Takeuchi Sensei was born in Tokyo in September 1939. After the war, she moved to Sakura in the Chiba Prefecture until high school. When she was 14 years old, due to the influence of the popular radio program “Akado Suzunosuke”, she wanted to start practicing kendo. However, there was no kendo dojo nearby, so instead, she started attending a judo dojo in Sakura.
As she continued to train, judo became more interesting. She didn’t lose often, even when she practiced with boys. At that time, for every 45 boys, there were only 4 girls. She was invited by those female higher ranked members, and entered the Kodokan at the age of 15.
When she graduated from high school, she received her 1st Dan at the Kodokan, and as a university student she obtained 2nd and 3rd Dan. She went to Nippon Sports Science University. She belonged to the judo club there. Because there were few women there she got permission from the university and practiced mostly at the Kodokan.
After graduating from university, while serving as a physical education teacher at Josai High School (her alma mater) and as an assistant instructor of the Kodokan Women’s Club, she started her road to becoming an instructor. In 1964, she was in Malaysia for 4 months, then in 1966, she taught in the UK for about 2 months.
In 1968, she moved to Sacramento, USA. After that, while continuing to be a physical education teacher at a junior high school, she started contributing to the spread of judo as an instructor at the Okubo/APOA Judo Club dojo in Sacramento which she continues to this present day. As a naturalized citizen of the United States in April 1982, she has served as the coach or manager of various American Teams in many judo competitions worldwide.
In 1984, she received her master’s degree in physical education from California State University, Sacramento. In 1992, she received her Ph.D. in religious education from Taiwan International Christian University.
From 2000 to 2010, she was Vice Chairman of the Promotion Committee of the American Judo Association, and from 2001 to 2010, she was the Chairman of the American Judo Federation’s Judicial Committee, etc. She has held many positions up until now.
In 2014, she became a Judo 8th degree black belt.
In 2020, on the spring honors list, she was highly regarded for popularizing judo and received the commendation of friendship between Japan and the United States and the Prestigious Order of the Rising Sun.
