Naohisa Takato Bio: Early Life, Judo, Career & Olympics

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics has everyone exhilarated and pumped up to see the players excel in their field. Acknowledging such enthusiasm, we bring you more information about the Olympic champions. 

One of the players who has outshined his field is the Japanese Judoka, Naohisa Takato. Similarly, with victory in the 2020 Toyko Olympics, the athlete has truly lived to his dreams. 

Naohisa Takato is currently the top-ranking judoka in the extra-lightweight division all around the world.  

With the victory over the 2013 World Championships, Takato has become one of the judo’s most prominent fighters and opened the door of success. 

Similarly, he also won the 2013 Masters in Tyumen and the prestigious Grand Slams in Paris, Moscow, and Tokyo.

With these achievements, he was ranked No. 2 in the world consecutively for 2013 and 2014. 

Before diving into the Japanese champion’s journey, here are some interesting quick facts.

Naohisa Takato: Quick Facts 

Naohisa Takato | Early Life and Childhood

The 31 years old Judoka champion, Naohisa Takato, was born on 30 May 1993.

Likewise, he was born to his mother Etsuko Takato and his father Takato in Hasuda, Saitama, Japan. 

At the young age of seven, he initiated his interest in judo. Similarly, during his elementary days, he joined the Nogi-machi judo club. 

He participated in various competitions, sharpening his skills and potential in judo. Likewise, he won various weight divisions throughout his elementary and middle school days.

Takato attended Sagami junior high and high school, where he represented his school in various competitions. Similarly, he won several national titles and the world cadent championships. 

To complete his further studies, in 2012, he attended Tokai University and graduated in 2016. 

Naohisa Takato | Career

The Japanese Judoka, Naohisa Takata, made his presence known internationally in the Under 17 World Championship in Budapest. There, he got the victory with the gold medal. 

Similarly, in the 2012 and 2013 seasons, Takata made his strong presence by winning gold in 7 international tournaments.

Moreover, despite losing in the World Championship at Chelyabinsk, he remained undefeated with the bronze medal.

Likewise, in 2015, Takata enhanced his skills and won the gold medal at two grand slams and world masters.

The defeat in the 2016 Grand Slam Tokyo 

In the 2016 Olympics games, Naohisa Takato represented Japan in the championship. However, he was defeated and failed to claim the throne. 

Moreover, the 2016 Grand Slam Tokyo was his first outing after the Olympics. In his first fight at the championship, he faced Yanislav Gerchev of Bulgaria.

He won his opponent with his form, sode tsurikomi goshi, successfully scoring yuko and waza-ari with the skill.

Similarly, in the second game, his opponent was Korea’s Choi In Hyuk in a deadlocked fight. Although Takato did not earn enough points, he moved through the semi-final due to Choi’s twice penalization. 

Finally, in the final championship, it was an all-Japan bout as he faced Ryuju Nagayama.

Both the players were trained by Minoru Konegawa and had a much-place difference in the world rankings.

Furthermore, Naohisa Takato tried throughout the bout to fight to newaza, but Nagayama’s defense was as strong as an iron wall.

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Furthermore, at the end of the match, Takato performed ashi guruma but failed to break the defense and was left with a disadvantageous position. 

With the upper hand over Takato, Nagayama used Uchi mata to throw Takato for ippon. Despite the loss, he still took the silver medal home while congratulating Nagayama. 

The victory in the 2017 Grand Slam Paris

Naohisa Takato began his 2017 season with his international competition, the 2017 Grand Slam in Paris. Likewise, this was the first event where he would work on the utilize revised rules of judo. 

In the first fight, his opponent was local Vincent Manquest, and he scored a waza-ari with seoi nage.

After bringing an end to the fight, he earned the highest score with kesa-gatame leading him to round 3.

In the quarter-final, he faced against Georgia’s Amiran Papinashvili for 40 seconds as he threw him for ippon with Kochi gari. 

Later, he fought against Azerbaijan’s Orkhana Safarov, the only player to throw Takato for a score with kosota gari. 

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Despite such a blow, Takato scored two Waza-ari using kouchi gari and eventually scored ippon, making his way through to the final. 

At the final, Naohisa Takato won the fight by performing waza-ari with kouchi gari and another newaza ippon with Ushiro Yoko Shiho gatame. 

This marked his win at the Paris with the record of victory in 2013 and 2015. Also, with such achievements, he ranked number one in the world and had an all-ippon tournament. 

Naohisa Takato Coach and Fight Style

At the age of seven, Takato began his journey of Judo training at the Nogi Machi Judo center and is now one of Japan’s most promising and prospering athletes. 

Likewise, he is a member of Japan’s judo team and trains under the guidance of the renowned Japanese legend and Judoka, Kosei Inoue. 

Takato follows an approach of the modern style of fighting rather than traditional Japanese judo. Moreover, one of his favorite techniques is the kata guruma. 

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Similarly, as he specializes in drop kata guruma, his technical and physical fighting style has been iconic in the judo industry. 

Naohisa Takato overjoys the country with Japan’s first gold medal in the Tokyo Games.

Naohisa Takato became a first-time Olympic gold medalist on 24th July 2021, Saturday, after defeating Taiwan’s Yang Yung Wei.

Takato won the men’s judo under 60 kg final. Moreover, this achievement marked Japan’s first gold medal in the Tokyo Games. 

Similarly, Funa Tonaki, the Japanese women judoka, claimed silver in the women’s under-48 kg marking Japan’s first game medal.

Both players took the judo field away by the storm and achieved the highest grounds!

“I was able to win the first one for Japan. I’m glad that I could help fire up the Japan team by winning the first gold.” Takato said.

Takato won with ippon in the Golden Score extra period after Yang’s call for a penalty.

Yang scored the silver medal despite the defeat, making him the first athlete from Taiwan to win an Olympic judo medal. 

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, there were no fans present to celebrate with him; nevertheless, his family and people all over the country were ecstatic and in high spirits with the achievement. 

With Takato’s victory, it marks the fifth under-60 gold medal, extending the country’s record.

Similarly, the Dubbed Godzilla Japan, the powerful Japanese judo team, is filled with determination and expectation to achieve a gold or silver medal at the Tokyo Games. 

Naohisa Takato’s Net Worth

The Olympic Champion, Naoshia Takato, has a net worth ranging between $1-$5 million.

Moreover, as a professional athlete, the major source of his net worth is through participation and victory in tournaments and sponsorships. 

Similarly, Takato’s net has been increased significantly after his major gold medal achievement in the Olympics.

Naohisa Takato’s Personal Life

The three world champion, Naohisa Takato, has not disclosed any information about his personal life. There is not much information about Takato’s family or his relations.

According to some sources, Naohisa Takato got married in 2014. Later, in the same year, his wife gave birth to a son.

Moreover, the couple is also blessed with a beautiful daughter. 

Naohisa Takato | Social Media 

The Olympic champion, Naohisa Takato, is active on his social media like Instagram and Twitter. The champion is seen updating his followers about the recent Tokyo games.

Similarly, he also updates his daily life activities, and one can find many cute pictures of his pet dog.

Looking at his Instagram, one can also figure out that the champion is a big fan of the anime ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.’

The athlete’s Instagram story consists of drawings of the characters in the anime. 

Click below to give him a follow and know more about Naohisa Takato outside the mat.

Instagram: 71.7k followers with 699 followings

Twitter: 16.9k followers with 362 followings 

FAQs

Is Naohisa Takato popular?

Even outside the mat, Naohisa Takato is quite popular with the most searched judokas in 2015. Similarly, he also earned the top-earning male judoka on the IJF circuit since 2012. 

What are the hobbies of Naohisa Takato?

Although it might be shocking, the Olympic champion has interests and hobbies just like any other person.

In his free time, Takato enjoys making videos and playing video games in the form of refreshments.