Sad news

I have just been told that Professor Okazaki-Mullins has passed away. If you do not know much about Jujitsu, then no doubt you will not have heard of her. She is the daughter of the founder of our style of Jujitsu. Her father initially taught a separate set of techniques to his female students, in a time when it was rare for a Sensei even to have female students. Following in her father's footsteps, many of the classes she taught at the conventions I have been to were women-only classes. I learned quite a lot of things in the few hours I have spent in her classes at convention, but it seems like way too short a time. Just watching her, it is evident that she possesses an understanding of Jujitsu that many people will never attain. While I did not know her well enough to mourn her passing, I experienced her teaching enough to experience a strong sense of loss at this news. I am sure that there are many people in the Jujitsu community that are experiencing a real mourning today, and my heart goes out to them.