Saburo, who was a member of the Board of Directors of the Kodokan Institute in Tokyo and a ninth dan in Kodokan judo, passed away on Sunday (April 19).

In the early 1960s, Saburo taught judo in Britain after graduating from the Department of Commerce, College of Economics at the Nihon University.

Later, he would become a professor at the same institute, 20 years after leaving as a student.

In 2000, Saburo was appointed as senior managing director of Japan's national body, the All Japan Judo Federation, and a year later he became an Executive Board member of the JOC.

He was also an inspector of Kodokan and in 2006 was nominated as the director of the Education and Instruction Department of the Institute.

The Kodokan Institute is considered as the headquarters of the judo community and was founded by the martial art's founder Kanō Jigorō in 1882.

Since 2013, Saburo was a member of the Board of Directors at the Institute and he still taught the sport intermittently until his death.

The International Judo Federation (IJF) said in a statement: "The IJF expresses its deepest condolences to Matsushita Saburo's friends and relatives, to the Kodokan Institute and the All Japan Judo Federation and to the whole judo family."