Newspaper articles of judo injuries resulting in death: 1984 – 2010 [17]
District Court gave decision on death of high school judo club member: Must never be repeated
The Asahi Shimbun
January 14, 1997
The Fukushima District Court Aizu Wakamatsu Branch delivered the decision on the trial of a judo club member of Aizu High School of Fukushima Prefecture who died during the judo summer camp. The court clearly accepted that the instructions by the teacher, which lead to Naoyuki Narita’s (16) death, were insufficient. Shouichi (52) and Sachiko (50) Narita, who lost their son, are both school teachers. The decision discussed what proper physical education at school was, and reflected the grass root voices criticizing the prefectural government that refused to accept any responsibility for the student’s death.
The decision stated that the cause of rabdomyolysis, which was the point at issue, was excessive exercise under high temperature without an adequate amount of water, rejecting the claim by the prefecture which stated that the cause of Naoyuki’s death is unknown because the origin of rabdomyolysis has not been clarified.
The court ruled that the teacher was capable of foreseeing the possibilities of heat stroke based on his past experience. The teacher, who implicitly recommended drinking less water and only told the students to add brown sugar to water, did not take reasonable care to prevent students from suffering heat stroke, the decision stated.
Compensation of 55 million yen for improper instruction; decision on death of high school judo club member in Fukushima
The Asahi Shimbun
January 14, 1997
Chief Judge Kinoshita of the Fukushima District Court Aizu Wakamatsu Branch ordered Fukushima Prefecture to pay 55 million yen as compensation for the problems in the judo club teacher’s instruction. The teacher, who failed to provide enough water, did not take reasonable care to protect students from heat stroke.
The decision stated that Naoyuku Narita (16), a second year student of Aizu High School, collapsed after running for about 2.5 km during club training in the morning of Aug. 10, 1994, and died the next day. Chief Judge Kinoshita fully accepted the claim of the plaintiff that the judo club teacher simply gave warm water with brown sugar to the students without providing them sufficient water and salt, while he could have foreseen, based on his experience, that some students could be dehydrated.
