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2017 All-Japan Open Weight Championships recap and thoughts on final world championship team

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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.

The countdown begins: Can Shohei Ono win the All-Japan Open Weight Championships?

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Shohei Ono (R) vs Takeshi Ojitani (L) at the 2014 All-Japan Open Weight Championships

With only 2 days to go before the All-Japan Open Weight Judo Championships, the judo headlines in Japan have again focused upon one athlete: Shohei Ono, the 2016 Olympic Champion in the middleweight (-73kg) division. The fanfare has been unusually lopsided, given the quality of the rest of the field. I don’t think I have seen the defending champion in a single headline in the Japanese news leading up to this tournament. What is understandable is the fascination the Japanese have with a lightweight(ish) athlete taking on the heavyweights. Though the chances of a lightweight winning are next to none in modern era judo, one can always hope.

It has been 45 years since a sub-80kg athlete won this tournament. 1972 Olympic Champion, Shinobu Sekine did it in 1972, though that victory was overshadowed by the two victories of Isao Okano, who won in 1967 and 1969. There is not a lot of footage, but you can see a clip of Okano here:

https://youtu.be/ltJUN5FU8G4

 

Since then, the closest a -80kg player came was in 1990, when Toshihiko Koga made it to the finals in an unbelievable run that might have gone his way had he been competing in the current time limit. He went nearly 8 minutes (the final was 10 minutes back then) with Olympic Silver medalist, Naoya Ogawa who outweighed the 76kg Koga by 54kg! From that day forward, no -80kg player has come even remotely close to winning, and from what I have read on the internet, many in the English speaking world are not aware that Ono has already had one crack at the elusive title, which ended in a third-round loss to the defending champion, Takeshi Ojitani back in 2014. Does he have what it takes to win it this time around? In order to answer that question, let’s first have a quick look at some of his matches against heavyweight opponents:

All 3 of the opponents in this playlist are top-class athletes. The first opponent, Kensuke Sakamoto was a former All-Japan university champion in the -100kg class. The second, Ryohei Anai was a former national team member in the -90kg category and made a switch up to the -100kg class in 2016. The third opponent in this playlist is Ojitani, who will likely come into this tournament at about 140kg. As you may have noticed if you watched these videos, Ono does not get off any throws, though he does defeat Anai by penalties.

For Ono to win, it would probably take nothing less than a miracle, especially under the current rule set. Koga, and even more so Sekine and Okano had privileges that Ono will not have in this tournament, the main one being leg grabs. Additionally, the pace and style of judo has changed quite considerably.

So, while it is fun to dream of a David vs Goliath type conquest from Ono in this tournament, I don’t believe there is much of a realistic possibility. I predict he will go out in his first match which I break down in this post, but if he somehow makes it out of his first match, I don’t see him getting past his most likely opponent in the third round, Aaron Wolf.

That said, Shohei Ono is truly one of the greats in judo and while I believe his selection to this tournament was more of a publicity stunt by the All-Japan Judo Federation, we wish him the best of luck and couldn’t be more thankful that he has decided to step up to this challenge.

2008 Olympic gold medalist, Satoshi Ishii to seek spot on Japan’s 2020 Olympic wrestling team

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2008 Olympic gold medalist, Satoshi Ishii (+100kg)

Fresh off of his April 16th, MMA victory over Heath Herring at Rizin in Yokohama, Japan, former Olympic judo gold medalist, Satoshi Ishii has announced (source: Nikkan Sports News) that he has set his sights on making Japan’s Olympic wrestling team for the 2020 Olympics. A day after his victory at Rizin, Ishii stated to the press, “I can no longer try for a spot on Japan’s judo team, so I will try my hand at wrestling. Actually, I entered an amateur tournament last year.” The tournament he was referring to was an amateur tournament in Holland, where he trains his striking for MMA. However, he was the only entrant in his category and therefore has yet to have a single match in amateur wrestling.

“I chose wrestling because it is good all-around practice, and at the moment, there are no major contenders at heavyweight in Asia. When I return to Holland, I want to compete in a wrestling tournament as well as challenge myself in amateur boxing and other competitions”, said the former Olympic champion (rough translation – source).   This is not the first time he has announced plans to make a repeat appearance at the Olympics. Several years ago, USA Judo announced on their webpage that Ishii was seeking US citizenship in order to compete for the US in judo at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Of course, that never materialized.

Though the often-criticized Ishii has obviously fallen out of favor with the All-Japan Judo Federation and the Japanese press, I’d like to personally say that I wish him all the best in his quest to make it to the 2020 Olympics. Yes, he made some PR blunders that put him at odds with many in the judo world, but he was after all, only 21 when he won his Olympic title. That said, I am going to file this one under the “believe it when I see it” category as the prospects of him competing for Japan in wrestling seem to be quite a stretch at the moment.

This is judo, anything can happen! The cinderella story of Yumi Asaka’s 2011 Kodokan Cup

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(Hopefully some of you got that Fighting Films reference in the title. Danny Hicks, Neil Adams: if you ever read this, there’s no greater fan of your work than the JUDOFAN!)

2011 Kodokan Cup champion Yumi Asaka of Tokai University (photo source)

After yesterday’s rather pessimistic entry about -66kg national team member, Sho Tateyama, I think it appropriate to dedicate today’s blog post to those who, despite not having reached superstar status, have blessed us fans by never giving up when the going got rough. Their stories are a big part of what makes competitive judo so great. I can think of no better athlete that fits this criteria than former junior legend, Yumi Asaka.

Her high school rival, 2x Olympian, Misato Nakamura famously won the All-Japan Inter-high School Championships as a 1st-year high school student only to be denied ever competing in the tournament again as Asaka defeated her twice in the following years during the qualification stage (both were from Tokyo. Only the champion advanced to the All-Japan tournament). Asaka would be crowned All-Japan champion two years in a row, defending her title in the finals against former world champion, Haruna Asami. That same year, she went on a tear, winning three international tournaments as Japan’s top junior athlete in the -48kg category.

Upon graduation, she moved to Tokai University in 2008, where her results carried over, winning the France U20 International, and finishing 3rd at the Junior World Championships. A year later, she won the Belgian Senior International, which ended up being the last time she would stand on the podium at an international event. At the young age of 19, her career would head into a decline that she was never able to recover from.

Tomoko Fukumi, Haruna Asami, and Emi Yamagishi became the main protagonists in the years following the retirement of 5x Olympian Ryoko Tani, as Asaka essentially fell off the map. While her contemporaries made the transitions from universities to the elite trade teams of Japan, Asaka entered her final year of university, having failed to produce any remarkable results of note and thus, the decision was made to call an end to her career upon graduation. She decided that her final appearance would be at the 2011 Kodokan Cup, which takes place in November, and serves as a national tournament aimed at sorting out the national team for the following year. The Kodokan Cup is one of the most prestigious and competitive domestic tournaments in Japan, as it brings together the high schools (occasionally junior high students compete as well), universities, police departments, prison guards and trade teams for one huge tournament to decide the national team as well the representatives for the Tokyo Grand Slam (formerly Kano Cup) the following month. Only Japan’s “A” players (usually 1 per weight category) are absent.

As you probably have already guessed, the unheralded Asaka put in the performance of a lifetime, defeating world champion Tomoko Fukumi and junior world champion, Hiromi Endo in the process (source). She finished each match of the tournament by ippon. In her post-tournament interview, she announced her retirement and left the mat saying, “This is like a dream. This was my last tournament and I gave everything I had. I wonder if now, my name will be remembered just a little bit because of this victory” (rough translation). It was an unorthodox way of cementing her name in the laurels of judo folklore, but stories like hers are a part of what makes judo so great. After all, “This is judo. Anything can happen!”

At the conclusion of the tournament, Asaka quietly left competitive judo to teach at Matsumae Judo Juku, a junior club affiliated with Tokai University, and one of the most successful junior clubs in the history of judo. Please enjoy the final rounds of her incredible 2011 victory at the Kodokan Cup: