Children continue to die in judo

In Japan, on a yearly average, more than 4 children have died and more than 10 children have suffered serious injuries in judo since 1983, which is the year record began.
Japan Judo Accident Victims Association started the movement to eliminate judo injuries in 2010. Thanks to the increased public awareness of judo risks, no children under 18 died of judo injuries for three years between 2012 and 2014, while serious injuries still continued to happen.

However, fatal injuries in judo of children under 18 occurred again in 2015. The three cases are as follows:

1. May 22, 2015
Age, gender: 13-year-old, 1st grade junior high school student, female
Judo experience: 1.5 months
Opponent: 14-year-old, 2nd grade junior high school student, female, 4 years of judo experience, first kyu
Technique used: Osotogari (Large outer reap)
What happened: Morning practice before class lasted 40 minutes. Regular practice
started at 5:00PM and one hour and 40 minutes later, with no break, when the opponent executed osotogri in an agreed-upon practice, the victim was unable to stand up and lost consciousness.
Cause of death: Acute subdural hematoma
Date of death: May 27, 2015
Note: The victim complained of a headache the day before the injury.

2. August 14, 2015
Age, gender: 15-year-old, 1st grade high school student, male
Judo experience: 11 years
What happened: The school judo club had a joint practice with other schools at the municipal martial art stadium for two and a half hours in the morning. From 3:00PM students ran for 1.4km, followed by a training session including practice of dashes. The victim fell ill during the training and collapsed at 3:40PM. (WBGT at 3:00PM was 30.2 degrees)
Cause of death: Multiple organ failure caused by heatstroke
Date of death: August 16, 2015
Note: He was not well after the morning training and hardly ate lunch
Height = 185cm Weight = 125kg

3. April 25 2016
Age, gender: 17-year-old, 3rd grade high school student, male
Judo experience: 13 years, first dan
What happened: When the injured student started sode-tsurikomi-goshi (sleeve lifting pulling hip throw) in a practice match, the opponent held on and both students fell on their right side.
Cause of death: Cervical fracture-dislocation; cervical cord injury
Date of death: May 10, 2016

Many serious injuries have occurred during the last two years. Five cases have been selected and briefly described:

A. May 21, 2015
Age, gender: 15-year-old, 1st grade high school student, male
Judo experience: 9 years
What happened: During randori (free sparring) the victim attempted right ouchi-gari (large inner reap). The opponent appeared to do left kosoto-gari (small outer reap) but executed ouchi-gaeshi (large inner reaping throw counter) and the victim hit the back of his head on the tatami mat.
Injury: Acute subdural hematoma
Present condition: Persistent vegetative state

B. December 12, 2015
Age, gender: 14-year-old, 2nd grade junior high school student, male
Judo experience: 1 year and 7 months
Opponent: Instructor, fourth dan
What happened: When the victim attempted left uchi-mata (inner-thigh reap), the instructor, fourth dan, lifted his right leg to receive it with uchi-mata-sukashi (inner-thigh reaping throw slip). The victim collapsed and fell down while the instructor also fell on the victim.
Injury: Cervical fracture-dislocation
Present condition: Right hand does not move. Requires assistance with walking.

C. May 31. 2016
Age, gender: 14-year-old, 3rd grade junior high school student, male
Judo experience: 2 years 2 months
What happened: The victim was thrown during agreed-upon practice of rennraku-waza (Combination of several techniques) of ouchi-gari to osoto-gari. His head was injured by osoto-gari.
Injury: Acute subdural hematoma
Opponent: 3rd grade junior high school student
Present condition: Persistent vegetative state
Issues: The opponent’s weight and height were 117kg and 175cm and the victim’s weight and height were 48kg and 160cm.
The difference in the weight and height of the two were as much as 69kg and 15cm.

D. August 7, 2016
Age, gender: 12-year-old, 1st grade junior high school student, male
Judo experience: 4 months
What happened: When the injured student was having an agreed-upon practice with a third year student, the third year student used osoto-gari (large outer reap). The victim fell on his back, hitting the back of his head.
Injury: Traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage and acute subdural hematoma on both sides of the head.
Present condition: Higher brain dysfunction; gait training still required
Issues: When the 3rd grade athlete reported to the teacher that the 1st grade student had lost consciousness and collapsed, the teacher told him to bring the victim. The 3rd grade student brought the unconscious victim to the teacher by pulling him by himself across the floor

E. August 19, 2016
Age, gender: 13-year-old, 1st grade junior high school student, female
Judo experience: 4 months
What happened: The injured female student was having a randori with a male sixth grade elementary school student who had experience of judo. When he used ouchhi-gari (large inner reap) the female student fell on her bottom and hit her back and the rear of the head. She complained that her head hurt and she lost consciousness.
Injury: Acute subdural hematoma
Issues: She had had a headache at the end of July but restarted practice because the headache had disappeared.

A number of common aspects can be identified among the above injured students:
① Many were beginners.
② There were major differences in the level of capabilities between the victims and the opponents.
③ There were major differences in the weight and height of the victims and the opponents.
④ Many victims were injured by osotogari (large outer reap).
⑤ Many victims developed acute subdural hematoma.
⑥ Practice continued for a long time without a break.

The above points may offer suggestions to counter the high level of children’s injuries.

On the other hand when a student is seriously harmed or dies due to judo injury, a large number of judo coaches in Japan say, “It’s just another injury,” “We have to accept it because judo is a martial art,” or “It was an unfortunate accident.” There is no sense of urgency and the issue is treated like somebody else’s problem.

Many of us wonder why fatal and serious injuries in judo occur only in Japan; why only young people die; why serious injuries don’t occur overseas.

I have a request to the readers of this article. If you have an opportunity to meet Japanese judo instructors in your country or in Japan, please ask them why they do not make efforts to protect children.

28/12/2016




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