Nori Bunasawa

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Nori Bunasawa
BornNoriaki Bunasawa
(1947-11-03) November 3, 1947 (age 76)
Saitama, Japan
DivisionLightweight, Middleweight
StyleJudo, jukkendo
Teacher(s)Yoshimi Osawa
Masahiko Kimura
RankJudo: 9th dan (red belt)
Jukkendo: Shihan (founder)
Occupation
UniversityWaseda University

Noriaki Bunasawa (樗沢憲昭, Bunasawa Noriaki; born November 3, 1947) also known commonly as Nori Bunasawa, is a Japanese martial artist, judoka, US technical coach at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich,[1] coach of team USA at the 1975 World Judo Championships, Japanese judo-jujutsu researcher and historian, writer, sports journalist, actor, fight choreographer, script consultant,[2] and IJF chief media officer for the coverage of the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta.[3] He owned (until 2008) and established martial arts specialty newspaper Judo Jiujitsu Pro-fighting Journal in the US, which covered judo, jujutsu, sumo, BJJ, MMA and other professional combat sports news. He co-authored a novel based on Mitsuyo Maeda's life The Toughest Man Who Ever Lived which will be adapted into a feature film by a major production company of which he will be a script consultant and action choreographer.[2] He is also the founder of the Mitsuyo Maeda based fighting system: Bunasawa Jukkendo.[4]

Biography[edit]

Nori Bunasawa was born on November 3, 1947, in Saitama, Japan. He studied judo under Yoshimi Osawa and Masahiko Kimura.[4] As a high school student he trained with Waseda University's Judo team, and subsequently won the high school championships in the middleweight division.[5] He attended Waseda University from 1966 to 1970 and graduated with a Bachelors of science in the social sciences.[6] During this time, he won the Tokyo collegiate championship in the lightweight (under 154 lb) division.[6] In 1969, he won silver in the lightweight division at the All Japan weight limit national championships by fighting the reigning world champion Hiroshi Minatoya, former world champion Hirofumi Matsuda, reigning Asian champion Yujiro Yamazaki[7] and defeating the latter two competitors.[6] In the final match (which was used as the Judo World Championship qualifier), Bunasawa was initially ahead on the scorecards by throwing Minatoya with reverse ippon-seoi-nage.[8]

Due to Bunasawa's success on the national stage, in August 1969 he was chosen as a part of a talented group (which included future Olympic champions in Toyokazu Nomura, Isamu Sonoda, and the national judo 'dream team' that eventually swept the competition at the 1969 World Judo Championships) to attend training camp in the mountains of the Nagano Prefecture. At the end of the camp, the All Japan Judo selection committee and its chairman Shohei Hamano[9] (of the Shikoku island[10]) decided to send experienced Hiroshi Minatoya and newcomer Yoshimitsu Kono (of the Shikoku island[11]) as representatives to the 1969 World Judo Championships held in Mexico City and appointed young top prospects Bunasawa and Hisashi Tsuzawa (future world champion) as reserves for the −70 kg division.[12] The selection committee's decision to send Kono to the World Championships was controversial as he was eliminated in the first round by Matsuda, who was later dispatched by Bunasawa in the semi-finals of the 1969 All Japan weight limit national championships.[8]

Career[edit]

With no professional leagues available and thus the inability to turn pro due to judo's amateur sports status, Bunasawa traveled to the United States in 1972 to further his education and attended Edinboro State in 1973[13] where he was named as the university's varsity head coach.[6] In May 1974, Bunasawa came to Johnstown,[14] and later attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania while coaching its judo team.[13]

In 1975, automobile tycoon Willard Robertson selected Bunasawa to be the inaugural head judo instructor of Robertson's newly constructed, 6-million dollar[15] (equivalent to 34 million USD in 2022[16]) Ichiban Sports Center in Rogers, Arkansas.[17] At the Ichiban, Bunasawa served as the assistant coach and head camp coach for the United States national judo team that competed at the 1975 World Judo Championships.[14]

In 1978, Bunasawa founded the specialty newspaper Judo Journal in the US and the first issue was published on June of the same year.[18] The newspaper initially covered Judo, but later added coverage of MMA, sumo, BJJ, and jujutsu and was renamed Judo Jiujitsu Pro-fighting Journal. The final issue was published in April 2006.[19]

The story of Mitsuyo Maeda first appeared as a serial in Judo Journal starting in 1995[20] from a collaboration between John Murray and Bunasawa. In 2007, the collection was published in book form and released as The Toughest Man Who Ever Lived.[4]

  • Judo Jiujitsu Pro-fighting Journal. Vol.29 No.1
    Judo Jiujitsu Pro-fighting Journal. Vol.29 No.1

Bibliography[edit]

Novels[edit]

  • The Toughest Man Who Ever Lived (with John Murray, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9648984-1-7)

Filmography[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1990 Martial Marshal Gonji Tamashita Lead role
2006 Letters from Iwo Jima Japanese Journalist

References[edit]

  1. ^ Rezell, John (March 3, 1988). "Top Judo Instructor comes to the defense of self-defense". Orange County Register.
  2. ^ a b "Noriaki Bunasawa, Judoka, JudoInside". www.judoinside.com. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  3. ^ "Judo". Orange Network. 385: 7. April 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Bunasawa, Nori; Murray, John (2007). The Toughest Man Who Ever Lived. Nevada: Innovations, Inc. and Judo Journal. p. 299. ISBN 978-0-9648984-1-7.
  5. ^ Shindo, Kenichi (October 3, 2020). "青春スクロール 市立浦和高校". Asahi Shimbun.
  6. ^ a b c d "Title Techniques". Black Belt. 16 (7): 38. July 1978.
  7. ^ "All Japan Judo Championships Fukuoka, Event, JudoInside". www.judoinside.com. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Judo news". Nippon Judo Shimbun. No. 488. September 1, 1969.
  9. ^ Kuroda, Takeshi (February 20, 1985). 名選手ものがたり63 浜野正平9段 -関西柔道界の大御所といわれた横捨て身の名手- (in Japanese). ベースボール・マガジン社. p. 66.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  10. ^ 山縣, 淳男 (November 21, 1999). 柔道大事典 [Judo Encyclopedia] (in Japanese). アテネ書房. p. 355.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  11. ^ "新居浜物語".
  12. ^ Kudo, Raisuke (September 10, 1969). "日本代表決まる". The Judo Shimbun.
  13. ^ a b "New Judo Instructor at 'Y' Here". Indiana Evening Gazette. February 21, 1975.
  14. ^ a b "Instructor on Show". Rogers Daily News. April 1975.
  15. ^ Zimmerman, Richard (January 1980). "Ichiban-Fourth Olympic Training Center for Judo". Black Belt. p. 30. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  16. ^ "CPI Inflation Calculator". data.bls.gov.
  17. ^ "Ichiban Sports Complex shares strange story". Arkansas Online. May 12, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
  18. ^ "World Wide Leading Judo Newspaper". Judo Journal. 1. June 1978.
  19. ^ "Heavyweight Battle: Pride Champ Fedor Takes on all Challengers". Judo Jiujitsu Pro-fighting Journal. 30 (1).
  20. ^ "Mitsuyo Maeda: Origin of Gracie/Brazilian Jujitsu". Judo Journal. May 1995.

External links[edit]

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