Toma (Japan) (AFP)

After raising three girls who have risen to the top of world judo, Wakako Ueno, 64, continues to transmit his passion for the sport to young people, in a small dojo in northern Japan.

In the Ueno family, the eldest daughter, Masae, won the Olympic gold at the Athens Games in 2004 and then in Beijing in 2008, while her youngest Yoshie was notably a bronze medalist in London in 2012.

The youngest, Tomoe, 30, was a world junior champion and now helps her mother run her dojo in Toma, on the big northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Before each training session, a dozen children surround Wakako Ueno and recite, placed on their knees, the teachings of the founder of judo, Jigoro Kano (1860-1938), a small portrait of which is hung on the wall.

"Judo is about using your physical and mental strength as effectively as possible," they repeat.

But beyond this ritual, the main thing is to transmit the pleasure of judo, assures Ms. Ueno to AFP: "Judo is fun, exciting. I want children to feel this excitement".

- "No choice" -

She fell in love with judo about forty years ago, thanks to her husband, who is now deceased.

"The euphoria of succeeding in throwing your opponent to the ground, the frustration, on the contrary, of being thrown, the fact of being in close contact, of directly grabbing your opponent (...), I took a lot all this fun, "she recalls.

But it was difficult for him at the time to find female partners; a frustration: "So I was training with my husband, but I had no chance of winning, it annoyed me".

So the couple started to introduce their daughters to judo, starting with the elder Masae.

"I had no choice. For me, judo was as essential as meals, it was part of our daily life," says Masae, 41, who works part-time as a judo instructor in Tokyo.

His father especially took care of his training, and he made no quarter, light years from the good-natured atmosphere that reigns today in Mrs. Ueno's dojo.

Masae remembers sessions where she had to face up to ten boys one after the other.

"I had to persevere, even if my opponents beat me (...). I can't remember a time when I had fun in judo. I trained because I had to! ", she confides today, smiling.

- Declining popularity -

His younger sister Yoshie, who is one of the coaches of the Japanese national team, also remembers the "brutal" learning methods of his father, who did not hesitate to yell at his pupils when he was dissatisfied, a saber of bamboo in hand.

But Yoshie, 37, nevertheless recognizes the importance of his parents in the amazing sporting success of his family.

"Learning judo was rooted at home, that's why we are here today. There are few families, all of whose members practice judo," she said.

From now on, their mother Wakako seeks above all to remake judo a popular sport in Japan, where the number of licensees is in constant decline: passing from 250,000 in 1993 to less than 150,000 in 2018, according to the national federation.

"Baseball is on television every day, so is football. Children are necessarily attracted to the sports they see on television", while judo is only entitled to a resurgence in popularity at the Games Olympic, she laments.

Ms. Ueno realized late that she and her husband had been too hard on their daughters in their quest for athletic glory.

She remembers the shock she felt when she saw Masae eliminated prematurely from the Sydney Games in 2000, unable even to speak to her to comfort her.

"It's something I regret," she admits. "The athletes are already under such pressure. After that, I decided to remember that it is their efforts that are important, not just the medals."

© 2020 AFP