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News Shorts: Ojitani, Haga, Baker, and Nagase Get Demotions

June 3, 2018 By judo fan 9 Comments

This post is for JW of the London Whatsapp Group, who requested I post some small “snacks” in between more researched blog posts. I apologize for the sparse posts on this blog. Coaching a judo team and trying to maintain a blog is a real balancing act. Hope this satisfies your appetite, JW!

Japanese National Team is reshuffled:

At the close of April’s All Japan Championships, officials of the All Japan Judo Federation led by Jun Kanno held a meeting to determine the new national team that will determine future assignments until this fall’s Kodokan Cup, when the team will once again be reassessed. While there were only a few changes to Japan’s B team, the A team got a pretty heavy face lift. Ojitani was sent down to the B team, and Yusei Ogawa took his place on the A team along with Hisayoshi Harasawa. Ryunosuke Haga, who will be out at least until November due to injury was replaced by Aaron Wolf in the -100kg category. Mashu Baker, who is recovering from a shoulder injury and competed in China last month, also got a demotion, being replaced by Kenta Nagasawa, who beat him back in April. Takanori Nagase, another injured veteran was replaced by Sotaro Fujiwara. The -73 category will not have a member on the A roster due to Soichiro Hashimoto’s 6-month suspension for inviting a female “friend” to his room during a national training camp. Masashi Ebinuma, Shohei Ono and Hashimoto are all currently on the B team roster.

On the women’s side, there were no major changes. World champion Mami Umeki (-78kg) and world silver medalist Natsumi Tsunoda (-52kg) were both demoted, while Yoko Ono and Miku Tashiro were both promoted to the A team. Former world champion Nae Udaka (-57kg) has had the longest tenure on the team, and at 33 years of age, she is a full 15 years older than Uta Abe. The women’s side is equally, if not more competitive than the men’s side at the moment. There is not a single athlete in any category that is comfortably ahead of their competitors. Out of both men and women, possibly the only athlete whose position is fairly secure is Hifumi Abe’s at -66kg. Other than that, it will be a very intense 2 years leading up to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

Riki Nakaya begins journey back to the top in a new weight class:

In a recent interview (http://www.judo-ch.jp/interview/nakaya/), former world champion Riki Nakaya discussed his future after moving up from -73kg to the -81kg category. Because of the points system in place in Japan, as well as the tournament structure, it is often difficult to change weight classes, especially in the second half of an Olympic cycle. Nevertheless, Nakaya joins fellow world champion Masashi Ebinuma, who recently moved up to -73kg in a bid to gain a spot on Japan’s Olympic team in 2020. -81kg is well populated with young talent in Japan, and it seems unlikely that Nakaya will have time to settle into the category before the Olympic Games, but anything is possible.

Mark your calendars for the All-Japan Businessmen’s Judo Team Championships on June 8th and 9th:

Last year, I wrote a post about Hidehiko Yoshida competing for the team he manages, Park 24, and leading them to victory in the 3rd division of Japan’s semi-pro judo league. The rosters of each team have not been posted on the internet as of yet, so it remains to be seen whether Yoshida will be suiting up again this year or not. However, Kaori Matsumoto is rumored to be making an appearance for her company, Beneseed, in what will be her first competition back after giving birth to her son. At 30 years of age, her aim is to win gold in the next Olympic Games. Aaron Wolf, still not back to %100 after tearing his meniscus, is also rumored to be using this tournament as a warmup for his participation in this summer’s world championships. Whether or not this will be live streamed is yet to be announced, but the odds are that it will be streamed via youtube at the following URL:

https://www.youtube.com/user/zenjitsujudo/

Be sure to check in. Personally, these are some of the most fascinating tournaments to watch because of the open weight format. Hiroyuki Akimoto used this tournament as his retirement tournament back in 2016 where he defeated all of his opponents via ippon, most of whom weighed over 100kg. It is really a shame he never competed at the All-Japan Open Weight Championships. Akimoto was this generation’s giant slayer. Nobody could take on the big men better than he could. Here he is, winning the All-Japan High School Championships in the open weight class at a mere 68kg:

Hidehiko Yoshida (47 years old) stars for Park 24 and leads team to All-Japan team championship!!

June 3, 2017 By judo fan 2 Comments

https://youtu.be/Uqyij0MHCos?t=7m5s

No, it’s not a joke, Hidehiko Yoshida, gold medalist at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics is still at it, this time leading his Park 24 trade team to victory in the All-Japan Businessmen’s Team Final against the railway company, JR Kyushu. He did so with one of the most DEVASTATING osoto garis imaginable! It’s hard to imagine that the man is 47 years old! Though visibly slower, the power he generated is absolutely amazing. His star-studded Park 24 team included world champion Masashi Ebinuma, jr. world champion Sho Tateyama, national team member Yuki Hashiguchi and last year’s All-Japan Championships bronze medalist at -73kg, Kazuya Tamura.

Before going any further, most outside of Japan are probably unfamiliar with the semi-professional trade team league in Japan (visit this blog entry for additional information). Inside of Japan it is the top judo league, and the majority of the olympic athletes belong to one of these club teams, which are sponsored by many of the largest corporations in Japan. The athletes train for most of the day and work for the company as well. Only the German Bundesliga and maybe some of the club teams around Europe come close to matching the quality of judoka that these teams have.

In most trade team tournaments (実業団柔道大会), the companies are divided into 3 divisions, with the 1st division being reserved for the top teams around Japan. The second division occasionally features olympians and national team members but the teams as a whole lack the depth of the first division teams, and the 3rd division is usually reserved for lightweight athletes, semi-retired athletes and other teams that are not quite at the elite level. However, even in the 3rd division, the later rounds are packed with excellent judoka.

Today’s tournament featured the men’s third division and the women’s first division, which was won by Komatsu, the team of judo legend Ayumi Tanimoto. The Komatsu team was led by former world champion, Nae Udaka, who also went home with the tournament’s MVP award, which she won jointly with fellow national team members, Yoko Ono (Komatsu) and former national team member Terumi Kaneko of the Japan Self Defense Force Physical Training School. Former olympian Miku Tashiro (Komatsu) also made her return to competition after a long layoff due to injury and the Komatsu team easily defeated the JSDF Physical Training School in the finals.

https://youtu.be/6o-LyCFhemo

Tomorrow, the men’s 1st and 2nd divisions and the women’s 2nd division will compete in what is probably the most competitive team championship in the world. Judofan will keep you updated on tomorrows tournament as well, so please check in again tomorrow!

News Shorts: Hashimoto to aim for All-Japan Open Weight next year, Wolf injured but should recover in time for world championships

May 17, 2017 By judo fan Leave a Comment

In an interview conducted just prior to departing for the 2017 Ekaterinburg Grand Slam, world #2 ranked Soichi Hashimoto (-73kg) told reporters that one of his hopes for next year would be to compete in the All-Japan Open Weight Championships next April. Spurred on by his Japanese rival, Shohei Ono, who competed in the open weight tournament last month, Hashimoto said that he hopes a win at this summer’s world championships would earn him a spot in the coveted tournament next year (source). If he should fulfill his dream, this would be good for all parties involved as open weight matches are becoming more and more scarce these days, especially at the elite level. His selection of techniques are quite different from that of his rival Ono, and may prove more suitable against larger opponents. One will never know until he steps onto the mat, so here’s to hoping his wish comes true!

Shortly after writing this blog entry, Ryuju Nagayama also announced he would like to earn a spot in next year’s contest as a -60kg entry! Guess nobody is going to let Ono show them up. While I commend Nagayama’s enthusiasm, I would rather see these athletes qualify through the normal qualification channels than request a special entrance for their success in the prospective categories. Either way, should the trend continue, we will certainly be entertained with some unusual matchups.

In other news, Aaron Wolf is out of this weekend’s Ekaterinburg Grand Slam due to an injury sustained to his right chest area. However, his participation in this summer’s world championships is not in jeopardy according to Japanese national team head coach, Kosei Inoue. His withdrawal is more of a preventative measure as Wolf has apparently competed through the pain and is experiencing fatigue. That is good news, and we hope that Wolf will be at %100 for his debut in a world championships.

*Editor’s note: The photo in this entry was taken by Klaus Mueller who owns the rights to this photo. Mr. Mueller, if you would like this photograph to be taken down, please let us know and we will do so promptly. Thank you for your wonderful photos.

Japanese National Team roster updated, no major changes

May 13, 2017 By judo fan 6 Comments

Ryuju Nagashima, Japan’s new -60kg champion

As per usual at this time of the year, the Japanese National team roster went through a reshuffling at the conclusion of the All-Japan Open Weight Championships on April 29th (for full roster in Japanese, click here). Changes usually occur in April and then again in November at the conclusion of the Kodokan Cup. The junior national team roster also gets re-evaluated in August, at the conclusion of the All-Japan High School Championships.

Unlike the women’s side, which saw a near complete overhaul of their A-team roster, the men’s side had no major changes, with the coaching staff not cutting many athletes from the roster, and instead, nominating 2 athletes to the “A” roster in most categories. Athletes who have been nominated to the A team for the first time include Hifumi Abe (-66), who replaces Masashi Ebinuma as Japan’s top player in the category. A word of note to anyone who has griped about being promoted too slowly, Abe is the only player on the senior national team who holds the rank of 1st degree black belt (shodan). Ryuju Nagashima, the prodigy from Tokai University, will join his former teammate Naohisa Takato as co-leaders of the -60 division. Aaron Wolf, and Soichiro Hashimoto also earned spots on the A-team for the first time in their careers. Wolf joins Ryunosuke Haga at -100, and Hashimoto joins Shohei Ono at -73.

Though Japan has quite a lot of depth in each category, the -100kg category has a particularly small pool of athletes on the roster, with only 5 on the senior national team. That is less than half of the size of the -60, and-66 rosters, which have 11 athletes in each. Matthew Baker, who despite being injured, retained his spot as Japan’s top -90kg player. Though strong, the -90kg division has a fair amount of athletes nearing the end of their careers, without a huge amount of depth amongst the younger players. Daiki Nishiyama, Yuya Yoshida and Hirotaka Kato have all represented Japan for over a decade now.

In the +100kg category, Japan has opted to focus on their youth, with 5 of the 9 senior national team members coming from universities. Ryu Shichinohe and Daiki Kamikawa are the only 2 athletes on the B-team who are competing for trade teams at the moment. The +100kg category looks to be quite healthy, with Kokoro Kageura of Tokai university and Yusei Ogawa of Meiji leading the group. Hisayoshi Harasawa and Takeshi Ojitani, both soon to turn 25 this summer will have a hard time retaining their top spots in the run-up to the olympics in 2020.

This is one of the best judo teams Japan has put forth in a long time, in my opinion. There are really no weak categories, though the -100 and -90 categories seem to lack a bit of depth. From lightweight to middleweight, I really believe that we will see 2 athletes in each category on the podium at the next world championships in Budapest. They are all THAT good. Though I don’t think that the Japanese heavyweights can challenge France’s Teddy Riner at the moment, domestically, it is a very competitive and interesting division. There is no dominant athlete, but in this case, I believe it is more of an indication that the division has a lot of overall depth, rather than a lack depth.

Finally, though slightly unrelated, I will leave you with a short video of one of the top Japanese athletes in the cadet category. At only 16 years of age, Sanshiro Murao already looks to be one of the best -90kg players in Japan, regardless of age. Coached by former olympian, Masahiro Takamatsu at Toin High School, Murao has a style similar to Hiroshi Izumi, where his uncanny balance allows him to switch directions like no one else. Enjoy him leading his team to the overall victory in last March’s All-Japan High School Championships, where he won 3 in a row before losing to his +100kg teammate on the national team, Naoki Tobe of Taisei High School.