Who Was Masako Katsura?

Masako Katsura was a legend. An elite female billiards player, she vanquished a game that main men were playing. Along these lines, she explored for different women to not exclusively be incorporated

in the game, yet to make a serious commitment.

Masako “Katsy” Katsura was the first woman in history to show up on the worldwide billiards stage. In a customarily male-overwhelmed sport, she was an exceptional rival who rapidly become famous in Japan. From that point she began to overcome the remainder of the world as the “First Lady of billiards” contending – and winning – in global competitions, in any case of her rival.

Early Days In Tokyo

At the early age of 14, Masako Katsura gazed playing billiards. She was brought into the world in Tokyo in 1913, and experienced childhood in a severe family. After her dad died, her mom became much more careful over her, and urged her to take up billiards.

Masako disapproved of her wellbeing since the beginning. She had little strength, and felt tired constantly. Along these lines, her mom believed her should take up billiards to make her more grounded, both intellectually and truly.

Tokyo during the 1920s was a remarkable time for billiards. Masako Katsura’s brother by marriage possessed a pool corridor, which was instrumental in the disclosure of her normal ability. Normally, she found a new line of work at the billiard corridor, and began to rehearse her art each and every day.

She brought home her first title at 15 years of age. Along these lines, she pulled in the consideration of Japan’s hero at that point, Kinrey Matsuyama. Referred to likewise as the Japanese Willie Hoppe, Matsuyama began to mentor the youthful Katsura. He was additionally answerable for first experience with three-pad billiards.

With her skill for stunt shots and a recently discovered accuracy with three-pad billiards, Katsura carried elegance to the game, and began clearing a way beyond anything she could ever imagine.

Taking Her Game To America

The Second Great War damagingly affected Katsura’s rising star. She improved her profession however she could, first by playing out a one-woman show for Japanese soldiers. After the conflict, she moved to performing billiard stunts for American soldiers.

Along these lines, her global profession was conceived. News spread rapidly of her expertise and effortlessness, and a boss by the name of Welker Cochran welcomed her to visit the USA.

In 1951, Katsura moved to California. It was stunning to her to see the absence of women on the scene around then. In Japan, women worked and played in billiard lobbies out of control. This was not the situation in the USA. American billiard corridors were for men, by men, and clearly known as a male space.

The First Lady Of Billiards

Katsura began working with Welker Cochran as her manager. He pushed for her in media, making statements like:

“The game has required a woman player with expertise enough to contend with the best of men players. Also, I’m persuaded now that it’s at last got only that.”

The press, however, concentrated on her orientation than her capacities. One paper even referred to this fantastic hero as “a genuine Japanese sign tee”. Luckily, other billiards players gave Katsura enough regard. As she began to play an ever increasing number of champions, she ascended in the positions. As she did, both the media and her enemies on searched in wonder.

After she cleared a way for women in the game, she became a face of billiards from one side of the planet to the other. Through the 50s, she positioned close to the top in every last bit of her global competitions, winning and putting effectively, no matter what her orientation. In 1961, however, she resigned after a hard misfortune to Harold Most terrible, the supreme title holder.

She was the first woman to contend in a worldwide billiards competition, making her in a real sense “the First Lady of billiards” and a staple of billiard history.

Masako Katsura and A Legacy That Lives On

Masako Katsura opened another field for women. She had the “power of a man”, while likewise making the game more appealing to women.

Katsura showed up in 1976 at a San Francisco billiards parlor. She snatched a prompt, scored a 100-point run, then, at that point, essentially vanished. By the ’70s, a gathering of players framed the Women’s Professional Billiard Association, and drafted Katsura into the Lobby of Notoriety.

Subsequent to moving back to Japan, Masako Katsura died in 1995. The effect she’s made on the game of billiards, as well as culture by and large, is exceptional. To such an extent, as a matter of fact, that she’s presently routinely portrayed in pop craftsmanship, articles about powerful women who’ve had an effect, and she even has her own Google Doodle animation! Truth be told, you can buy the book about her here too!

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