A blog about judo. Thanks for stopping by!
Before getting started, Happy New Year! I want to express my sincere appreciation to all who have been reading this blog and following me on social media throughout 2020. I wish all readers a joyful, prosperous and blessed year in 2021. After the conclusion of the All Japan Open Weight Championships (Dec. 26), I made…
The year is done, and for many, good riddance. Luckily, the year ended with some really good judo, and the All Japan Women’s Judo Championships was a great way to finish things off. Since the full tournament is online, there won’t be any match analysis here, but instead, just a few reflections on the tournament….
With all the buzz on the internet, I hesitate to write anything, because there isn’t a whole lot I can contribute at this point. Labeled the Ganryujima of the Reiwa Era, this match went above and beyond the buildup. First of all, not that either of them are ever going to read this, but THANK…
This is just a short blog post to announce that I was very fortunate to be a guest on Dave Roman’s Judo Chop Suey Podcast. I have been listening to it since the very beginning and I have always enjoyed his insights into judo since I am not very familiar with what is happening in…
As many of you are probably aware, the All Japan Judo Federation will live stream the Kodokan Cup on their YouTube channel this year for the first time this weekend. The opening ceremony will start at 10am (JST) and the finals will start at 15.05 (JST). You can find live bracket updates here, but text…
The 2020 Kodokan Cup will be held on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at the Chiba Port Arena in Japan. It is the first major judo competition to be held in Japan since the 2019 Osaka Grand Slam nearly a year go and a lot has changed since then. The Kodokan Cup is one of…
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…
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…
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…
https://youtu.be/VVNBoxiXozo?t=35m3s (It appears this video can’t be played outside of YouTube. My apologies. The video starts from the Harasawa・Ojitani match, but the entire final is broadcast.) After suffering a surprise defeat at the All-Japan Open Weight Championships last April, Hisayoshi Harasawa came back with a big win over rival Takeshi Ojitani to guide his trade…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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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…
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…