Torao Mori

Torao Mori was a successful kendo champion in his native Japan before moving to the United States in 1938. Once there, he took up western fencing under the tutelage of the Los Angeles Athletic Club’s Henri Uyttenhove and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming one of the top West Coast fencers. He taught both kendo and fencing, eventually buying out Joseph Vince’s Beverly Hills-based fencing club and his equipment company. Mori was instrumental in the development of the Japanese fencing team in the run up to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, coaching the team in both ’64 and the 1968 Mexico City games. In 1969, while fencing kendo, he died of a massive heart attack at the age of 54.