Eizo Osaka (JPN), retired FEI International Dressage Judge and Jumping course designer, died in July after a long illness. He had celebrated his 80th birthday on 1 May.
Born in 1933 in Akita Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan’s largest island Honshu, he majored in Law at the prestigious Chuo University where he also found time to indulge his love of horses and competed on the equestrian team.
After graduating, he became a journalist, but later came back to the equestrian community and worked tirelessly for many years as an FEI Dressage Judge in Japan and around the world.
In 1984, he was credited with bringing the first CSI to Asia, working alongside Tsunekazu Takeda, President of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC), FEI Honorary Vice President and International Olympic Committee member.
In 1992, he became Japan’s first international Dressage Judge to work at an Olympic Games, and his experiences in Barcelona spurred him on further to educate generations of Japanese judges.
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