Cultivating and Transmitting the Spirit of Budo ～A Re-evaluation of Budo Decorum～

Prof.Yasuhiro Yamashita

Professor Yasuhiro Yamashita

Professor Yamashita was born in Kumamoto prefecture in 1957. After graduating from Tokai University’s affiliated senior high school in 1976, he enrolled at Tokai University, graduating from its Masters curriculum in 1983. From 1983 onwards, he has been employed at Tokai University, being appointed assistant professor in 1986 and full professor in 1996. He holds the 8th Dan in Kodokan judo.
Since 1998, besides his curricular activities at Tokai University and his leadership of the university’s judo club, Professor Yamashita’s responsibilities include his function as director of education & coaching for the International Judo Federation to which he was appointed in September 2003. Within Japan, Professor Yamashita is head of the Male Judo Athlete Strengthening Department of the All Japan Judo Federation as well as a member of the Central Education Council of the Japanese Ministry of Education and Sciences.
In April 2006, Professor Yamashita founded the NPO-Solidarity of International JUDO Education. Based at Professor Yamashita’s office at Tokai University, its purpose is to contribute to judo’s international popularization, to promote through this activity the interactions between individual people, to deepen intercultural understanding, and to contribute to the cultivation of young people not only in Japan but throughout the world.

Keynote Address

“Budo, the Role that Judo should play in the Era of Internationalization” (PDF 1.3MB)

Academic affiliations

  • Japanese Academy of Budo
  • Japan Society of Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences
  • Japanese Society of Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine

Awards

  • Japanese People’s Honor Award, 1984
  • Japanese Award for Merit in Budo, 1985
  • Mizuno Sports Mentor Gold Award, 1997
  • Honorary Doctor, Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, Saint Petersburg, 27 February 2008
  • Russian Award for Merit in Physical Education and Sports, 28 February 2008
  • Saint Petersburg Assembly Honor Award, 28 February 2008

Etc.

Publications

Articles and monographs
  • ‘Gaikokujin judo shugyosha no jittai ni kansuru kenkyu’ (Research into the Actual Conditions of Foreign Judo Practitioners), Proceedings of the Department of Physical Education at Tokai University, Nr. 23, p. 15-30, 1994
  • Shobu no shunkan (The Moment of Victory), Recruit shuppanbu, 1986
  • Bushido to tomo ni ikiru (Living by the rule of bushido), Kadokawa shoten, 2005
  • Tokon no judo (Judo with Fighting Spirit), Baseball Magazine, 2007

Etc.