was a Japanese

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 ...

. He won a gold medal in the heavyweight division (above 80 kg) 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 and a world title in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

Early life and education

Inokuma was born in

Yokosuka, Kanagawa is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 373,797, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th-most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city is ...

, and took up judo at age 15. He entered the Tokyo University of Education (current

University of Tsukuba is a List of national universities in Japan, national research university located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Ibaraki, Japan. The university has 28 college clusters and schools with around 16,500 students (as of 2014). The main Tsukuba ca ...

) and won the

All-Japan Judo Championships is a judo tournament held every year in Japan. The men's tournament is held in Nippon Budokan on 29 April and the women's tournament (dubbed "Empress cup All-Japan women's Judo championships") is held in Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium in April. Th ...

in 1959 at only 21 years of age, to become the first student competitor to win the championship. He placed second in the All-Japan Championships in 1960 and 1961, both times losing to the future Olympic silver medalist and lifelong friend Akio Kaminaga.Fighting Spirit by Isao Inokuma
judoinfo.com

Career

Inokuma won the 1963 All-Japan Championships, but placed 4th in the 1964 All-Japan Championships and ended up entering the

in the +80 kg division (the heaviest weight category at the time excluding the open category). His main rivals there were Canadian Doug Rogers, who trained with Inokuma in Japan, and Georgian Anzor Kiknadze, who nearly defeated Inokuma in 1961 using sambo armlock techniques. Inokuma faced Kiknadze in the semifinals. He managed to avoid the armlocks and threw Kiknadze at the five minute to advance to the final against Rogers, who was about 30 kg heavier. In the final little happened in the first 10 minutes, and the referee, Charles Palmer threatened to disqualify both, with little effect. Inokuma was awarded the gold for a slightly higher activity. After graduating, Inokuma became a judo instructor for Juntendo University and the

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department The , known locally as simply the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), is the prefectural police of Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. Founded in 1874, the TMPD is the largest police force in Japan by number of officers, with a staff of more than 4 ...

. In 1965, he entered the Open weight class of the

World Judo Championships The World Judo Championships are the highest level of international judo competition, next to the quadrennial judo events at the Summer Olympic Games. The world championships are held by the International Judo Federation annually, except the c ...

intending to wrestle Dutch judo champion

Anton Geesink Antonius Johannes Geesink (6 April 1934 – 27 August 2010) was a Dutch people, Dutch List of judoka#Highest grades, 10th dan judoka. He was the first non-Japanese judoka to win gold at the World Judo Championships, a feat he accomplished in 196 ...

, but Geesink went to the +80 kg division that year, and the two never faced off against one another. Both Geesink and Inokuma won gold medals in the competition, and Inokuma announced his retirement shortly afterwards, citing lack of motivation.

Later life and death

In 1966, he resigned from his post at the Tokyo Police Department to become an executive at the Tokai Construction company (東海建設株式会社). He continued to work with judo as an advisor for the

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) is the international governing body for judo, founded in July 1951. Today the IJF has 200 National Federations on all continents. There are over 20 million people around the globe who practice judo, accordi ...

, and as an instructor at

Tokai University is a private non-sectarian higher education institution located in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded by Dr. Shigeyoshi Matsumae. It was accredited under Japan's old educational system in 1946 and under the new system in 1950. In 2008, Tokai Uni ...

, where he coached future Olympic gold medalist Yasuhiro Yamashita. He also authored several books and manuals on judo. He became the CEO of Tokai Construction in 1993. Inokuma died by suicide by ''

seppuku , also known as , is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honor, but was also practiced by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era (particularly officers near ...

'' in 2001, possibly due to financial losses suffered by his company.

Bibliography

* ''Best Judo'' (with Nobuyuki Sato, 1987), Kodansha lnternational Ltd, * ''Weight training for championship judo'' (with Donn Draeger, 1966), Kodansha lnternational Ltd,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Inokuma, Isao 1938 births 2001 suicides 2001 deaths Academic staff of Tokai University Japanese chief executives Japanese male judoka Judoka at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka for Japan Olympic gold medalists for Japan Olympic medalists in judo Sportspeople from Yokosuka, Kanagawa Seppuku from Meiji era to present World judo champions Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics 20th-century Japanese sportsmen