A Biographical Study of Actress and Black Belt Jūdōka Sarah Mayer
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Having a Bath in Japan: A Biographical Study of Actress and Black Belt Jūdōka Sarah Mayer (1896-1957) Amanda Callan-Spenn Submitted in Partial Fulfilment for Ph.D. May 2019 The University of Wolverhampton This work or any part thereof has not previously been presented in any form to the University or to any other body whether for the purposes of assessment, publication or for any other purpose (unless otherwise indicated). Save for any express acknowledgments, references and/or bibliographies cited in the work, I confirm that the intellectual content of the work is the result of my own efforts and of no other person. The right of Amanda Callan-Spenn to be identified as author of this work is asserted in accordance with ss.77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. At this date copyright is owned by the author. Signature……………………………………….. Date……………………………………………... Abstract In 1933, British actor and playwright, Sarah Mayer, left behind her wealthy husband, and the large country estate they shared in rural Hampshire, for a trip to Japan. As a judo enthusiast travelling as a sports tourist, Sarah became the first western woman in Japan to receive the award of shōdan, or first degree black-belt, for judo, from the Butokukai, an increasingly militaristic, pedagogical institution, aimed at continuing the study of traditional and modern fighting techniques. Sarah’s training at the home of the art, the Kōdōkan in Tokyo, was encouraged by founder, Jigorō Kanō, a known internationalist in outlook. As the trip continued, the Japanese government promoted Mayer’s tour as part of the drive for modernism. Primarily, this thesis analyses the reasons for her unprecedented acceptance as a Western woman by Kanō and the wider judo establishment. Using a biographical framework, and drawing on a large volume of primary source research, this work places Sarah’s achievement into a context of not only time and place, but social mobility and agency, considering, firstly, Sarah’s life before she went to Japan. Central to the thesis, the work then continues with an in-depth study of her time in Japan and the height of her international fame as a sporting personality, concluding with her final years and reflecting on her precarious place within history. Whilst contributing to the literature on gendered sporting performance and role models of the early twentieth century, this work should be seen as a revision of the limited historiography of women in judo, and also, to a lesser extent, the international politicisation of physical culture. The politicisation of sport, particularly the fighting arts, is an important, and sometimes neglected area of sports history, particularly in the Western literature. Providing a gendered perspective on the international history of the growth and diversification of martial arts, this thesis investigates a crucial case study, encompassing overarching themes of class, individual agency and the wider political context of Anglo-Japanese relations. Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 2 Contents ....................................................................................................................... 3 List of Illustrations ......................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... 7 Abbreviations. ............................................................................................................... 8 Glossary of Terms ........................................................................................................ 8 Japanese Eras .......................................................................................................... 8 Notes ............................................................................................................................ 9 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 12 1.1 Gender and Sports History............................................................................. 21 1.2 Judo History, and British Judo History ........................................................... 31 1.3 Class and Society .......................................................................................... 35 1.4 Methodology .................................................................................................. 37 2. Exeunt Fairies ......................................................................................................... 45 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 45 2.2 Birth and Parents’ Background 1896 – 1905 ..................................................... 46 2.3 Early Theatrical Life 1906 - 1918 ....................................................................... 57 2.4 A Brief Marriage 1919 - 1920 ............................................................................ 70 2.5 Back to the Boards 1921 - 1923 ........................................................................ 77 2.6 Chapter Two: Conclusions ................................................................................ 87 3. Bright Young People ............................................................................................... 88 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 88 3.2 A New Husband 1924 - 1927 ............................................................................ 89 3 3.3 Quarr House 1928 - 1933 .................................................................................. 97 3.4 Judo in London 1926-1933 .............................................................................. 107 3.5 Travel to Japan 1933-1934 .............................................................................. 118 3.6 Chapter Three: Conclusions ............................................................................ 124 4. Rei - Hajime .......................................................................................................... 126 4.1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 126 4.2 Letter Two, February 1934-June 1934 ............................................................. 129 4.3 Letter Three, June 1934-July 1934 .................................................................. 140 4.4 Letter Four, July 1934-September 1934 .......................................................... 148 4.5 Letter Five, September 1934-September 1934 ................................................ 162 4.6 Letter Six, September 1934-November 1934 ................................................... 171 4.7 Letter Seven, November 1934-January 1935 .................................................. 180 4.8 Shōdan and Beyond, January 1935-April 1935 ................................................ 188 4.9 Chapter Four: Conclusions .............................................................................. 198 5. The Millionairess ................................................................................................... 201 5.1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 201 5.2 A Hero’s Return? 1935-1936 ........................................................................... 202 5.3 Hundreds and Thousands 1936-1939.............................................................. 212 5.4 The Tientsin Response 1939 ........................................................................... 219 5.5 Wartime and Shaw 1939-1945 ........................................................................ 225 5.6 Warwick and the Caravan 1945-1957 .............................................................. 238 5.7 Chapter Five: Conclusions ............................................................................... 242 Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 244 Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 258 Primary Sources .................................................................................................... 258 Archival Materials............................................................................................... 258 Contemporary Materials ..................................................................................... 262 Secondary Sources ............................................................................................... 266 4 Appendix One ........................................................................................................... 287 Appendix Two ........................................................................................................... 289 List of Illustrations 1. Photograph of Sarah Mayer, c.1935, ...................................................................... 11 2. ‘W. Bro. A. B. Tapping’ ............................................................................................ 46 3. ‘Miss Alice Farleigh’ ................................................................................................ 46 4. ‘Miss Sarah