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

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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:

 

2018 All Japan Open Weight Recap: the Winners and Losers

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The 2018 edition of the All Japan Open Weight Championships is now in the books, and it turned out to be all that it was hyped up to be. In fact, it may have been one of the most well-contested tournaments in recent memory. There were simply so many athletes that were in a position to win, and with the olympics coming to Tokyo in two years time, the stakes were incredibly high. There were of course some heart-breaks (more on that later), and we may have seen several athletes for the final time at this tournament, but that is part of the drama that makes this competition so special. Harasawa resolidified his place as one of the top contenders for the olympics, despite a string of underwhelming performances since his silver-medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He of course, is the big winner of this year’s edition, but there were other winners, as well as losers, all of whom deserve a great deal of respect for their performances last week.

The Winners:

Hisayoshi Hirasawa – A year ago, Hirasawa suffered the upset of the tournament, when he was choked out by journeyman Masaru Momose, in what was Momose’s final victory as an elite judoka. Harasawa went on to the Budapest World Championships and failed to get to the medal rounds, losing to junior competitor Stephan Hegyi of Austria, and leaving him without an individual title since the 2016 All Japan Weight Class Championships prior to the Rio Olympics. Within that span of time, a number of young heavyweights made their transition from the junior ranks, and I honestly thought that Harasawa would not have the longevity to make it until 2020. He showed he is still very much a contendor last week, and did so with a superhuman gas tank, and an uncanny ability to manage his efforts and wear down his opponents. In his final match with Ojitani, he of course won with determination and endurance, but he was also very calculated and was able to weather Ojitani’s aggressive start, do enough not to receive penalties and grind out the win. He did the same against Shichinohe and Kato in the earlier rounds. He is once again the man to beat, but he will need a good performance at this year’s world championships to keep his position as Japan’s “A” ranked player in the +100kg category.

Takeshi Ojitani – Though he lost by a hair in the final, I really think the final could have gone either way, and there were a couple of times I thought that Harasawa could have been penalized for inactivity. Though Ojitani has also had a year of several sub-par results including a 7th place finish at the Grand Slam Tokyo last year, he leads the Japanese heavyweights in international and domestic points by quite a wide margin (source: http://data.judo.or.jp/back/point/detail/286/2018-05-03) due to the fact that he is still the most consistent athlete Japan has in the +100kg category. Though he probably doesn’t have the stuff to beat Riner anytime soon, if I was a betting man, he would be the one I’d bank on to bring home the hardware, no matter what tournament it was.

Hirotaka Kato – At 33 years of age, he just seems to keep getting better. He scored with tomoenage in each of his wins and secured yet another 3rd place finish in this event. The 2012 champion is the lightest champion in the modern era and has stayed relevant far longer than most would have thought. Though his days as an international seem to have past him by, his performances in domestic competition are as good as it gets. With his opponents weary of his outstanding newaza, few were willing to give him a chance on the mat. Thus, he demonstrated his mastery of tomoenage, scoring with it in his first three matches. Only Harasawa was able to stuff his attempts. As in years past, Kato now poses an interesting dilemma for Japan’s coaching staff. By way of the current point system and his performances in important tournaments, he fully deserves to represent Japan as one of their top -90kg athletes. However, his domestic performances have far out shined his international performances, and it is unlikely we will see him compete much outside of Japan.

 

Kentaro Iida – Iida has been at or near the top of Japanese judo going back to his days as an elementary school student and by all accounts, he certainly has the qualities to be one of the great names in Japanese judo. He is a complete judoka, with an uchimata that will likely one day be on par with that of Kosei Inoue. However, his transition into elite judo has been met with a great degree of inconsistency, though he has given us several glimpses of what is possible. After a quick second round loss at the Paris Grand Slam in February, he only managed 5th place in the Tokyo qualifier to this tournament. A couple weeks later lost his semi-final match against journeyman Yusuke Kumashiro at the All Japan Weight Category Championships. However, he not only managed a quarterfinal appearance at this tournament, he upset 2012 Olympian Daiki Kamikawa, and showed the world what he is capable of doing if he is on his day. The fight for the 2020 Olympic spot at -100kg is one of the most intriguing with a number of athletes in the running. Aaron Wolf is obviously one of the front runners, but Iida is not far behind.

 

The juniors – This year had an unprecedented number of young athletes. Two high school students and two athletes who were high school students just a little more than a month ago. Takaya Yamaguchi, Nihon Univerity’s new ace in the -100kg category showed beautiful judo on his way to 5th place in his first appearance. Overshadowed throughout his high school career by another -100kg phenom, Kiyotaka Sekine, I didn’t think that he would factor into the tournament the way he did. His upset win over Hyoga Ota, the 2018 Ekaterinburg Grand Slam champion was one of the highlights of the day. While there has been a surge in high school participants in recent years, this year’s class seems to have particular class. Sanshiro Murao, though only a 3rd year high school student is already showing that he has all the tools to be one of the greats in Japanese judo. He along with Kanta Nakano of Tenri High School, qualified through two of the toughest regions in Japan and showed without a doubt that they deserved a place in this tournament. The fourth, Kazunari Kamigaki, though lacking the credentials of the others, still managed to win his first bout before losing to Kokoro Kageura, the 2018 Paris Grand Slam champion.

 

 

The Losers:

Ryu Shichinohe – Prior to the tournament, Shichinohe tweeted that this was to be his 8th appearance and he wanted to finally reach the top step on the podium. Twice second, Shichinohe just barely squeaked through the Kyushu region qualifiers, earning the final slot into the tournament.  With poor performances at last year’s Kodokan Cup, he wasn’t even invited to April’s All Japan Weight Class Championships. Having missed out on that tournament and without any notable results over the past year, Shichinohe needed to be at his best in this tournament to salvage his place on the national team. His quarterfinal matchup against Harasawa saw him come as close to beating Harasawa as we have ever seen, but the stakes were too high here to be able to settle for anything less than a win outright. He needed a dominant win, and having fallen short of that, his career is now on life support. At 30 years of age, he must be wondering whether it is time to call the curtain on his career. Though the national team has been sorted out, it still hasn’t been made public. However, I would not be surprised if the next Japanese national team roster does not include Shichinohe’s name on it.

 

Daiki Kamikawa – Talking about Kamikawa is becoming repetitive, but like Shichinohe, he is probably no longer on Japan’s +100kg roster.

Kokoro Kageura – In NHK’s broadcast of the event, Japan’s head coach, Kosei Inoue came on for an interview at the close of the tournament to give his thoughts on the tournament. Kageura was one of the few athletes Inoue mentioned. Unfortunately, the comments were not positive. Inoue said that this tournament was a big assignment for Kageura to show that he could assert himself as one of the top heavyweights in Japan. Kageura seems to have shown us here that he competes much better internationally than he does domestically.

Hyoga Ota – Earlier this year, Ota delivered his biggest victory as a senior, winning the 2018 Ekaterinburg Grand Slam and let the world know that he was ready to take the reigns as Tokai University’s next great heavyweight after Ojitani and Kageura. He isn’t off track, but it’s doubtful many expected him to lose to Yamaguchi, who had graduated high school only a month and some change ago. The high school standout must now be wondering whether he can stand out in a very large and growing crowd in the +100kg category in the senior ranks.

 

Judo fans all over the world – With all of the hype surrounding the lightweights Naohisa Takato and Soichi Hashimoto, both matches turned out to be fairly anti-climactic. The media in Japan hardly covered any of the other athletes in the days leading up to the tournament, only to have both go out in their first matches of the day. The rules don’t suit the lighter athletes at all, and it is a shame because the results may have been quite different under a different rule set. Having seen Hashimoto compete against heavyweights many times when he was in university, I am confident that he and Shohei Ono could have put up some good results if the rules were the same as they were when Koga made his run into the final round back in 1990. Unfortunately, I doubt we will see a sub-80kg player ever make it into the later rounds again, though Nagase managed a 3rd place finish a few years back at -81kg.

The IJF and national federations all over the world need to recognize that fans love the David vs Goliath type matches and somehow, the judo world needs to create some sort of outlet for these matches to take place wherein the lighter athletes are allowed to use a full-range of judo techniques in order to defeat their heavier opponents. Perhaps an open weight tournament allowing leg grabs might make the playing field a bit more level. A tournament of this sort would certainly draw some much needed attention to the sport.

Well, that is my quick, one take analysis of last week’s event. Please comment and subscribe to my twitter and youtube accounts. As always, thank you to everyone who reads this blog. Your support is much appreciated. I just wish there was more time in the day to contribute to the blog more regularly.

 

 

A Preview of the 2018 All Japan Open Weight Judo Championships

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It’s finally that time again! The Men’s All Japan Open Weight Championships are set to commence in a little over a week. Though I love all competitions, this is the one I look forward to the most. As with many judoka of my generation, watching Toshihiko Koga make it through to the finals of the 1990 edition was one of the most awe-inspiring performances I have ever seen. I have been hooked on this tournament ever since.

Two years away from perhaps the most important judo tournament for the Japanese since 1964, the prospect of being an Olympian when it is held in Tokyo in 2020 has elevated the overall level to heights we haven’t seen for a long time. Japanese judo really went into decline after the 2008 Olympics, culminating in a dismal performance at the 2012 London Olympics. This generation is on a completely different level and gold medals in Tokyo are all but guaranteed. The question is simply, how many will there be?

Within this contest are a number of stories that will play out next week. The brackets are attached with some notable athletes highlighted in red. The following is a synopsis of the athletes and the stories that will unfold in a week’s time:

#1 Ojitani – The 2-time defending champion is seeking a third consecutive title and fourth overall, that would solidify him as the top athlete in this tournament. However, he has not been able to solidify himself as the top athlete in the category by any means. With recent losses to Hisayoshi Harasawa last year and Yusei Ogawa earlier this month, he needs to win convincingly at this tournament to earn a spot on the world championships team. If he squeaks by on penalties or has trouble here, I think the slot will be given to Ogawa.

#6 Kamikawa – Kamikawa, the 2010 Open Weight World Champion will once again make his bid for the title that has eluded him thus far. Now one of the oldest players in the tournament, his abilities are unquestioned, but he’s always underachieved, even going back to his days as a high school phenom. Still, Kamikawa possesses some of the most attractive judo among the heavyweights in Japan. His style is a throwback to the days of Yamashita and Saito.

#8 Kentaro Iida – His domination as a high school student had many predicting he would be the next Kosei Inoue or Keiji Suzuki. A protege of Koichi Iwabuchi, the legendary sensei of the likes of Keiji Suzuki, Satoshi Ishii and Yohei Takai, Iida oozes class but has not made the transition into the university ranks that some had predicted. If all goes as planned, he will meet Kamikawa in the round of 16.

#11 Yusei Ogawa – Fresh off his victory in the All Japan Selection Tournament at the beginning of this month, Ogawa should be fully confident that he can win again here. However, he may have the toughest road into the final, and I predict that he will be one of the first major contenders to be upset. The upset will come from either #14 Kakita, or # 16 Ota.

#13 Soichi Hashimoto – The -73kg world champion will make his open weight debut, following in the footsteps of Shohei Ono, last year. Hashimoto is no slouch in open weight contests and has ample experience from his days at Tokai University. The problem for him is that he is set for a likely first match up with #14 Kyohei Kakita, a veteran and perennial contender in this tournament. Kakita is a bad match up for Hashimoto and unfortunately, I think Hashimoto is in for a quick day.

#21 Sanshiro Murao – Murao leads a trio of strong young athletes who qualified as high school students, but he is the one who I think will have the biggest impact in years to come. In fact, I think he will be the next Olympian for Japan in the -90kg class. He has all the tools to be a superstar and his only weakness is his lack of strength in comparison with the seniors. That will come in time. He looks set for a round of 32 matchup against another young superstar, #19 Takaya Yamaguchi, who is now in his first year of university at Nihon University. However, I think both of their days will end when they face #16 Hyoga Ota, winner of the recent Ekaterinburg Grand Slam.

#22 Ryu Shichinohe – Shichinohe has struggled as of late, and thus was not even considered for the upcoming world championships. As one of the oldest competitors on the Japanese national team, this year must be one of his last chances if he is to win the open weight title. He struggled in the qualifiers, only managing a 5th place finish in the Kyushu region, so it is hard to know what to expect. We do know that if he has a good day, he is as good as anyone in Japan but he needs a win here like fish need water. If he does not make it into the later rounds, then I suspect he will be dropped from the national team in favor of younger athletes coming up.

#27 – Hisayoshi Harasawa – Harasawa has been in the news a bit lately for announcing his resignation from his trade team JRA, leaving an excellent coaching staff and training partners for a world of the unknown. He will seek to qualify for the 2020 Olympics as an unattached athlete, and is in the hunt for sponsors at the moment. All the heavyweights must be feeling a lot of pressure as there is no clear-cut favorite in the +100kg category and Harasawa is just one of many who could be chosen for the games. His first major test will come against -100kg competitor, Yusuke Kumashiro, who had a magnificent tournament at the Tokyo Championships, which is nearly as difficult as the All Japan tournament.

#33 – Hirotaka Kato – The former champion of this event always puts on a good match with his unusual range of techniques. At 33 years of age, he is always a darkhorse for the tournment, and I think he will be the one to put an end to Naohisa Takato’s dreams of being the first lightweight champion in history. Kato though, faces a tough first match against #34 Takuto Kimura, who had a breakthrough tournament in qualifying for this event.

#35 – Naohisa Takato – Takato, the current world champion in the -60kg category received a special invite for this tournament. I don’t recall hearing of anyone entering as an -60kg athlete. Masato Uchishiba did it twice as a -66kg competitor and failed to win a match in both attempts. Though I think Takato has no realistic chance of winning the whole tournament, he has a very good chance to win his first matchup. His first matchup will be against one of two competitors who are both slightly past their prime, and while they were great in their day, I think there is a very good possibility Takato comes out on top. His third round match against either Kato or Kimoto will be darn near impossible for him to win, and that’s where the fairy tale will end.

#41 Daiki Nishiyama – The 2-time world silver medalist seems to be past his prime, but has still put up some very impressive results as of late. He has never faired well in this tournament, but by luck of the draw, if he can get past #38 Kokoro Kageura, then anything is possible. It would be nice to see him have a good go here before the curtain is called on his career.

 

Well, there you have it. That is my roundup of next weeks event. Oh, and I think Ojitani will defend his title.

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

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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!