is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

rugby player. He plays at lock for the

Japan national rugby union team The Japan national rugby union team, often known as the Cherry Blossoms, Sakura, and more recently The Brave Blossoms (''ブレイブ・ブロッサムズ - Bureibu burossamuzu'') is traditionally the strongest rugby union power in Asia and has ...

. He is nicknamed the "Iron Man". Ono started playing rugby after converting from

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice (Japan), Minister of Justice, in 1889. ...

where he was studying to become a

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

. However, he changed careers and joined

Toshiba Brave Lupus Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo is a Japanese rugby union team in the Top League. They are based in Fuchu, Tokyo, as is their local rival Suntory Sungoliath. They won the second ever Top League championship in the 2004-5 season and the Microsoft Cup ...

in 2001, with whom he has gone on to win the

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

four times. He made his international debut for in 2004 against . He became a regular member of the national team from there onwards and represented his country at both the 2007 and

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

. Since Eddie Jones took over as Japan coach in 2012, he has not missed an international match, and has become the most capped player for Japan of all time. After the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and

Fukushima nuclear disaster The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 and ...

in 2011, Ono's family dairy farm suffered greatly, and alongside prop Kensuke Hatakeyama who lost his home, he was named honorary captain for the

Asian 5 Nations The Asia Rugby Championship, or ARC, is an annual rugby union competition held amongst national rugby sides within the Asia Rugby region. The competition was originally known as the Asian Rugby Football Tournament when founded in 1969, and was call ...

match with the by coach John Kirwan to mark the team's solidarity for the cause. Ono is one of the 'Frontier Ambassadors' of his hometown Koriyama City. He retired from professional rugby in 2020

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ono, Hitoshi 1978 births Living people Japanese rugby union players Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo players Rugby union locks Japan international rugby union players Nihon University alumni People from Kōriyama Sunwolves players

See also

References

External links