Ambassador Katsuhiko Oku |
Ambassador Katsuhiko Oku, ¡ÆKatsu¡Ç to all who knew him, was a greatly loved and admired man and, following his tragic death whilst on diplomatic duty in Iraq in late November 2003, he has been much mourned by his many friends in London.
Rugby had been an important part of Katsu¡Çs life. He played both for Itami High School in Hyogo Prefecture and Waseda University, Tokyo in Japan. He also became the first Japanese national to represent the Blues XV at Oxford University whilst on the two year diplomatic course at Hertford College from 1981-3. He was a long-standing member of the international committee of the Japanese Rugby Football Union and was well known throughout the world in this capacity. How proud and pleased he would have been that Japan finally succeeded last year in being nominated the host country for the Rugby World Cup in 2019 - something towards which he had worked long and hard.
It was therefore entirely appropriate that, after a period of time, his friends at London Japanese and Kew Occasional rugby clubs chose to play an annual rugby match in his name. He was a long-standing member of both clubs and, in the former case, a founder, and this has become a lasting way to celebrate his life. |
The Kew Occasionals are a London based social side including many Oxford and Cambridge graduates and rugby Blues, and they have hosted the game each year since November 2005 at the Richmond Athletic Ground. In each of the first three years, the Oku Memorial Trophy was presented to the winning captain by Oku¡Çs very close friend and colleague Ambassador Yoshiji Nogami. In the second year of the game, the two sides were joined in a three-way tournament by New York Japanese Rugby Football Club. The match has become a focus for Japanese players from all over Europe, with players coming to participate in recent years from Paris, Dusseldorf, Budapest and elsewhere. In that year also, the teams taking part were delighted to welcome Katsu¡Çs eldest daughter Akiko who happened to be travelling through London en route back to Tokyo and took the chance to support the occasion. This was a very moving event. In 2008, unusually the game was played in December, the day before the Varsity rugby match, to accommodate a 20-year reunion of the Oxford XV of 1988, who had toured Japan that year with Katsu as liaison officer. All involved were delighted when the President of the Rugby Football Union, Brian Williams, attended the game and presented the Trophy.
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The players in action |
Mr Reg Clark (L) with Ambassador Shin Ebihara |
In November 2009, Ambassador Shin Ebihara demonstrated support and appreciation for the event by kindly inviting the participants and other friends and contacts of Ambassador Oku to a reception at the Embassy of Japan two days before the fifth playing of the game. This was very much appreciated by the organisers, players and supporters. The game itself was played almost to the day and hour of the anniversary of Katsu¡Çs tragic assassination and featured a very strong start by a young ¡ÆLonjapa¡Ç team who took a 31-15 lead just after half time. With a squad of over 30 however, many of whom had travelled a long way and needed to be accommodated, their side gradually weakened and Kew eventually ran out 44-31 winners. The game was as ever played in an exemplary spirit and the sides were touched by an email on the day from Katsu¡Çs widow Emiko thanking them for remembering her husband.
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| I know I speak on behalf of those of us involved in organising this annual event and who were lucky enough to count him as a friend, when I say that it is in every sense an honour for us to be able to remember Katsu in this way. I have no hesitation in saying he was one of the finest people I ever had the privilege to know. He is still very much missed and we will continue to play the game he loved each November as a small way of honouring his memory. |
Mr Reg Clark
Kew Occasionals RFC |
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