2017 All Japan final. Aaron Wolf (l) vs Takeshi Ojitani (r)
The 2017 All-Japan Open Weight Championships are now in the books, with Takeshi Ojitani emerging as the winner, successfully defending his title. In doing so, he became one of only 8 players to have won the tournament 3 or more times (Kosei Inoue and Shinichi Shinohara both tied at 3). It was a well-deserved win in a tournament that was not lacking in drama, all the way to the end, where he beat Aaron Wolf by shido 2:20 into golden score after a testy affair that left both athletes bloody and bruised (**Ojitani tweeted that he couldn’t eat after the tournament because his lip is split open. That must be the worst! I would be starving after a tournament like that.)
Before going to bed, here are some parting thoughts about the tournament:
The rules were confusing! The AJJF and Kodokan decided that this tournament would utilize the new rule changes, while keeping the old scoring system, meaning that the yuko would still be in effect. Additionally, golden score was introduced for the first time in the history of the event. I wish they would have gone all in with either the new rules or the old rules, but the mix was a bit annoying.
For the first time in 69 years, female referees make their debut! Seriously?!?! It is 2017 and we are celebrating the first female referees (there were three this time) to officiate this tournament? While it is a step forward, one has to be a little shocked at how it could possibly have taken so long! AJJF, Kodokan, are you guys serious?!
A lightweight won’t win this tournament anytime soon. As predicted, Shohei Ono did not manage a win here today, proving the difficulty of being outweighed in modern judo. With the new rules and the introduction of golden score, I would bet my house that we will never see a sub 80kg player winning this tournament ever again. The rules make it next to impossible for a lighter athlete to compete with the heavyweights. Without leg grabs, double-hand grip breaks, only 3 shidos and an endless time limit, one of the great spectacles in judo (the smaller athlete beating up on the bigger athlete) seems to be a thing of the past.
Masaru Momose had the retirement tournament one can only dream of. If you followed my tweets during the tournament, you may recall that I mentioned this will probably be Masaru Momose’s final tournament (*I incorrectly called him Hikaru Momose in the tweeting. Forgot his name! Doh!). Before going out though, he made sure to beat the reigning Olympic silver medalist Hisayoshi Hirasawa in the process! The former junior worlds silver medalist has always been near the top of the heavyweight category, and was always a podium threat. The last years of his career saw him competing mostly for his trade team, Asahi Kasei where he was a consistent, steady member in team tournaments. He had not posted many noteworthy individual results over the past few years. Nonetheless, he must be thrilled to have beaten arguably Japan’s best judo player at the moment before finally hanging up his gi.
Daiki Kamikawa runs out of gas again. Prior to the tournament, one of the more talked about athletes was Daiki Kamikawa, who shed 20kg in less than 6 months, as he tried to regain his place as Japan’s top heavyweight. It was somewhat startling news given that I rode an elevator with him up to the Kodokan 7th floor last year, and he had a bag full of potato chips, candy and coke. I laughed at the time thinking, “I guess you don’t have to subject yourself to a life of chicken breasts and broccoli to be the best.” The consummate underachiever, Kamikawa ran out of gas in the final last year, and ran out of gas again this year, losing to Aaron Wolf in the quarterfinals by hansoku-make. I believe his days on the national team are over. We will find out soon, when Kosei Inoue announces the new national team. I will sure miss seeing him in competition. I still believe he is the most technically sound heavyweight in Japan at the moment.
Ryu Shichinohe is following in the footsteps of Yasuyuki Muneta. Like the former double world champion, Yasuyuki Muneta, Shichinohe is proving that he competes much better internationally than he does domestically. Though a third place finish here isn’t half bad, judging from his international results, one would think he would have been able to win this tournament at least once by now. Now come the tough decisions for Shichinohe. At 28 years of age, he has said he will keep his olympic dream alive until the 2020 games in Tokyo, but that goal seems to be slowly slipping away.
Hirotaka Kato is the best strategist in judo. The oldest member of Japan’s national team, Hirotaka Kato reminded us of the class he possesses. The 2012 champion threw Aaron Wolf in the semi-finals for a yuko, only to be penalized with 15 seconds left in the match, resulting in a hansoku-make. Though visibly slower than he was in his prime, the unorthodox Kato should serve as an inspiration to all judoka at the tail end of their careers. He shows that good newaza and savvy tactics can win a heck of a lot of matches despite physical limitations.
Where were the police?!?! The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, one of the greatest judo clubs in the history of judo failed to place any of their members into the tournament. With the exception of Hirotaka Kato, who competes for the Chiba Prefectural Police Department, the police had a lackluster showing at this tournament.
The youngsters still have a lot of growing up to do. The only university student to make it to the quarterfinals was Aaron Wolf. Everyone else went out fairly quickly. In years past, it seems there were a lot more university students who factored into the final rounds. Yusei Ogawa, Daigo Kagawa, Yuki Isshiki and Sosuke Matsumura all lost to experienced veterans, and were more or less out gamed in each. All four have a very bright future ahead though.
The final worlds team has been announced. Harasawa still going despite loss. Ryunosuke Haga and Hisayoshi Harasawa were added to the world championship team roster, with the -90 category left vacant in the absence of the injured Mashu Baker. This is about as good a team as Japan could possibly muster, and I think they have a good shot to win in every category they are contesting except for the +100kg category. In my opinion, Teddy Riner is still the best pound-for-pound judoka in the world and neither Harasawa nor Ojitani will be able to challenge him at the moment.
Some final words. I want to just take a moment to say a huge thank you to the people who have helped me and supported me as I’ve built this blog up. Lance Wicks over at Planet Judo, and Dave Roman at the Judo Chop Suey podcast have helped promote my blog and their efforts have really driven a lot of traffic here. It has been a real pleasure meeting and getting feedback from people around the world. Thanks for all of the e-mails and questions. It makes doing this all worth it.
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