In a little over a week, the All-Japan Weight Class Selection Championships will be held, with nearly all of Japan’s top judo athletes participating in what will serve as the final tournament to select the team that will represent Japan at the Budapest World Championships in August. The notable absences in this year’s edition are Shohei Ono, Misato Nakamura, Miku Tashiro and Masashi Ebinuma, but aside from them, nearly all of the heavy hitters in Japan’s judo scene will be present. The weight of this tournament and quality of the field makes it one of the most competitive tournaments in the world, I would say even on par with the Grand Slam events.
Today, I want to reflect on the 1996 edition of the tournament, which featured a whole slew of world champions and gold medalists, in what was one of the deepest fields imaginable for any era of judo. Though the present Japanese team is right up there with the best, this ’96 team would definitely give them a run for their money in terms of class and depth. The 1996 tournament determined the 1996 Atlanta Olympic team in all categories except for the +95kg category, which was decided at the All-Japan Open Weight Championships later in the month. Tadahiro Nomura came into the tournament as a dark horse for the spot on the olympic team, probably the last time he was ever an underdog in any tournament thereafter. We also saw two veterans hoping to defend their gold medals in Barcelona in Koga and Yoshida as well as one of the last times we got to see Naoya Ogawa as his time as the dominant heavyweight in Japan came to a close.
Another point worth mentioning is that the competitors in this tournament now make up a large portion of the top competitive coaches in Japan at the moment. Reading down the list is a who’s who of Japan’s current coaching staff:
Kazuhiko Tokuno (1999 World Championships silver, 2001 Bronze) – Assistant manager of the Komatsu Women’s Judo team. Notable athletes: Ayumi Tanimoto, Haruna Asami, Nae Udaka, Miku Tashiro, and the list goes on forever.
Kenzo Nakamura (1996 Olympic champion, 1997 world champion) – Assistant coach of Japanese men’s national team.
Toshihiko Koga (No introduction necessary) – Head coach of International Pacific University, coach of semi-pro trade team OG Wellness and founder of Koga Dojo.
Ryuji Sonoda (1993 World Champion) – Unfortunately, a former women’s national team coach, who was at the center of a major scandal concerning abuse of the athletes. As a result, he was fired and now works on the coaching staff of the trade team, Park 24, managed by Hidehiko Yoshida. Notable athletes are Naohisa Takato and Masashi Ebinuma.
Michiaki Kamochi (1991 Asian Games Champion) – Coach of the Japan Racing Association team, whose top star is Hisayoshi Hirasawa. Other notable athletes from this team include Kaihan Takagi and Kyle Reyes of Canada.
Katsuyuki Masuchi (1994 Asian Games Champion) – Head Coach of Japanese Women’s National Team, and former coach of Tsukuba University, one of the greatest judo universities of all-time.
Yoshiharu Makishi (1997 World Championships silver) – If you have been to the Kodokan to train, you have probably seen him as he is one of the sensei there.
Shinichi Shinohara (2000 Olympic Silver, 2x World Champion) – Head coach of the Japanese Men’s National Team for the 2012 London Olympic cycle.
I’m sure I’m leaving a few others out, but it makes you realize that if you want to have a career as a coach in Japan, it is pretty difficult to do if you don’t have matching credentials as an athlete. Anyways, without any further ado, please enjoy the 1996 All-Japan Weight Class Selection Championships.
Thank you for making this article. I found it to be very informative. Sensei Yoshiharu Makishi is also an international A-level referee. I just met him again at the 2019 European Continental Open in Rome last weekend where he came with the Japanese delegation. Keep up the good web site.