Isao Inokuma

was a Japanese judoka. He won a gold medal in the heavyweight division (above 80 kg) at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and a world title in 1965.

Early life and education Inokuma was born in Yokosuka, Kanagawa, and took up judo at age 15, training under Riichiro Watanabe. Due to his small size, Inokuma was constantly thrown by his sparring partner Tōru Mori, but he trained hard to master ippon seoi nage, a move fitter for shorter judoka, and eventually became Mori's superior. Inokuma later became a bodybuilder under American trainers, gaining enough strengh to bench press 140 kg. He always credited this with his mastery of ippon seoi nage and tai otoshi, and ultimately his success in judo competition.

He entered the Tokyo University of Education (current University of Tsukuba) and won the All-Japan Judo Championships in 1959 at only 21 years of age, to become the first student competitor to win the championship. He placed second in the All-Japan Championships in 1960 and 1961, both times losing to the future Olympic silver medalist and lifelong friend Akio Kaminaga.

Career Inokuma won the 1963 All-Japan Championships, but placed 4th in the 1964 All-Japan Championships and ended up entering the 1964 Summer Olympics in the +80 kg division (the heaviest weight category at the time excluding the open category). His main rivals there were Canadian Doug Rogers, who trained with Inokuma in Japan, and Georgian Anzor Kiknadze, who nearly defeated Inokuma in 1961 using sambo armlock techniques. Inokuma faced Kiknadze in the semifinals. He managed to avoid the armlocks and threw Kiknadze at the five minute to advance to the final against Rogers, who was about 30 kg heavier. In the final little happened in the first 10 minutes, and the referee, Charles Palmer threatened to disqualify both, with little effect. Inokuma was awarded the gold for a slightly higher activity.

After graduating, Inokuma became a judo instructor for Juntendo University and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. In 1965, he entered the Open weight class of the World Judo Championships intending to wrestle Dutch judo champion Anton Geesink, but Geesink went to the +80 kg division that year, and the two never faced off against one another. Both Geesink and Inokuma won gold medals in the competition, and Inokuma announced his retirement shortly afterwards, citing lack of motivation.

In 2013, Inoue published a biography co-authored with the writer Norio Kamiyama, (ja) recounting Inokuma's life and final days. Weight training for championship judo (with Donn Draeger, 1966), Kodansha lnternational Ltd,