(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:
Leave a Reply