Did Kano Jigoro ask to be buried in a white belt? Introduction Today I encountered the following excerpt from a book published in 1992 by an Aikido practitioner named George Leonard, titled Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfilment : “When Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo, was quite old and close to death, the story goes, he called his students around him and told them he wanted to be buried in his white belt. What a touching story; how humble of the world's highest-ranking judoist in his last days to ask for the emblem of the beginner! But Kano's request, I eventually realized, was less humility than realism. At the moment of death, the ultimate transformation, we are all white belts. And if death makes beginners of us, so does life—again and again. In the master's secret mirror, even at the moment of highest renown and accomplishment, there is an image of the newest student in class, eager for knowledge, willing to play the fool. And for all who walk the pat
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