Noriaki Bunasawa

Noriaki "Nori" Bunasawa (樗沢憲昭, Bunasawa Noriaki; born November 3, 1947) is a Japanese and American judoka, a former USA judo coach at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich and at the 1975 World Judo Championships in Vienna. He is also a judo and jujutsu researcher, and co-author of The Toughest Man Who Ever Lived, a novel based on the life of Mitsuyo Maeda. He founded the Judo Journal newspaper which became Judo Jiujitsu Pro-fighting Journal.

He is also the founder of Jūkkendo (柔拳道), a martial arts system based on the prize fighting methods of Mitsuyo Maeda. and current head coach at Waseda University ).

In 1966 he enrolled at Waseda University and officially joined the judo club. He learned judo under Yoshimi Osawa, Hideo Yamamoto and Masahiko Kimura. During his time in university, in 1968, he became champion at the Tokyo Student Judo Championships He defeated Yamazaki and Matsuda in the first round and semi-finals. In the final match, he was initially in the lead by throwing Minatoya with reverse ippon seoi-nage. selected Hiroshi Minatoya and (of Shikoku) as the main representatives. Bunasawa and future world champion were selected as reserves for the lightweight (-70 kg) division for the 1969 World Judo Championships. The decision to send Kono to the 1969 World Judo Championships was controversial as Kono lost in the first round to Matsuda, who was eliminated by Bunasawa in the semi-finals at the which served a world championship qualifier. ) Ichiban Sports center in Arkansas, which was founded by automobile tycoon Willard Robertson. According to Dale Samuels, the former vice president of the USJA, the Ichiban Sports center was the "most advanced" training facility in the US at the time. Judo Journal eventually became Judo Jiujitsu Pro-fighting Journal, which covered combat sports such as judo, BJJ, sumo, karate, kickboxing, etc. and the final issue was published in April 2006.

From 1995 to 2007, the Mitsuyo Maeda story was published as a series in Judo Journal. In 2007, the collection was published in novel form as The Toughest Man Who Ever Lived, with John Murray as a co-author. The film will be directed by José Padilha.

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

Filmography

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