Female hachidan - 8 dan

Outside of the Kodokan, I can only think of one female hachidan (8 dan) - Ellen Cobb of the UK.  Are there any others that spring to mind?

Jonesy wrote:Outside of the Kodokan, I can only think of one female hachidan (8 dan) - Ellen Cobb of the UK.  Are there any others that spring to mind?

As far as I know, there aren't any. The Kôdôkan has only promoted 4 women to hachidan ever, of which two are alive.

In addition to Ellen Cobb in the UK, maybe Ruth Horan in Ormond Beach, Florida, in the US. I think it may have been ratified or issued by USJA, but I am not sure and it is possible that it is non-standard NGB and I am not even sure that it is judo and not jujutsu. I know though that she is a USJA Life Member. I estimate her to be about 90 years old. I believe she took up judo in 1951. I do not have the complete record of Ruth Horan. Well, that is to say ... they apparently created a special dan-rank just for her, a so-called "Ue no ue-dan" or "dan rank above all other an-ranks". For the proclamation, see:

http://www.ormondbeach.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2226

In 1995, she is still listed as a 5th dan:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1910&dat=19950727&id=02kfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=E9UEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1374,4562284

But in 2007, just 12 years later, she is mentioned as 8th dan:

http://www.myhometownnews.net/index.php?id=31971

Maybe there has been a 'compensation' since the 1995 news article indicates that women would not be allowed to receive promotions over 5th dan. This is similar to what has been suggested in the Keiko Fukuda film, which is not entirely accurate (for Japan), but may have been a policy in the US, where apparently women were seriously discriminated against, as is obvious from the experiences of Rena 'Rusty' Kanokogi.

I believe the club is currently USMA-affiliated.

I think that Joe Svinth and AnnMaria might know.

And then there is, of course, also our own Stacey, the first and only JudoForum hachidan !!