- Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 10th February 2013
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20150916022707im_/http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2140333/TanoMatsuda.jpg-large)
In Paris on December 31st, 1908, this very distinctly European gentleman (who was nevertheless billed as “Tano Matsuda, Japanese World’s Champion of Ju-jitsu”) represented Japanese wrestling in a mixed-styles contest against American boxing champion Sam McVea. Read about what happened next in this excellent article by John S. Nash …