Arriving in the Kodokan, Maeda, who was tall and weighed , was confused with a delivery boy due to his country manners and demeanor. He was spotted by judo's founder Kano Jigoro, and assigned to Tsunejiro Tomita (4th "dan" at the time), the smallest of the teachers of the Kodokan's "Four Heavenly Kings" ("Shitennō"), to illustrate that in judo size is not important. Tomita was the first Kodokan judoka and a close friend of Kano. According to Koyasu Masao (9th "dan"):