is a Japanese

karateka (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

. She won a Gold medal in individual kata at the

2012 World Karate Championships The 2012 World Karate Championships are the 21st edition of the World Karate Championships, and were held in Paris, France from November 21 to November 25, 2012. Medalists Men Women Medal table Participating nations 990 athletes from 1 ...

after previously winning Bronze at the 2010 Championships. She also won Gold in the same category at the 2010

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

. , Usami is coaching the karate team at

Kokushikan University is a private university in Setagaya, Tokyo, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan. Combined teams of the Graduate School of Engineering and the Department of Science and Engineering competed against 130 team and came in 11th place in the 27th Formula SAE in 20 ...

Early life

Usami was born on February 20, 1986, in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. She had said in an interview that she started karate when she was 10 years old by joining a Goju-ryu-style dojo located near her family's house in Tokyo, after seeing a female fighter on television. Her older brother had been practicing karate and let Usami wear his

karate gi ''Karategi'' (空手着 or 空手衣), also called keikogi or dogi, is the formal Japanese name for the traditional uniform used for Karate practice and competition. A karategi is somewhat similar to a judogi (柔道着 or 柔道衣, ''Judo unif ...

on occasions, so that helped her a lot when she decided to eventually start practicing karate herself. Usami's first karate tournament was when she was a green belt at 12 years old in elementary school. Usami did not participate in big tournaments until age 15 and won her first tournament at 17 years old at the All Japan High School Karatedo Championships.

Achievements

Publications

* Usami, Rika. "Interview 2011 ", . vol.65 no.14 (March 2011): pp.3-6. , . * ''Japan best players-the medalist of the 21st WKF Paris''. vol.2 "Kata." Tokyo : CHAMP. DVD video. . * . Tokyo : CHAMP, DVD video. . * Usami, Rika. , Baseball Magazine Co., Ltd. , . * "", ''Coaching clinic'', vol. 28 no.2 (February 2014) pp.28-31. . * Usami, Rika; Waranabe, Yusuke (渡邊祐介). "", ''Matsushita Kōnosuke Juku'', vol.21, January 2015, pp.26-29. . * Usami, Rika ; . . Tokyo : CHAMP, Blu-ray disc. . * Usami, Rika. , Tokyo : CHAMP, Blu-ray disc. 2018. . * Usami, Rika. (2019) , Tokyo : CHAMP, Blu-ray disc. .

References

External links

Interview with Rika Usami

2012 final championships video
*
Rika Usami

In the spotlight: Rika Usami - The Queen of Kata
1986 births Living people Japanese female karateka Japanese karate coaches Shitō-ryū practitioners Martial artists from Tokyo Kokushikan University alumni Asian Games medalists in karate Karateka at the 2010 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games 21st-century Japanese sportswomen {{japan-karate-bio-stub