Newspaper articles of judo injuries resulting in death: 1984 – 2010 [4]
First year high school student dies of heat stroke during judo training camp
The Asahi Shimbun
July 28, 1987
It was reported that a first year student of Koiwa High School in Tokyo, who was a member of the judo club, died after he collapsed during the judo training camp held at Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture. The student was Hitoshi Sakamoto, the son of Shoujirou Sakamoto, an officer of Edogawa City Hall.
The high school indicated that Hitoshi attended the 5-day judo club training session from July 23 at the Youth House in Kiryu city with two teachers and 12 club members. He suddenly fell down during practice around 11:30 on July 24 and was taken to hospital; he died around 11:00 am on July 25. Autopsy at Juntendo University Hospital in Tokyo on July 27 showed that he had heart failure due to heat stroke.
On the day Hitoshi collapsed, the temperature at Maebashi, a city close to Kiryu, was 38.3℃ at noon. Hitoshi’s body temperature immediately after he fell was 41℃. The intense heat may have caused the collapse.
“There was nothing unusual when physical checkup of the participants was conducted on July 1. The practice which started from 9 a.m. with a warm-up exercise was not excessively hard,” the high school stated.
Parents of student who died of heat stroke at judo training camp filed lawsuit against school
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun
July 7, 1988,
The parents of a public high school student in Tokyo who died of heat stroke during judo summer training camp brought a lawsuit on July 7 against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the doctor who treated him. They stated that their son’s death was due to the lack of responsibility of the school that failed to take proper safety precaution and health management measures, and the lack of proper treatment by the doctor of the hospital. A total compensation of about 114million yen was claimed.
