is a Japanese judoka. Takato is currently the top ranked judoka in the world in the extra-lightweight division. He became one of judo's most prominent fighters by winning the 2013 World Championships. In the same year, he also won the Masters in

Tyumen Tyumen ( ; rus, Тюмень, p=tʲʉˈmʲenʲ, a=Ru-Tyumen.ogg) is the administrative center and largest city of Tyumen Oblast, Russia. It is situated just east of the Ural Mountains, along the Tura River. Fueled by the Russian oil and gas in ...

, and the prestigious Grand Slams in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. With these successes, Takato was ranked No. 1 in the world in 2013 and 2014. He had an all-win record in 2013. Specializing in drop

kata guruma is one of the traditional forty throws of judo as developed by Kano Jigoro. Kata guruma belongs to the third group of the traditional throwing list in the ''Gokyo no waza'' of the Kodokan Judo. It is also part of the current 67 Throws of Kod ...

, his physical and technical fighting style has become iconic in judo. Outside the mat, Takato was one of the most searched judokas in 2015, and the top earning male judoka on the IJF circuit since 2012. He is the most-decorated judoka on the IJF World Tour, winning more gold medals in Grand Slam competitions than anyone else. Takato won the bronze medal as Japan's extra-lightweight representative at the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

and won the gold medal in the same event at the 2020 Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan.

Early life

Takato began judo at the age of 7. He joined Nogi-machi judo club as an elementary school student, which was also attended by future teammate Masashi Ebinuma. He had won in various weight divisions throughout elementary and middle school. An alma mater of

Sagami Sagami may refer to: * Sagami, an 11th-century ''waka'' poet *Sagami Province, an old province in Japan *Sagami River, a river in Kanagawa and Yamanashi *Sagami Bay, a bay south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshū *Sagami Line, a railway roughly along ...

junior high and high school, he won several national titles representing the school as well as the world cadet championships. He started attending

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 Un ...

in 2012, and had graduated in 2016.

Career

2016 Grand Slam Tokyo

Takato returned to the Grand Slam in Tokyo for his first outing after the Olympics. He faced Yanislav Gerchev of Bulgaria in his first fight, and showed his form with

sode tsurikomi goshi is a Judo throw and one of the techniques adopted by the Kodokan into their Shinmeisho No Waza (newly accepted techniques) list. It is categorized as a hip technique, or Koshi-waza. Sode Tsurikomi Goshi translates as sleeve lifting pulling hip th ...

, successfully scoring yuko and waza-ari with the skill. He then faced Korea's Choi In Hyuk in a deadlocked fight. Despite being scoreless, Choi was penalised twice for passivity, driving Takato through to the semi-final. The bout was another tight fight as scores were nil, neither being able to successfully throw. After nearly ten minutes of play, Takato finally had a breakthrough with kosoto gari for yuko for a place in the final. It was an all-Japan bout in the final, with Ryuju Nagayama as his opponent. Both are trained by Minoru Konegawa, and had a 48 place difference in world rankings, with Takato ranked seventh and Nagayama 56th at the time. Takato attempted throughout the bout to bring the fight to newaza, however was unable to break Nagayama's defense. He most notably used sankaku jime. With one minute left, Takato attempted ashi guruma, but was unsuccessful and was left with a disadvantageous position as Nagayama was standing up. Nagayama then used uchi mata to throw Takato for ippon. The upset left Takato smiling as he congratulated Nagayama, settling for a silver medal.

2017 Grand Slam Paris

Takato opened his international competition in 2017 with the Grand Slam in Paris. This would be the first event that would utilise revised rules of judo. He faced local Vincent Manquest in his first fight and scored waza-ari with

seoi nage is a shoulder throw, one of the traditional forty throws of Judo as developed by Jigoro Kano. It belongs to the first group, Dai Ikkyo, of the traditional throwing list, Gokyo (no waza), of Kodokan Judo. It is also part of the current 67 Thro ...

. He then earned ippon with kesa-gatame after bringing the fight to the ground, going through to round 3. Takato fired an early waza-ari with kouchi gari, and scored a second using

ouchi gari Ouchi or Ōuchi may refer to: Geography * Ouchi, Hubei (), a town in Gong'an County, Jingzhou, Hubei, China Japan * Ōuchi, Akita, a town now merged into Yurihonjō, Akita * Ouchi, Saga, a town now merged into Karatsu-city, Saga * Ōuchi-juku, a ...

. He then transitioned to newaza, pinning his opponent again with kesa gatame, showing a versatility masterclass. In the quarter-final he faced Georgia's

Amiran Papinashvili Amiran Papinashvili (born 17 June 1988) is a Georgian judoka. He won gold medal in 2013 European Judo Championships, silver in 2014 European Judo Championships and bronze in 2012 European Judo Championships The 2012 European Judo Championsh ...

. The bout only lasted 40 seconds, as Takato threw him for ippon with kouchi gari. He then went against Azerbaijan's

Orkhan Safarov Orkhan Safarov (born 10 August 1991) is an Azerbaijanis, Azerbaijani judoka. He won the bronze at the 2013 World Judo Championships in the category 2013 World Judo Championships – Men's 60 kg, –60 kg. In 2021, he competed in the men's 66&nb ...

, who was the only fighter in the tournament to throw Takato for a score with kosoto gari. However, with Takato scoring two waza-aris, both using kouchi gari, and then eventually scoring ippon, he was through to the final. Takato won his final fight by waza-ari, again with kouchi gari, and another newaza ippon with ushiro yoko shiho gatame. This would be Takato's third win at Paris, having won in 2013 and 2015. With this victory, he ranked world number one, and had an all-ippon tournament.

Fighting style

He is known for having a more modern style of fighting than traditional Japanese judo, with kata guruma being one of his favorite techniques.

Rivalries

Takato's international rivals include Dashdavaagiin Amartüvshin, Kim Won-jin, Yeldos Smetov, Ganbatyn Boldbaatar and Beslan Mudranov. He has competed against them a total of twenty times.

Personal life

Takato married in 2014 and has a son who was born on 25 August that year.

Competitive record

''(as of 11 February 2017)''

Medal record

;2009 : World U17 Championships −60 kg,

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

;2011 : World U20 Championships −60 kg,

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

: Grand Prix −60 kg, Qingdao : Grand Slam −60 kg,

;2012 : Grand Slam −60 kg,

: Grand Slam −60 kg,

: World Cup −60 kg,

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2 ...

;2013 : Grand Slam −60 kg,

: Masters −60 kg,

: World Championships −60 kg,

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

: Grand Slam −60 kg,

;2014 : Grand Prix −60 kg,

: World Championships −60 kg,

Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk ( rus, Челя́бинск, p=tɕɪˈlʲæbʲɪnsk, a=Ru-Chelyabinsk.ogg; ba, Силәбе, ''Siläbe'') is the administrative center and largest city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the seventh-largest city in Russia, with a ...

;2015 : Masters −60 kg,

: Grand Slam −60 kg,

;2016 : Olympic Games −60 kg,

: Grand Slam −60 kg,

;2017 : Grand Slam −60 kg,

: Grand Slam −60 kg,

;2018 : Grand Prix −60 kg,

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

;2021 : Olympic Games −60 kg,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Takato, Naohisa 1993 births Living people Japanese male judoka World judo champions Tokai University alumni Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Olympic gold medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka of Japan Olympic medalists in judo Sportspeople from Saitama Prefecture 20th-century Japanese people 21st-century Japanese people