The winners of the “All-Japan Judo Championships” (全日本柔道選手権大会 Zennihon Judo Senshuken Taikai). This tournament has only one open-weight division (no weight limits) and was the highest judo tournament before the establishment of the world judo championships in 1956 and the introduction of judo to the Olympic Games in 1964.
| 1930 | Kanbe Furusawa | |||
| 1931 | Tatsukuma Ushijima | |||
| 1932 | Tatsukuma Ushijima | |||
| 1933 | Was not held | |||
| 1934 | Suekichi Tanaka | |||
| 1935 | Eisaku Iiyama | |||
| 1936 | Isamu Shinbara / Shinkichi Setoguchi | The result was a draw. | ||
| 1937 | Masahiko Kimura | Kimura was only 20 years old when he first won the title. | ||
| 1938 | Masahiko Kimura | |||
| 1939 | Masahiko Kimura | |||
| 1940 | Masahiko Kimura | In 1940 Kimura also won the Ten-Ran Shiai tournament, in the presence of Emperor Showa the Emperor of Japan. | ||
| 1941 | Iwao Hirose | Defeated the year before by Kimura in the semi-finals of the Ten-Ran Shiai, Hirose takes advantage of the absence of the champion (mobilized for World War II) to win the annual tournament. | ||
| 1942 | Was not held | |||
| 1943 | Was not held | |||
| 1944 | Was not held | |||
| 1945 | Was not held | |||
| 1946 | Was not held | |||
| 1947 | Was not held | All-japan championship was not held, but West Japan tournament was won by Kimura against the best judokas of that time, proving he is still a champion. | ||
| 1948 | Yasuichi Matsumoto | Refusing to put back into play the champion's flag obtained in his third consecutive title in 1939, Kimura was not allowed to take part in All-Japan in 1948. | ||
| 1949 | Takahiko Ishikawa / Masahiko Kimura | The result was a draw. | ||
| 1950 | Takahiko Ishikawa | |||
| 1951 | Toshiro Daigo | |||
| 1952 | Yoshihiko Yoshimatsu | |||
| 1953 | Yoshihiko Yoshimatsu | |||
| 1954 | Toshiro Daigo | |||
| 1955 | Yoshihiko Yoshimatsu | |||
| 1956 | Was not held | Canceled due to 1st World Championship | ||
| 1957 | Shokichi Natsui | |||
| 1958 | Koji Sone | |||
| 1959 | Isao Inokuma | |||
| 1960 | Akio Kaminaga | |||
| 1961 | Akio Kaminaga | |||
| 1962 | Yoshinori Takeuchi | |||
| 1963 | Isao Inokuma | |||
| 1964 | Akio Kaminaga | |||
| 1965 | Seiji Sakaguchi | |||
| 1966 | Mitsuo Matsunaga | |||
| 1967 | Isao Okano | The lightest champion with 80kg. | ||
| 1968 | Takeshi Matsuzaka | |||
| 1969 | Isao Okano | The lightest champion with 79kg. | ||
| 1970 | Masatoshi Shinomaki | |||
| 1971 | Kaneo Iwatsuri | |||
| 1972 | Shinobu Sekine | |||
| 1973 | Haruki Uemura | |||
| 1974 | Nobuyuki Sato | |||
| 1975 | Haruki Uemura | |||
| 1976 | Sumio Endo | |||
| 1977 | Yasuhiro Yamashita | At 19 years and 10 months, Yamashita is the youngest winner of All-Japan (record which dated back to 1937 with the 20 years of Kimura). | ||
| 1978 | Yasuhiro Yamashita | |||
| 1979 | Yasuhiro Yamashita | |||
| 1980 | Yasuhiro Yamashita | |||
| 1981 | Yasuhiro Yamashita | With this 5th consecutive title, Yamashita sets a new record for victories in the All-Japan tournament, dethroning Kimura. | ||
| 1982 | Yasuhiro Yamashita | |||
| 1983 | Yasuhiro Yamashita | |||
| 1984 | Yasuhiro Yamashita | |||
| 1985 | Yasuhiro Yamashita | The record for victories in the tournament is raised to 9. | ||
| 1986 | Yoshimi Masaki | |||
| 1987 | Yoshimi Masaki | |||
| 1988 | Hitoshi Saito | |||
| 1989 | Naoya Ogawa | |||
| 1990 | Naoya Ogawa | |||
| 1991 | Naoya Ogawa | |||
| 1992 | Naoya Ogawa | |||
| 1993 | Naoya Ogawa | |||
| 1994 | Jun Konno | |||
| 1995 | Naoya Ogawa | |||
| 1996 | Naoya Ogawa | |||
| 1997 | Jun Konno | |||
| 1998 | Shinichi Shinohara | |||
| 1999 | Shinichi Shinohara | |||
| 2000 | Shinichi Shinohara | |||
| 2001 | Kosei Inoue | |||
| 2002 | Kosei Inoue | |||
| 2003 | Kosei Inoue | |||
| 2004 | Keiji Suzuki | |||
| 2005 | Keiji Suzuki | |||
| 2006 | Satoshi Ishii | At 19 years and 4 months, Ishii sets a new precocity record, dethroning Yamashita. | ||
| 2007 | Keiji Suzuki | |||
| 2008 | Satoshi Ishii | |||
| 2009 | Takamasa Anai | |||
| 2010 | Kazuhiko Takahashi | |||
| 2011 | Keiji Suzuki | Since 2011, the All-Japan Judo Championship is fought with International rules of IJF, until 2010 it was based on the Kodokan match referee rules. | ||
| 2012 | Hirotaka Kato | |||
| 2013 | Takamasa Anai | |||
| 2014 | Takeshi Ojitani | |||
| 2015 | Hisayoshi Harasawa | |||
| 2016 | Takeshi Ojitani | Until 2016, the match time was 6 minutes, and if there was a draw, the flag was judged without the extra time. | ||
| 2017 | Takeshi Ojitani | In 2017, the tournament rules were partially changed, the flag judgment was abolished, an extended game with unlimited time by the golden score method was adopted, and the game time was shortened from 6 minutes to 5 minutes. On the other hand, the 2017 International Judo Federation match referee rules abolished "effective" and "one combined technique", but these rules will continue to exist in this tournament. | ||
| 2018 | Hisayoshi Harasawa | In 2018, the match time was reduced to 4 minutes. | ||
| 2019 | Aaron Wolf | Wolf became the first athlete of American descent to win the All-Japan Championships with his victory on April 29. | ||
| 2020 | ? | Normally organized at the end of April, the Zen Nihon will finally take place on December 26 at the Budokan because the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. |
The keywords for this article:
- - best judo fighter
- - best judo player
- - best Japanese fighters
- - the all-time greatest Japanese fighters
- - GOAT of judo
- - Japanese judo team
- - Kodokan
- - Nippon Budokan
- - All-Japan Judo Federation
