is a retired

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, 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 Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

ka. Yamaguchi won the All-Japan Judo Championships 10 consecutive times from 1978–1987 (twice in the -50 kg division, seven times in the -52 kg division) and won her first medal at the

1980 World Judo Championships The 1980 World Judo Championships were the first edition of the Women's World Judo Championships, and were held in New York City, United States from 29 to 30 November 1980. Medal overview Women Medal table References External linksresult ...

. She went on to win 4 silver medals and one gold medal at the World Judo Championships. She also won a bronze medal in the -52 kg division at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, where women's judo was held as a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration spor ...

.Judo: Britain Captures Half Lightweight
/ref> She retired from competitive judo in 1989 when she graduated from the

University of Tsukuba is a public university, public research university located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Ibaraki, Japan. It is a top 10 Designated National University, and was ranked Type A by the Japanese government as part of the Top Global University Pro ...

. She worked as an instructor for the University of Tsukuba and Musashi University since retiring.　Yamaguchi is currently Associate professor of Tsukuba. She is the model for the protagonist in Naoki Urasawa's judo manga, ''

Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl ''Yawara!'' (also stylized as ''YAWARA!'') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It was serialized in ''Big Comic Spirits'' from 1986 to 1993, with the chapters collected into 29 ''tankōbon'' volumes by p ...

'', and makes a cameo appearance in the film version of the manga as well.

References

External links

* 1964 births University of Tsukuba faculty Living people Japanese female judoka Judoka at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka of Japan People from Tokyo 20th-century Japanese women {{Japan-judo-bio-stub

See also

References

External links