was a Japanese

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 from the

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its ge ...

. He became the first world champion in judo, winning the title at the

1956 World Judo Championships The 1956 World Judo Championships were the 1st edition of the Men's World Judo Championships, and were held at the Kuramae Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan on 3 May, 1956. Medal overview Men Medal table References External links results on judo ...

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 ...

, by beating

Yoshihiko Yoshimatsu was a Japanese judoka. Born in Kagoshima, Japan, he received a silver medal at the 1956 World Judo Championships in Tokyo, behind winner Shokichi Natsui. He won the All-Japan Judo Championships is a judo tournament held every year in Jap ...

in the final. As there were no weight classes in the world championships until 1965, Natsui was the only champion in 1956.

First judo world championship

Background

The

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) was founded in July 1951. The IJF was originally composed of judo federations from Europe and Argentina. Countries from four continents were affiliated over the next ten years. Today the IJF has 200 National ...

(IJF) was founded in 1951, and five years later IJF organized the first

World Judo Championships The World Judo Championships are the highest level of international judo competition, along with the Olympic judo competition. The championships are held once every year (except the years when the Olympics take place) by the International Judo ...

, held in Tokyo on 5 March 1956.

Contestants

Natsui and his teammate Yoshimatsu, both policemen, were the two highest-ranked judoka at the championship; the 36-year-old Yoshimatsu held the rank of nanadan (7th dan), and Natsui rokudan (6th dan), while Pariset from France held yondan (4th dan), and future three-time world champion

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 ...

from the Netherlands held sandan (3rd dan). The 1956 championship had 31 competitors from 21 countries.

Natsui's matches

In the first round Natsui took only 3 seconds to eliminate the contestant from Cambodia, with the shoulder throw

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 ...

. In the second round he met Johannsen from Denmark, and won after 8 seconds, with tai otoshi. The match against Woodrey from Belgium in round 3 lasted 44 seconds, with victory going to Natsui. In the semi-final he met

Henri Courtine Henri Courtine (11 May 1930 – 20 February 2021) was a French judoka. Career He studied with Mikinosuke Kawaishi, and his assistant, Shozo Awazu. He received a bronze medal at the 1956 World Judo Championships in Tokyo, shared with Anton Geesi ...

from France; this match lasted only 8 seconds, with a tai otoshi win to Natsui. In total, Natsui reached the final with a total combined match time of only 63 seconds. The final between Natsui and Yoshimatsu ended with victory to Natsui.

All-Japan Judo Championships

Natsui competed several times at the

All-Japan Judo Championships is a judo tournament held every year in Japan. The men's tournament is held in Nippon Budokan on 29 April and the women's tournament (dubbed "Empress cup All-Japan women's Judo championships") is held in Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium in April. T ...

Nippon Budokan The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts con ...

—one of the three major tournaments, together with the Olympic Games and the World Championships. In 1951 he finished 8th, he finished 16th in 1952, and 8th again in 1953. He received a bronze medal in 1954, a silver medal in 1955 (losing to Yoshimatsu in the final), and a gold medal in 1957. The All-Japan Judo Championships where not held in 1956 because of the inaugural World Championship competition.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Natsui, Shokichi Japanese male judoka Sportspeople from Akita Prefecture 1925 births 2006 deaths 20th-century Japanese people 21st-century Japanese people