Also known as

Description

Welsh-born pioneer of women's jujutsu, among the first female instructors of the art in Britain. Born Phoebe Parry in Monmouthshire, she was adopted by the Roberts family, London manufacturing chemists, and changed her name. At 16 she joined Uyenishi's Golden Square School of Jujutsu in 1903 and was promoted to instructor within a year of training. From December 1904 she performed alongside her teachers Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi, including the Caxton Hall demonstration with Emily Diana Watts (December 1904), the 1905 Aldershot army demonstrations, a June 1905 Japan Society garden party at the Royal Botanic Gardens, and a November 1905 Marlborough Hall demonstration alongside Kanaya, Tani, Miyake, Huji and Eida. In 1906 she appeared in Sporting Life demonstrating alongside Miyake, Hirano, Yamashita and Omura at the headquarters of the Japanese School of Ju-Jitsu. Featured in Sandow's Magazine, Health and Strength, and The Lady's Realm, and shown as 'ladies instructor' in Tani and Miyake's The Game of Ju-Jitsu (1906) at the Japanese School of Ju-Jitsu, 305 Oxford Street. Married fellow instructor Juzo (Juso) Hirano (the Japanese jujutsuka known here as Hirano Yuzo) in March 1907; the couple performed at the Palace Theatre, Manchester in 1908, where Phoebe was billed as 'Miss Roberts, Lady Champion Ju-jitsu Wrestler of the World', before touring Spain with other instructors and teaching women's self-defence in Barcelona on 31 July 1908. Followed Hirano to his Barcelona Ju-jitsu Academy (1909) and then to Portugal; after Hirano drowned off Santa Cruz beach in 1915 she remarried, as Phoebe Laughton-Parry, Carlos de Castro Henriques in 1916. She died in Porto in October 1937.

Teachers (2)

• 
  Uyenishi Sadakazu

  linkJūjutsu 3

  Confirmed

  Joined Uyenishi's Golden Square School in 1903 and was promoted to instructor within a year; Callan/Heffernan/Spenn explicitly describe Tani and Uyenishi as her teachers. Corroborated by Brough (2020).

  sports_kabaddiSchool of Japanese Self Defence badge (1903-1907)

  expand_morefact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  2 sources

  fact_check

  Joined Uyenishi's Golden Square School in 1903 and was promoted to instructor within a year; Callan/Heffernan/Spenn explicitly describe Tani and Uyenishi as her teachers. Corroborated by Brough (2020).

  assessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  "By that time Roberts had joined the Golden Square School of Jujutsu, in Piccadilly, which was run by Uyenishi Sadakazu (aka Raku)... As one of the earliest female members, Roberts was a pioneer. Owing to her proficiency and marketing appeal as an Englishwoman, Roberts was promoted to an instructor within a year of training."

  — Callan, Mike; Heffernan, Conor; Spenn, Amanda. (2018). Women's Jūjutsu and Judo in the Early Twentieth-Century: The Cases of Phoebe Roberts, Edith Garrud, and Sarah Mayer linkinfo

  "An early notable female student was Phoebe Roberts. Roberts joined the Golden Square dojo age 16 years old, and she was promoted to instructor within a year."

  — Brough, David. (2020). The Golden Square Dojo and its place in British Jujutsu historylinkinfo
• 
  Tani Yukio

  linkJūjutsu 3

  Confirmed

  Callan/Heffernan/Spenn state Roberts performed alongside her teachers, naming Tani and Uyenishi, and that Tani taught at the Golden Square School from 1904. Her later 'ladies instructor' role at Tani's Japanese School of Ju-Jitsu corroborates the relationship.

  sports_kabaddiSchool of Japanese Self Defence badge (1904-1908)

  expand_morefact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  2 sources

  fact_check

  Callan/Heffernan/Spenn state Roberts performed alongside her teachers, naming Tani and Uyenishi, and that Tani taught at the Golden Square School from 1904. Her later 'ladies instructor' role at Tani's Japanese School of Ju-Jitsu corroborates the relationship.

  assessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  "By December 1904 Roberts was performing alongside her teachers. Both Tani and Uyenishi gave a demonstration at Caxton Hall along with Miss Roberts and another expert, Emily Watts."

  — Callan, Mike; Heffernan, Conor; Spenn, Amanda. (2018). Women's Jūjutsu and Judo in the Early Twentieth-Century: The Cases of Phoebe Roberts, Edith Garrud, and Sarah Mayer linkinfo

  "Sandow's Magazine recounted another demonstration, this time at the Marlborough Hall, Regent Street, featuring Roberts alongside Messrs Kanaya, Tani, Maiyake, Huji, and Eida... Roberts appeared in Sporting Life in 1906, along with Miyake, Hirano, Yamashita, and Omura, demonstrating at the headquarters of the Japanese School of Ju-jitsu on Oxford Street."

  — Callan, Mike; Heffernan, Conor; Spenn, Amanda. (2018). Women's Jūjutsu and Judo in the Early Twentieth-Century: The Cases of Phoebe Roberts, Edith Garrud, and Sarah Mayer linkinfo

Sources