is a

Japanese Brazilian are Brazilian citizens who are nationals or naturals of Japanese ancestry or Japanese immigrants living in Brazil or Japanese people of Brazilian ancestry. Japanese immigration to Brazil peaked between 1908 and 1960, with the highest concentr ...

judoka is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

, who won Brazil's first Olympic medal in

judo at the 1972 Summer Olympics The Judo competition at the 1972 Summer Olympics was the return of the sport following its absence at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Medals were awarded in six weight classes, and competition was restricted to men only. Among the hig ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

Career

Ishii trained judo since a very young age, at a dojo located near his house, and graduated in pedagogy at

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

. He was eager to participate in the first judo Olympic tournament at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

in Tokyo, but lost his spot to eventual gold medalist

Isao Okano is a retired judoka who competed in the middleweight division (80 kg) in the 1964 Summer Olympics. Biography Okano entered the 1964 Summer Olympics while studying at Chuo University's law school, and won the gold medal in the middleweigh ...

. Frustrated, he quit the sport and decided to emigrate to Brazil, where he would become a farmer. After a sixty-day boat trip, Ishii arrived in Brazil and worked in a farm at a

community in

Presidente Prudente Presidente Prudente is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality located in the Interior of São Paulo, interior of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, approximately 558 kilometers from the state capital, São Paulo. According to the 2024 e ...

. After being convinced to fight a local judo tournament for fun, Ishii's skills impressed enough for the inhabitants to ask him to become a judo teacher. Added to Ishii's frustration with the farming life, he started to teach the martial art, eventually opening a dojo in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. In 1969, Ishii was naturalized Brazilian to take part in judo competitions. He won a bronze medal at both the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

, and the 1971 World Judo Championships. Two of Ishii's three daughters, Tânia and

Vânia Ishii Vânia Yukie Ishii (バニア・ユキエ・イシイ, born August 19, 1973) is a female judoka from Brazil, daughter of Chiaki Ishii who won the bronze medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Vânia Yukie Ishii won the gold medal in the ha ...

, are also judokas. Vânia was a gold medalist at the Pan-American Games and both Vânia and Tânia represented Brazil in the Olympics. Ishii is considered the founding father of modern Brazilian Judo and his legacy is directly linked to the prowess of judo being the only sport in which Brazil has collected medals in every Olympic Games since Los Angeles 1984.

References

External links

Ishii's dojo
(archived) * * 1941 births Living people Olympic judoka for Brazil Judoka at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Brazil Olympic medalists in judo Brazilian male judoka Martial artists from Tochigi Prefecture Naturalized citizens of Brazil Japanese emigrants to Brazil Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Waseda University alumni 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen {{Brazil-judo-bio-stub