Goya Dmytryshchak
Footscray Kyokushin Karate instructor Judd Reid is among less than 30 people in the world to have completed the 100-man-fight.
Now aged 50, the 5th degree black belt was the first foreigner invited to Japan at age 19 to train with Sosai Mas Oyama for 1000 days in the elite Young Lions program.
From Sweden to Thailand, Australia to the United States, Judd said he explored the world “like a Ronin of old or a Samurai without a master”.
He was a bouncer at a Tokyo nightclub, trained with the Thai special forces and became a world champion.
But the 100-man-fight was his biggest feat.
“It’s so different from a tournament where perhaps in one day you fight five or six people,” Reid said.
“In this 100-man-fight, you’re fighting fresh opponents consecutively for basically three and a half hours.
“It’s like running a marathon but getting hit and punched along the way.
“I did this in Japan at 40 years of age, which I guess was quite old but at the same time I was strongest and fittest I’ve ever been in my life.
“I was the first Australian male to ever do that 100-man-fight.”
His journey is documented in an award-winning YouTube film, Journey to the 100 Man Fight, and a book titled The Young Lions.
Reid said his best friend Anton Cavka had filmed the documentary and was helping him write the book when he unexpectedly died.
Reid said he completed the book in his friend’s honour.
He is now about to launch his second book, The Ronin Years.
“Ronin is a Japanese word and it means a lost Samurai without a master,” Reid said.
“Not that I’m calling myself a Samurai or lost but it’s fitting to some of the period where I was living in Japan and my teacher passed away.”
The Ronin Years will be launched at Reid’s dojo, Chikara Martial Arts Academy, 115 Hyde Street, Footscray, on Saturday May 22 at 2pm.
