| Teddy Roosevelt is often thought of as one of America's toughest presidents, and for good reason. In addition to delivering a speech immediately after getting shot ("It takes more than that to kill a bull moose," he said during his remarks) and fighting in the Spanish-American War as part of the Rough Riders, he was also a skilled martial artist who received an honorary black belt in judo (and, according to some, was the first American to receive a brown belt). He accomplished the latter under the tutelage of Yamashita Yoshitsugu, also known as Yamashita Yoshiaki, a Japanese judoka who holds the distinction of being the first person to receive a 10th-degree red belt (jūdan). Even more impressively, he did all this while serving as president. Already a skilled boxer and wrestler, he first encountered judo on a trip to Japan and sought to study it further upon his return stateside. Yamashita described the president as "his best pupil" but also "very heavy and very impetuous" in a way that "cost the poor professor many bruisings, much worry, and infinite pains." As in most aspects of his life, Roosevelt was extremely enthusiastic about this endeavor — sometimes in a way that others struggled to keep up with. | 
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