Help please 1930s Wrestling/Judo/JuJitsu

Guys & Girls

I have been trying with various degrees of success to research the history of Judo in the UK.

I have been practicing Judo for a little over 50 years, recently I was fortunate enough to train at the Kodokan in Tokyo, which is the spiritual home of Judo.

On my return I thought I would try to trace a direct link from Jigaro Kano to myself, this was scarily simple as Judo has only been going for around 130 years, Kano the founder graded Masutaro Otani who grade me. 

There are many books dedicated to Kano, but very little on Otani, who was a pioneer of Judo in the UK.

My next step was try to research Masutoro Otani, I found this link below and have confirmed that Otani did NOT compete at the 1932 Olympics. I know his son Robin Otani.

But the wrestling heritage site seems to very specific in naming Masutaro Otani.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Who created the brief history of Harry Smith and what information was used to compile the list of opponents?

Is there a record of these bouts?

Although Masutaro Otani was a Ju-Jitsu / Judo player he would have fought as a wrestler in the west.

Any help would be gratefully received.

Keep enjoying your sport.

Kind Regards Martin Ball 2nd Dan Judo https://www.wrestlingheritage.co.uk/ssmith.htm Harry Smith  1930s lightweight from Dewsbury, Harry Smith, was a body builder and rugby player known as The Pitmans Hercules. One of the early exponents of All-In, turning professional in 1931. Opponents included Jack Dale, Mario Magisti, Dick Wills and Carl Romsky, but most frequent opponent of all seems to have been Masutaro Otani, the Japanese wrestlers who came to Britain fresh from the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.