Masako Katsura: "The first lady of billiards" and the national heroine of Japan

Robert.Beak

Registered
Masako Katsura: "The first lady of billiards" and the national heroine of Japan

I want to leave this significant woman here
25 years as there is no legend with us

4d2a83a5c8ebdb0a2f222be0e11f992a_1562288290-b.jpg

Masako Katsura was called "the first lady of billiards", she won one title after another, despite condemnation and criticism, she became the first woman to play billiards professionally. People came to her just to admire, and left stunned by her talent and unsurpassed tactics of the game. This amazing woman deservedly took a place in the World Billiards Hall of Fame and proved to the world that a woman can compete on an equal footing with men in this intellectual sport.
14127-2-2b825ac2e3b041a19b130d4d517d7ae3.jpg

The tragedy of Masako
In 1925, while still a 12-year-old girl, Masako Katsura lost her parents. She had to move in with her older sister and her husband, who owned a small billiard room. This sport was just gaining popularity in Japan, but it was played exclusively by men. The girl showed interest in the game, constantly running up to the table and trying to make combinations with balls, spied on by the players.
14127-0-2b825ac2e3b041a19b130d4d517d7ae3.jpg

The owner let the girl help him. She began to get balls from the holes for the players, place them on the table, polish and give out cues. The permanent owners got used to the lively little girl, and some allowed her to hit the balls with a cue, which she was incredibly happy about. She wanted to stand at the table on a par with the rest of the players, it was her cherished dream.
Love for billiards
It soon became clear that Masako was seriously interested in billiards. The sister bought a small play table for her so that the girl could exercise. At the age of 15, the girl decided to take part in the championship. She fought professional players in her age category and won.There was no doubt that Masako Katsura began to play billiards seriously, although this occupation was unacceptable for a Japanese girl and was condemned by society. She had to endure a lot of criticism, but Masako showed character and continued to study. Moreover, she involved her younger sisters in the game, who later also won more than once competitions at various levels.
Victories and titles
In 1937, the meeting between Masako Katsura and Kinri Matsuyama, a multiple world champion in billiards, became fateful. He appreciated the girl's talent and began to train her. Later, he repeatedly admitted that he was amazed at the girl's abilities, never before had he seen such gifted female billiards players.
14127-4-2b825ac2e3b041a19b130d4d517d7ae3.jpg

In the future, Masako twice took second place at the national billiards championship in Japan. It was rumored that she was not given victory just because she was a woman. After getting married and emigrating to the United States in 1951, Masako's career took off. At the 1952 World Championships, she finished fourth, which was a real breakthrough. Before that, women had never participated in championships of this level.
In memory forever
Masako Katsura was an amazing woman, intelligent and talented, with her own inner core and not afraid of judgment. Although she never rose above fourth place in world tournaments, her contribution to the development of women's billiards cannot be overestimated. It was Masako who became the one who taught the world to the idea of ​​women's participation in professional billiards.Many reigning champions admitted that Masako's appearance bribed them and was misleading. She was fragile, small, like a porcelain doll in high heels, but she had an unrivaled ability to play. Very soon they began to call her "the first lady of billiards." People came to the game only to admire Katsura. In 1990, Masako returned from the United States to her homeland and became a national hero of Japan.
14127-6-f849338634796210f48172976fe23aae.jpg

The athlete died in 1995, but her memory is still alive today. In Japan, billiard schools have been opened, which have long accepted not only boys, but also girls, which was impossible 50 years ago. She broke the gender barrier and remained the "progenitor" of women's billiards not only in Japan, but throughout the world.
 

Danimal

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
There’s a good bit of information about Mrs. Katsura in Robert Byrne’s biography McGoorty.

The book itself is an excellent read. Any fan of pool would do well to seek out a copy of it.
 

Robert.Beak

Registered
There’s a good bit of information about Mrs. Katsura in Robert Byrne’s biography McGoorty.

The book itself is an excellent read. Any fan of pool would do well to seek out a copy of it.

Unfortunately, I could only find this, but I don't think that in this book, which praises all the outstanding women in the world, I could tell us, not only about the difficult life path of Masako Katsura, but also tell a little about her experience, tricks, about secrets and give us a couple of practical tips
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51UFIfgPR0L.jpg
 

Robert.Beak

Registered
Found a small excerpt from this book ...

Masako Katsura
"How to bend over a table"
(1913-1995)
There are some disciplines that women are simply not supposed to be successful in: mowing the lawn, picking up closets, grilling kebabs, taking out trash cans, beating other people, drinking pints of beer, and all kinds of sports. However, ever since women got rid of numerous petticoats and began to wear trousers, and for this they even stopped spitting on the streets as the destroyers of civilization (NB: this happened less than a hundred years ago), mankind has made an amazing discovery: women are all -so they know how to play sports! And even more interesting, they are damn good at it.

It is unfortunate that women's sports are still considered less exciting and commercially attractive than men's sports (compare at least the men's and women's Wimbledon finals). But at the same time, it cannot be denied that in almost any sport you can find many amazingly gifted and disciplined professional athletes: remember at least Althea and Mina, as well as Serena, Tunny, Kelly, Ellen, Billie Jean, Marit, Nicola, Jackie, Laura, Tatiana, Ryu, Yanitsa, Martha, Simon, Ellie, San, Lucian or another Laura [9].

However, unfortunately, a search for “world’s top sportswomen” will most likely give you something like “the most beautiful sportswomen in the world” closer to the first place. Needless to say, when looking for male athletes, such problems do not arise, no matter how beautiful they are.

In the 1950s, there were still very few female athletes, even in quiet games like billiards, where superiority in muscle mass does not provide a clear advantage. This is why Masako Katsura's career has been so exceptional. Masako (later known by the nickname "Katsi") was born in Tokyo. Her brother-in-law owned a billiard club, where she often went and where she began to work as a teenager. If you think that billiards is like a pool that you go to play in a local pub, then you are not one hundred percent right: the skill set is similar, but billiards has different rules, the number of balls and, most importantly, it is played on tables without pockets [10]. In those days, billiards was more popular, but now it is more often played in its distant relatives, snooker and pool (two of the many varieties of games with a cue and balls, descended from the original billiards, which, by the way, was played back in the 15th century). Masako has honed her skills through practice, practice and more practice (maybe she can be called one of the earliest advocates of the ten thousand hours rule?) Her most famous quote is: “Men want to beat me. I play with men six to seven hours a day. Men don't like it, they can't win. "
i_022.jpg
 

book collector

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Masako Katsura: "The first lady of billiards" and the national heroine of Japan

I want to leave this significant woman here
25 years as there is no legend with us

4d2a83a5c8ebdb0a2f222be0e11f992a_1562288290-b.jpg

Masako Katsura was called "the first lady of billiards", she won one title after another, despite condemnation and criticism, she became the first woman to play billiards professionally. People came to her just to admire, and left stunned by her talent and unsurpassed tactics of the game. This amazing woman deservedly took a place in the World Billiards Hall of Fame and proved to the world that a woman can compete on an equal footing with men in this intellectual sport.
14127-2-2b825ac2e3b041a19b130d4d517d7ae3.jpg

The tragedy of Masako
In 1925, while still a 12-year-old girl, Masako Katsura lost her parents. She had to move in with her older sister and her husband, who owned a small billiard room. This sport was just gaining popularity in Japan, but it was played exclusively by men. The girl showed interest in the game, constantly running up to the table and trying to make combinations with balls, spied on by the players.
14127-0-2b825ac2e3b041a19b130d4d517d7ae3.jpg

The owner let the girl help him. She began to get balls from the holes for the players, place them on the table, polish and give out cues. The permanent owners got used to the lively little girl, and some allowed her to hit the balls with a cue, which she was incredibly happy about. She wanted to stand at the table on a par with the rest of the players, it was her cherished dream.
Love for billiards
It soon became clear that Masako was seriously interested in billiards. The sister bought a small play table for her so that the girl could exercise. At the age of 15, the girl decided to take part in the championship. She fought professional players in her age category and won.There was no doubt that Masako Katsura began to play billiards seriously, although this occupation was unacceptable for a Japanese girl and was condemned by society. She had to endure a lot of criticism, but Masako showed character and continued to study. Moreover, she involved her younger sisters in the game, who later also won more than once competitions at various levels.
Victories and titles
In 1937, the meeting between Masako Katsura and Kinri Matsuyama, a multiple world champion in billiards, became fateful. He appreciated the girl's talent and began to train her. Later, he repeatedly admitted that he was amazed at the girl's abilities, never before had he seen such gifted female billiards players.
14127-4-2b825ac2e3b041a19b130d4d517d7ae3.jpg

In the future, Masako twice took second place at the national billiards championship in Japan. It was rumored that she was not given victory just because she was a woman. After getting married and emigrating to the United States in 1951, Masako's career took off. At the 1952 World Championships, she finished fourth, which was a real breakthrough. Before that, women had never participated in championships of this level.
In memory forever
Masako Katsura was an amazing woman, intelligent and talented, with her own inner core and not afraid of judgment. Although she never rose above fourth place in world tournaments, her contribution to the development of women's billiards cannot be overestimated. It was Masako who became the one who taught the world to the idea of women's participation in professional billiards.Many reigning champions admitted that Masako's appearance bribed them and was misleading. She was fragile, small, like a porcelain doll in high heels, but she had an unrivaled ability to play. Very soon they began to call her "the first lady of billiards." People came to the game only to admire Katsura. In 1990, Masako returned from the United States to her homeland and became a national hero of Japan.
14127-6-f849338634796210f48172976fe23aae.jpg

The athlete died in 1995, but her memory is still alive today. In Japan, billiard schools have been opened, which have long accepted not only boys, but also girls, which was impossible 50 years ago. She broke the gender barrier and remained the "progenitor" of women's billiards not only in Japan, but throughout the world.
In the next to the last photo , who is the seated man, with the cue she is playing?
 
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