was a Japanese judoka and world champion. He was born in the city Chichibu, Saitama and started judo in his childhood. His father was a 6th Dan in judo and his uncle a 9th Dan. Sone is a university-trained judoka from

Meiji University , abbreviated as Meiji (明治) or Meidai (明大'')'', is a private research university located in Chiyoda City, the heart of Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1881 as Meiji Law School (明治法律学校, ''Meiji Hōritsu Gakkō'') by three Meiji-er ...

. After that he belonged to

Fuji Iron & Steel Fuji Iron & Steel () was a major Japanese steel-producing company that existed from 1950 to 1970. History Fuji Iron & Steel was created in 1950, under the antitrust, anti- zaibatsu edict of the Allied Occupying Forces, as the old semi-government- ...

. As fifth dan, measuring 5 feet and 10 1/2 inches in height and weighing 215 pounds, he received a gold medal at the

1958 World Judo Championships The 1958 World Judo Championships were the 2nd edition of the Men's World Judo Championships, and were held in Tokyo, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in t ...

in Tokyo against teammate and 4th dan Akio Kaminaga. Sone was surprisingly eliminated in the second round of the 1960 All-Japan Judo Championships, a contemporary report by the martial artist

Donn F. Draeger Donald Frederick "Donn" Draeger (April 15, 1922 – October 20, 1982) was an internationally known teacher and practitioner of Japanese martial arts. He was the author of several important books on Asian martial arts,Modern Bujutsu & Budo: M ...

calling his performance there a "pitiful sight" and mentioning that he was aging. Sone won a silver medal at the

1961 World Judo Championships The 1961 World Judo Championships were the 3rd edition of the Men's World Judo Championships, and were held in Paris, France on 2 December 1961. The 1961 tournament was notable for Anton Geesink for being the first non-Japanese judoka to win go ...

in Paris, behind

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 Championship, a feat he accomplished in 1961 ...

. His loss against Geesink, 5th dan, was heralded as the end of the era in which the best Japanese judokas could not be defeated by foreigners. Within nine minutes of the 20-minute contest, a foot sweep forced Sone onto the ground where he was held for the necessary 30 seconds with a Mune-gatame. Despite that, many believed that Sone was the technically better judoka. At the age of 33 Sone was relatively old for a judoka. It would be the last World Championship without a division into weight classes. After the loss against Geesink, Sone became coach of the Japanese judo team. Sone was accused by Geesink's teammates in the

1965 World Judo Championships The 1965 World Judo Championships were the 4th edition of the Men's World Judo Championships, and were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from October 14–17, 1965. Medal overview Men Medal table References External links results on judoin ...

of having Seiji Sakaguchi lose against the more rested Matsunaga to have Matsunaga take on the weary Geesink in the final round. Matsunaga still lost, Geesink winning the heavy-weight title by decision. But the Japanese team hoped to beat him with Isao Inokuma in the all-weight class the next day. Before the match, however, Geesink quit. The jubilant Japanese team carried Sone on their shoulders and paraded him around the gym. In 1977 he achieved the rank of 8th Dan. In 1981 he died of

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

in Tokyo.

Achievements

*1954 - All-Japan Championships (Openweight only) ''loss'' *1955 - All-Japan Championships (Openweight only) ''3rd'' *1957 - All-Japan Championships (Openweight only) ''2nd'' *1958 - World Championships (Openweight only) ''1st'' :: - All-Japan Championships (Openweight only) ''1st'' *1961 - World Championships (Openweight only) ''2nd''

References

External links

*
Video of Sone's fight against Geesink

Photograph of him
(with the actress Fujiko Yamamoto) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sone, Koji Japanese male judoka 1928 births 1981 deaths