Toshinari Masuda
Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1965. Novelist. Dropped out of Hokkaido University. His books include "Why Didn't Masahiko Kimura Kill Rikidozan?" (Shinchosha) and "The Seven Emperors' Judo Chronicles" (Kadokawa Shoten), the last of which won both the Oya Soichi Non-Fiction Award and the Shincho Document Award.
(Updated August 2021)
Stories from This Author
The great fight between Masahiko Kimura and Helio Gracie: The two men's signature o-soto-gari and arm grab techniques explode
Aug. 4, 2021 • Toshinari Masuda
I spent 18 years researching Kimura Masahiko, who is said to be the strongest judoist in the history of Japan, and published a book about him 10 years ago. The climax of that story was the match between Kimura Masahiko and Helio Gracie, held at the Maracana Stadium in 1951. The book, with its long title "Why Didn't Kimura Masahiko Kill Rikidozan?" (Shinchosha), was as thick and expensive as an encyclopedia in this age of frivolity and short-termism, and because …
