Dishonour

Known by colleagues as G.K. was a Japanese martial arts master who introduced judo to the UK and came to be known as the 'Father of British Judo. He was the founder of the Budokwai, a pioneering Japanese martial arts society in England. Koizumi helped establish the British Judo Association, and founded the European Judo Union.

Koizumi was born in 1885 in a village now part of metropolitan Tokyo, the son of a tenant farmer. He began training aged 12 in the art of kendo at school, as well as learning English from a neighbour who had been to America. Two years later he left home to seek his fortune in Tokyo, where he started practising jujitsu.

Koizumi wanted to study electricity and decided that the best place to do so was in the USA. To get there he worked and travelled through Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Liverpool and London. He set off for New York, arriving in 1907. After a few years, dissatisfied with life in the USA, he returned to England

In 1912, he set up a lacquer ware studio in Ebury Street, London. By 1922, Koizumi, an expert in Oriental lacquerware, was appointed as a consultant to the Victoria and Albert Museum—and later catalogued the museum's entire lacquerware collection

In 1918, at his own expense, Koizumi established the Budokwai (Way of Knighthood Society) which offered tuition in jujutsu, kendo, and other Japanese arts, which ran along the back wall of Buckingham Palace.

Koizumi's death shocked the worldwide judo community and caused much controversy. The night before Koizumi died aged 79, he was asked what he would most like to happen, he replied, "To see people think for themselves and not be led like sheep."

On 15 April 1965, Koizumi apparently committed suicide. He was found wearing his best suit, seated in his favourite chair, beside the gas stove in his home, and reportedly with a plastic bag over his head. Some considered his suicide dishonourable, while others argued that his death mirrored those of honourable samurai. A Cherry tree is dedicated to the memory of Koizumu on Chelsea Embankment.