as they developed and raised a family of four children. Jim was the third child of the Onchi family with an older sister, Mitsue, an older brother by one year, Shigeru (George) and a younger brother, by one year, Masayuki (Joe).
¬Jim rose early each day to work on the family farm, attend school and at a young age he began his studies of the Japanese martial art of Judo and by the age of 9 he entered his first Judo tournament.
The Onchi Montavilla Farm planted mostly vegetable crops, which were primarily sold at the Farmers Market in East Portland. In 1924, Hidekichi Onchi, Jim's Grandfather returned to Japan and took Jim's sister Mitsue and older brother George with him, because the parents wanted them to attend schooling there.
Back on the farm back in those days all preparation for the ground for planting was accomplished with horses, plowing, disking, harrowing and "floating" the ground. (floating was a method that smoothed the surface). Work on the farm was rigorous and took a lot of physical strength to get the ground ready for harvest time.
The Onchi family stayed at the Montavilla Farm until 1930 when Yukisaburo rented a farm in Gresham, a 30 acre farm known as the "Pullen Place". The Pullen Place was located on the Northeast corner where Birdsdale Ave. (Now 202nd) intersected with Division Street. On the Pullen Place they planted and harvested berry crops along with the vegetable crops.
In 1931, Jim's father was severely injured in an accident while working with a horse pulling a sled loaded full of potatoes. A chain link on one of the traces broke causing the sled to swing and it threw and caught Yukisaburo underneath a runner. Because Jim's father did not seek medical attention after this accident, he passed away within a year from the injuries. George returned home from Japan in 1931 and in 1932, at the age of 14, after Jim's father died as a result of the farming accident, Jim had to quit school in order to help his mother and family manage the farm.
JIM ADVANCES IN JUDO & KENDO MARTIAL ARTS
It was during this same year in 1932 that Jim met and attended a Judo clinic that Japan's Judo founder, Professor Jigoro Kano, presented when he came to Portland. This must have been a pivotal time for Jim to meet and train directly from the founder of Judo and to learn his secrets of the "Gentle-Way" as he was also taking on a new role as a young man in helping his family.
Even though Jim had a large responsibility to help manage the family farm he continued the study of Judo and by 1937 he earned his (Shodan) 1st Degree Black Belt. And within a year by May 22, 1938, because of successful competition Jim's ability was recognized and he was promoted to (Nidan) 2nd Degree Black Belt. In those days rank promotion was given directly by the Kodokan.
Jim also found time between working on the farm, studying Judo and also devoted ten years to the
In the winter of 1939, at the age of 21, after the crops were harvested, Jim and his younger brother Joe traveled to California and worked in a produce shipping cannery where they worked mainly with peas and beans. Upon returning to Gresham in the following spring, Jim obtained employment as a logger for the Long-Bell Lumber Company in Longview, Washington. While working as a logger, Jim purchased his first car, a 1941 Chevrolet, which he used to commute from Washington to Gresham to visit his family on his time off.
WWII & JAPANESE-AMERICANS INTERNMENT YEARS
On December 7, 1941, with the attack on Pearl Harbor, all things changed for Jim, his family and all people of Japanese descent living on the West Coast. When ordered by the US Government to evacuate from their homes, the Onchi family assembled with other Nikkei families initially at the Gresham County fairgrounds.
They were next transferred to the Pacific International Livestock Exposition grounds in North Portland as a makeshift relocation center, where they lived for three months before being sent to the Tule Lake, California Internment Camp. The Onchi's; mother Mizu, George and his wife Sachi (Mishiro) Onchi and newborn daughter, Maryann (Onchi) Ikata (Born in 1942 while at the North Portland Relocation Center) were incarcerated at the Tule lake Internment Camp for one year, where George and Sachi's son Raymond was born in 1943. George and Sachi later had a second son, Ron, born in 1945, and three more daughters; Georgene (Onchi) Lee, born in 1948, Noreen (Onchi) Dumont born in 1954, and Vicki born in 1956.
The Onchi's were transferred two more times; to the Jerome, Arkansas Internment Camp and finally to the Hart Mountain, Wyoming Internment Camp, were their imprisonment ended in 1945. Both Jim and Joe were inducted into the US Army before the evacuation and internment took place, Joe by November 1941 and Jim by January of 1942.
Once in the Army, Jim was first sent to Camp Robinson, Arkansas where he completed his basic training. It was during this time period that Jim taught Judo, self-defense and combat techniques to officers at Fort Warren Wyoming and was promoted to the rank of Corporal.
By February 1943 Jim joined the Nisei Unit, the 442nd RCT, which had been newly formed at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. While at Camp Shelby Jim was promoted to platoon Sergeant, the NCO in charge of the training program for four squads with four corporals as squad leaders. While at Camp Shelby Jim requested transfer to be sent overseas, but was denied by the camp Commander stating that his job of training troops was too important.
It was during this time that Jim was able to visit his family on a three day pass, who were at that time interned at Camp Jerome, Arkansas. And it was at that time that Jim met Fumiko (Fumi) Yumibe and they got married with Kaz Fujii as best man on March 26, 1944. Jim was 26 yrs-old. They found a place to live off base in Pedal, just 2 miles outside of Hattiesburg, Mississippi where they lived for one year.
Finally, the need for replacements became critical and in April of 1945 Jim was sent overseas on the Queen Mary to now occupied Germany. While on the Queen Mary comedian Bob Hope was aboard entertaining the troops as they crossed over the Atlantic to England. From England Jim boarded a ship to France and then traveled by train to a post near Nuremburg, Germany.
While Jim was overseas Fumi was pregnant with their first son, Curtis, who was born in a Army hospital in St Paul, Minnesota in 1945.
Jim stayed and served in occupied Germany for seven months and after serving four years and eight days in the Army, Master Sgt. Onchi was presented with an honorable discharge in February 1946 at Fort Lewis, Washington.
POST WAR REINTIGRATION INTO THE AMERICAN SOCIETY/ BUILDING HOMES & A FAMILY
Upon returning to Portland Jim, Fumi and Curtis moved into rental housing in the community of Vanport. Jim first worked for Hurlen Homes and he became the head foreman for laying foundations of the many new homes that the company built. But the company went out of business, at which time Jim started his own home building business, "Onchi Construction Company".
Then in 1948, when Fumi was pregnant with their second son, Gary, the community of Vanport flooded. Jim and Fumi lost everything in the flood and moved to Wood Village, having to start all over a second time.
In 1949 Joe married Toby Ninomiya and later had three children; Douglas was born in 1951, Patricia was born in 1953, but passed away four days later from complications, Valerie (Onchi) Itamura, was born in 1957 and Gregory (Brent) was born in 1960.
As Jims home building business prospered, in 1950 he built their first family home in North Portland and in that same year their third son, Dwight, was born. In 1954 Jim and Fumi's fourth son, Harvey was born and in 1958 their fifth and final son, Kelvin, was born.
All five sons's attended Benson High School as a tradition and majored in Building Construction, worked with and learned the construction trade from their father in order to earn an allowance, attended PSU and all five son's studied the art of Judo.
The years leading up to the late 1960's were great and prosperous years for our family. As Sansei (3rd generation Japanese-American) we attended the Japanese community Epworth United Methodist Church and youth conferences, and JACL (Japanese American Citizen League) functions were we learned about our Japanese heritage by meeting other Sansei around the Pacific Northwest, Seattle, Ontario, Spokane, Tacoma, as well as Denver Colorado.
Through Judo and our father we traveled and met Judoka in British Columbia, throughout the Pacific Northwest, (Seattle, Tacoma, Ontario, Spokane, Yakima), California, New York, Chicago, Michigan, and Denver. Eventually through National and International competition we met Judoka throughout the world.
Over a period of the next thirty plus years Jim built custom homes and business buildings for many of the Nikkei community farmers in Gresham, Hillsboro, Portland, Newberg, and throughout the Portland Metro area. In the 1960's Jim built the Oregon Buddhist Church off SE Powell Blvd. and also did a major remodel of the Japanese community Epworth United Methodist Church in the 1970's, which was a huge achievement, as well an honor, because these locations were where the Nikkei community gathered and still do to this day. Over the years of building Jim had developed into a master craftsman and he always took his time to build whatever project right.
Jim & Fumi's oldest son US Army First Lt. Curtis Onchi was killed in action in Vietnam in 1969. Curtis was a youth community leader and the whole Nikkei community was saddened by his loss, as well as the loss of other young Japanese American's in our community from the Vietnam conflict.
Today, all four of Jim & Fumi's four surviving son's are married with three couples having two grown children each, of which Gary's two children are married with children of their own, blessing Jim & Fumi with six Grandchildren and seven Great-Grandchildren.
REDEVELOPMENT OF OBUKAN JUDO
Judo in Portland started around 1926 when members of the Japanese-American community approached Mr. Bunazaemon Nii, an instructor of Kito Ryu Jujuitsu about forming a Judo club for the benefit of young Japanese-American's of the community. At that time the dojo (Place of practice) was known as the Portland Judo Club. Later in 1938 on Professor Jigoro Kano's second visit to Portland he renamed the Judo club, Obukan. "O", to represent Oregon (this phonetic reading the literal meaning is "central"), "bu", which means martial arts training and "kan", which means training hall.
With the advent of WWII all Judo, Kendo and other Japanese martial art training was ordered stopped by the US Government and it wasn't until 1953 that Jim and a group of other dedicated Judo pioneers; Buddy Ikata, Joe Onchi, Art Sasaki, Joe Kato, Yutaka Shirairshi, Joe Shiraishi, Kaz Tamura, June Nigo, Frank Yasui, Ed Fujii, Sam Iwamoto, Tommy Tomiyasu, Joe Yoshida, Shig Hinatsu, Mike Arnold, Dale Minor, George Morris, and others that met and reopened the post-war Obukan Judo Club.
Mr. Honma became Obukan's first post-war Head Instructor, who had just arrived from Japan as a 25year-old Buddhist Priest and held the rank of (Sandan) 3rd Degree Black Belt. At this same time Honma Sensei assisted Mr. Richard Muller at Reed College where he also taught Judo there.
In 1955 Obukan hosted its first NW Judo Tournament and with Sensei Honma returning to Japan, Jim Onchi was appointed Obukan's Head Instructor position.
In 1958 a Portland Police Officer's Judo & Self Defense program was started at the Obukan with the support of Mayor Terry Schrunk and the Portland City Council.
In 1959 (Hatchidan) 8th Degree Black Belt, Professor Masao Ichinoe made his first of many trips to the Obukan, representing Kodokan in Japan, as he traveled around the United States and the world to promote Kodokan Judo. As a young nine year old at the time, I remember Professor Ichinoe's judo technique to be gentle and graceful, yet direct and effective. My friend Ron Shiraishi and I secretly felt that his movement on the mat was swan like and we were later in 1975 at his funeral service shocked to hear that his pen name was "The Swan".
Professor Toshiro Daigo also visited the Obukan in the early 1960's and today he is the Chief Instructor for the Kodokan and one of only three living Kodokan Judo (Judan) 10th Degree Black Belt.
In 1968 Professor Ichinoe's son Toshio came to Obukan as a (Yondan) 4th Degree Black Belt and as the Chief Instructor for the Obukan that same year he took the US Open Division Championship in Chicago, putting the Obukan on the map. In 1973 Toshio Ichinoe had to return to Japan for family business.
OBUKAN KENDO CLUB
In 1980 Jim and famous custom knife designer, Al Mar, helped to regenerate the Obukan Kendo Club with Steven Strauch, who was from Hawaii and today the Obukan Kendo Club continues under the
leadership of John Hancock (Godan) 5th Degree Black Belt, Sensei Steven Strauch and 17 Yudansha (Black Belt Members).
OBUKAN JUDO CLUB TODAY
Over a period of 40 years from 1973 to the present, Jim continued to lead the Obukan as he and the many developing Yudansha took the junior and senior club judoka (Judo practitioners) to tournaments throughout the Pacific Northwest, National tournaments & trainings. In 2000, the Obukan club members trained in Japan and experienced the Kodokan, where Judo world headquarters remains to this day. Many of the Obukan's outstanding instructors attend and participate and teach not only regional refereeing events, but National and World events.
After many years of dedication to the sport of Kodokan Judo, Professor Jim Onchi retired from the mat in 2011 at the age of 93, yet he still made it a point to attend the weekly practice sessions up to 2012 on the sidelines where he continued to encourage the young and older Judoka.
With Jim's passing he will be remembered for his love of the sport of Judo, for the many thousands of people's lives that he touched through his positive spirit and for his sincere appreciation to the many people that loved him.
Today, the Obukan Judo Club Head Instructor is Sensei Toshio Ichinoe, (Shichi-dan) 7th Degree Black belt, and with a number of dedicated and talented Yudansha, the club practices on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the Peninsula Park Community Center from 6:15pm – 7:45pm.
A TIME TO REMEMBER
On February 26, 2012 Jim and a number of surviving Nisei veterans were recognized for their extra ordinary efforts during WWII by the President of the United States and presented with the Congressional Gold Medal for their service to the Country during WWII as a member of the 442nd RCT.
Jim is one of many Oregon pioneers that helped to pave the way for the future generations of Japanese- Americans. We must remember and never forget the hardships, prejudices, and indignities that our ancestors persevered so that the same injustices will never happen again, we must remember.
With time passing, we are losing our most precious treasures of the past, the Nisei, but with their positive examples of how they lived their lives etched into our beings, their spirit will live on and we will find through our own living that our history, our parents, our grandparents and the way they lived will continue through to the future generations.
On behalf of the Jim Onchi family we would like to thank the Oregon Nikkei Endowment for its efforts to educate, preserve and honor the history and culture of Japanese Americans in the Pacific Northwest.
Credit: I would like to thank Clarence E. Mershon for his permission to take a few of the Onchi Family excerpts from his book: Along the Sandy, Our Nikkei Neighbors.
• On April 1994 Jim is one of only fifty Judoka in the United States to be inducted into the US Judo Hall of Fame.
• On December 8, 2002 Jim was honored and presented by the Japanese Consul General of Portland with the Decoration of the "5th Class, Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays" from the Emperor of Japan for his years of dedication and devotion to the sport of Judo between Japan and the United States.
• Jim is also one of very few in the world of the Japanese martial art of Judo to attain the Black Belt level of (Hatchidan) 8th Degree on July 16, 2003, from the Kodokan in Japan.
• On September 24, 2008 Jim is presented with the Black Belt level of (Kudan) 9th Degree from The US Judo Federation.
THE EARLY YEARS ON THE ONCHI FARM
Jim was born on March 26, 1918 in Montavilla, Oregon. From about 1912, Jim's father, Yukisaburo Onchi and mother, Mizu (Takeshita) Onchi, rented and worked farm land in the rural area of Multnomah County as they developed and raised a family of four children. Jim was the third child of the Onchi family with an older sister, Mitsue, an older brother by one year, Shigeru (George) and a younger brother, by one year, Masayuki (Joe).
¬Jim rose early each day to work on the family farm, attend school and at a young age he began his studies of the Japanese martial art of Judo and by the age of 9 he entered his first Judo tournament.
The Onchi Montavilla Farm planted mostly vegetable crops, which were primarily sold at the Farmers Market in East Portland. In 1924, Hidekichi Onchi, Jim's Grandfather returned to Japan and took Jim's sister Mitsue and older brother George with him, because the parents wanted them to attend schooling there.
Back on the farm back in those days all preparation for the ground for planting was accomplished with horses, plowing, disking, harrowing and "floating" the ground. (floating was a method that smoothed the surface). Work on the farm was rigorous and took a lot of physical strength to get the ground ready for harvest time.
The Onchi family stayed at the Montavilla Farm until 1930 when Yukisaburo rented a farm in Gresham, a 30 acre farm known as the "Pullen Place". The Pullen Place was located on the Northeast corner where Birdsdale Ave. (Now 202nd) intersected with Division Street. On the Pullen Place they planted and harvested berry crops along with the vegetable crops.
In 1931, Jim's father was severely injured in an accident while working with a horse pulling a sled loaded full of potatoes. A chain link on one of the traces broke causing the sled to swing and it threw and caught Yukisaburo underneath a runner. Because Jim's father did not seek medical attention after this accident, he passed away within a year from the injuries. George returned home from Japan in 1931 and in 1932, at the age of 14, after Jim's father died as a result of the farming accident, Jim had to quit school in order to help his mother and family manage the farm.
JIM ADVANCES IN JUDO & KENDO MARTIAL ARTS
It was during this same year in 1932 that Jim met and attended a Judo clinic that Japan's Judo founder, Professor Jigoro Kano, presented when he came to Portland. This must have been a pivotal time for Jim to meet and train directly from the founder of Judo and to learn his secrets of the "Gentle-Way" as he was also taking on a new role as a young man in helping his family.
Even though Jim had a large responsibility to help manage the family farm he continued the study of Judo and by 1937 he earned his (Shodan) 1st Degree Black Belt. And within a year by May 22, 1938, because of successful competition Jim's ability was recognized and he was promoted to (Nidan) 2nd Degree Black Belt. In those days rank promotion was given directly by the Kodokan.
Jim also found time between working on the farm, studying Judo and also devoted ten years to the
In the winter of 1939, at the age of 21, after the crops were harvested, Jim and his younger brother Joe traveled to California and worked in a produce shipping cannery where they worked mainly with peas and beans. Upon returning to Gresham in the following spring, Jim obtained employment as a logger for the Long-Bell Lumber Company in Longview, Washington. While working as a logger, Jim purchased his first car, a 1941 Chevrolet, which he used to commute from Washington to Gresham to visit his family on his time off.
WWII & JAPANESE-AMERICANS INTERNMENT YEARS
On December 7, 1941, with the attack on Pearl Harbor, all things changed for Jim, his family and all people of Japanese descent living on the West Coast. When ordered by the US Government to evacuate from their homes, the Onchi family assembled with other Nikkei families initially at the Gresham County fairgrounds.
They were next transferred to the Pacific International Livestock Exposition grounds in North Portland as a makeshift relocation center, where they lived for three months before being sent to the Tule Lake, California Internment Camp. The Onchi's; mother Mizu, George and his wife Sachi (Mishiro) Onchi and newborn daughter, Maryann (Onchi) Ikata (Born in 1942 while at the North Portland Relocation Center) were incarcerated at the Tule lake Internment Camp for one year, where George and Sachi's son Raymond was born in 1943. George and Sachi later had a second son, Ron, born in 1945, and three more daughters; Georgene (Onchi) Lee, born in 1948, Noreen (Onchi) Dumont born in 1954, and Vicki born in 1956.
The Onchi's were transferred two more times; to the Jerome, Arkansas Internment Camp and finally to the Hart Mountain, Wyoming Internment Camp, were their imprisonment ended in 1945. Both Jim and Joe were inducted into the US Army before the evacuation and internment took place, Joe by November 1941 and Jim by January of 1942.
Once in the Army, Jim was first sent to Camp Robinson, Arkansas where he completed his basic training. It was during this time period that Jim taught Judo, self-defense and combat techniques to officers at Fort Warren Wyoming and was promoted to the rank of Corporal.
By February 1943 Jim joined the Nisei Unit, the 442nd RCT, which had been newly formed at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. While at Camp Shelby Jim was promoted to platoon Sergeant, the NCO in charge of the training program for four squads with four corporals as squad leaders. While at Camp Shelby Jim requested transfer to be sent overseas, but was denied by the camp Commander stating that his job of training troops was too important.
It was during this time that Jim was able to visit his family on a three day pass, who were at that time interned at Camp Jerome, Arkansas. And it was at that time that Jim met Fumiko (Fumi) Yumibe and they got married with Kaz Fujii as best man on March 26, 1944. Jim was 26 yrs-old. They found a place to live off base in Pedal, just 2 miles outside of Hattiesburg, Mississippi where they lived for one year.
Finally, the need for replacements became critical and in April of 1945 Jim was sent overseas on the Queen Mary to now occupied Germany. While on the Queen Mary comedian Bob Hope was aboard entertaining the troops as they crossed over the Atlantic to England. From England Jim boarded a ship to France and then traveled by train to a post near Nuremburg, Germany.
While Jim was overseas Fumi was pregnant with their first son, Curtis, who was born in a Army hospital in St Paul, Minnesota in 1945.
Jim stayed and served in occupied Germany for seven months and after serving four years and eight days in the Army, Master Sgt. Onchi was presented with an honorable discharge in February 1946 at Fort Lewis, Washington.
POST WAR REINTIGRATION INTO THE AMERICAN SOCIETY/ BUILDING HOMES & A FAMILY
Upon returning to Portland Jim, Fumi and Curtis moved into rental housing in the community of Vanport. Jim first worked for Hurlen Homes and he became the head foreman for laying foundations of the many new homes that the company built. But the company went out of business, at which time Jim started his own home building business, "Onchi Construction Company".
Then in 1948, when Fumi was pregnant with their second son, Gary, the community of Vanport flooded. Jim and Fumi lost everything in the flood and moved to Wood Village, having to start all over a second time.
In 1949 Joe married Toby Ninomiya and later had three children; Douglas was born in 1951, Patricia was born in 1953, but passed away four days later from complications, Valerie (Onchi) Itamura, was born in 1957 and Gregory (Brent) was born in 1960.
As Jims home building business prospered, in 1950 he built their first family home in North Portland and in that same year their third son, Dwight, was born. In 1954 Jim and Fumi's fourth son, Harvey was born and in 1958 their fifth and final son, Kelvin, was born.
All five sons's attended Benson High School as a tradition and majored in Building Construction, worked with and learned the construction trade from their father in order to earn an allowance, attended PSU and all five son's studied the art of Judo.
The years leading up to the late 1960's were great and prosperous years for our family. As Sansei (3rd generation Japanese-American) we attended the Japanese community Epworth United Methodist Church and youth conferences, and JACL (Japanese American Citizen League) functions were we learned about our Japanese heritage by meeting other Sansei around the Pacific Northwest, Seattle, Ontario, Spokane, Tacoma, as well as Denver Colorado.
Through Judo and our father we traveled and met Judoka in British Columbia, throughout the Pacific Northwest, (Seattle, Tacoma, Ontario, Spokane, Yakima), California, New York, Chicago, Michigan, and Denver. Eventually through National and International competition we met Judoka throughout the world.
Over a period of the next thirty plus years Jim built custom homes and business buildings for many of the Nikkei community farmers in Gresham, Hillsboro, Portland, Newberg, and throughout the Portland Metro area. In the 1960's Jim built the Oregon Buddhist Church off SE Powell Blvd. and also did a major remodel of the Japanese community Epworth United Methodist Church in the 1970's, which was a huge achievement, as well an honor, because these locations were where the Nikkei community gathered and still do to this day. Over the years of building Jim had developed into a master craftsman and he always took his time to build whatever project right.
Jim & Fumi's oldest son US Army First Lt. Curtis Onchi was killed in action in Vietnam in 1969. Curtis was a youth community leader and the whole Nikkei community was saddened by his loss, as well as the loss of other young Japanese American's in our community from the Vietnam conflict.
Today, all four of Jim & Fumi's four surviving son's are married with three couples having two grown children each, of which Gary's two children are married with children of their own, blessing Jim & Fumi with six Grandchildren and seven Great-Grandchildren.
REDEVELOPMENT OF OBUKAN JUDO
Judo in Portland started around 1926 when members of the Japanese-American community approached Mr. Bunazaemon Nii, an instructor of Kito Ryu Jujuitsu about forming a Judo club for the benefit of young Japanese-American's of the community. At that time the dojo (Place of practice) was known as the Portland Judo Club. Later in 1938 on Professor Jigoro Kano's second visit to Portland he renamed the Judo club, Obukan. "O", to represent Oregon (this phonetic reading the literal meaning is "central"), "bu", which means martial arts training and "kan", which means training hall.
With the advent of WWII all Judo, Kendo and other Japanese martial art training was ordered stopped by the US Government and it wasn't until 1953 that Jim and a group of other dedicated Judo pioneers; Buddy Ikata, Joe Onchi, Art Sasaki, Joe Kato, Yutaka Shirairshi, Joe Shiraishi, Kaz Tamura, June Nigo, Frank Yasui, Ed Fujii, Sam Iwamoto, Tommy Tomiyasu, Joe Yoshida, Shig Hinatsu, Mike Arnold, Dale Minor, George Morris, and others that met and reopened the post-war Obukan Judo Club.
Mr. Honma became Obukan's first post-war Head Instructor, who had just arrived from Japan as a 25year-old Buddhist Priest and held the rank of (Sandan) 3rd Degree Black Belt. At this same time Honma Sensei assisted Mr. Richard Muller at Reed College where he also taught Judo there.
In 1955 Obukan hosted its first NW Judo Tournament and with Sensei Honma returning to Japan, Jim Onchi was appointed Obukan's Head Instructor position.
In 1958 a Portland Police Officer's Judo & Self Defense program was started at the Obukan with the support of Mayor Terry Schrunk and the Portland City Council.
In 1959 (Hatchidan) 8th Degree Black Belt, Professor Masao Ichinoe made his first of many trips to the Obukan, representing Kodokan in Japan, as he traveled around the United States and the world to promote Kodokan Judo. As a young nine year old at the time, I remember Professor Ichinoe's judo technique to be gentle and graceful, yet direct and effective. My friend Ron Shiraishi and I secretly felt that his movement on the mat was swan like and we were later in 1975 at his funeral service shocked to hear that his pen name was "The Swan".
Professor Toshiro Daigo also visited the Obukan in the early 1960's and today he is the Chief Instructor for the Kodokan and one of only three living Kodokan Judo (Judan) 10th Degree Black Belt.
In 1968 Professor Ichinoe's son Toshio came to Obukan as a (Yondan) 4th Degree Black Belt and as the Chief Instructor for the Obukan that same year he took the US Open Division Championship in Chicago, putting the Obukan on the map. In 1973 Toshio Ichinoe had to return to Japan for family business.
OBUKAN KENDO CLUB
In 1980 Jim and famous custom knife designer, Al Mar, helped to regenerate the Obukan Kendo Club with Steven Strauch, who was from Hawaii and today the Obukan Kendo Club continues under the
leadership of John Hancock (Godan) 5th Degree Black Belt, Sensei Steven Strauch and 17 Yudansha (Black Belt Members).
OBUKAN JUDO CLUB TODAY
Over a period of 40 years from 1973 to the present, Jim continued to lead the Obukan as he and the many developing Yudansha took the junior and senior club judoka (Judo practitioners) to tournaments throughout the Pacific Northwest, National tournaments & trainings. In 2000, the Obukan club members trained in Japan and experienced the Kodokan, where Judo world headquarters remains to this day. Many of the Obukan's outstanding instructors attend and participate and teach not only regional refereeing events, but National and World events.
After many years of dedication to the sport of Kodokan Judo, Professor Jim Onchi retired from the mat in 2011 at the age of 93, yet he still made it a point to attend the weekly practice sessions up to 2012 on the sidelines where he continued to encourage the young and older Judoka.
With Jim's passing he will be remembered for his love of the sport of Judo, for the many thousands of people's lives that he touched through his positive spirit and for his sincere appreciation to the many people that loved him.
Today, the Obukan Judo Club Head Instructor is Sensei Toshio Ichinoe, (Shichi-dan) 7th Degree Black belt, and with a number of dedicated and talented Yudansha, the club practices on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the Peninsula Park Community Center from 6:15pm – 7:45pm.
A TIME TO REMEMBER
On February 26, 2012 Jim and a number of surviving Nisei veterans were recognized for their extra ordinary efforts during WWII by the President of the United States and presented with the Congressional Gold Medal for their service to the Country during WWII as a member of the 442nd RCT.
Jim is one of many Oregon pioneers that helped to pave the way for the future generations of Japanese- Americans. We must remember and never forget the hardships, prejudices, and indignities that our ancestors persevered so that the same injustices will never happen again, we must remember.
With time passing, we are losing our most precious treasures of the past, the Nisei, but with their positive examples of how they lived their lives etched into our beings, their spirit will live on and we will find through our own living that our history, our parents, our grandparents and the way they lived will continue through to the future generations.
On behalf of the Jim Onchi family we would like to thank the Oregon Nikkei Endowment for its efforts to educate, preserve and honor the history and culture of Japanese Americans in the Pacific Northwest.
Credit: I would like to thank Clarence E. Mershon for his permission to take a few of the Onchi Family excerpts from his book: Along the Sandy, Our Nikkei Neighbors.
Visitation
Rose City Funeral Home
5625 Northeast Fremont Street
Portland
,
OR
US
97213-1754
Friday, January 25, 2013, 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Service
World Forestry Center
4033 SW Canyon Road
Portland
,
OR
Untied States
Sunday, February 10, 2013, 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Cemetery
Lincoln Memorial Park
11801 SE Mt Scott Blvd
Portland
,
OR
US
97266
Friday, February 1, 2013, 1:00 PM
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