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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. He is currently contracted to Gamba Osaka in

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

. His regular paying position is

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

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Club career

Born and raised in Osaka, Ichimaru came through the youth ranks at Gamba Osaka and earned his first professional contract ahead of the 2016 season. He didn't see any game time for Gamba's first team in J1 League, however he made 21 appearances for Gamba Osaka in J3 League to help them to a 9th place finish in the final table. 2017 saw him make his J1 debut in a 2-0 home defeat to

Júbilo Iwata is a professional Japanese association football team that currently play in the J2 League. The team name ''Júbilo'' means 'joy' in Spanish and Portuguese. The team's hometown is Iwata, Shizuoka prefecture and they play at Yamaha Stadium. For ...

on 13 August 2017. He started the match in central midfield and was subbed by

Shun Nagasawa is a Japanese professional football player currently playing for J1 League team Oita Trinita. After working his way through the S-Pulse youth system, he signed full professional terms in 2007. He spent loan spells at J. League 2 sides Roasso ...

after 76 minutes. That was to be his only league appearance that year and coupled with 3 matches in the cups, he played a total of 4 games in 2017. In 2018 he started the first four matches of the season under new head coach

Levir Culpi Levir Culpi (born 28 February 1953) is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. Playing career Known as Levir during his playing days, he was born in Curitiba, Paraná, and started his career with ...

before injury forced him to take a spell on the sidelines and he was unable to regain his place under new manager

Tsuneyasu Miyamoto is a former Japanese football coach and former player who last coached Gamba Osaka. He played for Japan national team. A central defender, Miyamoto went on to make 71 international appearances and led the Japan national team in the 2002 and ...

, who replaced Culpi halfway through the year. He found himself spending most of the rest of 2018 playing once again for Gamba U-23 in J3 where he made 20 appearances to help them to 6th in the final standings.

National team career

In May 2017, Ichimaru was elected Japan U-20 national team for 2017 U-20 World Cup. At this tournament, he played 3 matches as defensive midfielder.

Club statistics

Last update: ''1 May 2019''

Reserves performance

References

External links

* * 1997 births Living people Association football people from Osaka Prefecture Japanese footballers Japan men's youth international footballers J1 League players J2 League players J3 League players Gamba Osaka players Gamba Osaka U-23 players FC Gifu players FC Ryukyu players Men's association football midfielders People from Ibaraki, Osaka {{Japan-footy-midfielder-1990s-stub