Tadashi Itakusu

Tadashi Itakusu is one of those quietly compelling figures whose career keeps going long after the medals: a two-time Kano Cup winner who became a teacher in Kumamoto and a bridge to judo and sambo in Mongolia. Tokai's judo program has produced serious competitors over the decades, so just passing through that system tells you something about the level he was operating at. What I find genuinely cool about him is that he also dominated in sambo, winning the 1994 national title mostly by armbar. Old-school martial artist energy, where the mat was the only resume that mattered. I respect that kind of quiet conviction more than I probably should.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Tadashi Itakusu is a Japanese judoka born on December 10, 1971. He attended Tokai University, a prominent institution known for its strong judo program. From Kumamoto Prefecture, he won the Kano Cup at 60 kg in 1990 and 1992 and a bronze at the 1991 Asian Championships, also won the 1994 All-Japan Sambo Championships at 68 kg, and now teaches at Kumamoto Chuo High School while lecturing at the Mongolian National University of Physical Education, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2025.

Name (English)

Tadashi Itakusu

Name (Japanese)

板楠忠士

Reading

いたくす　ただし

Born

December 10, 1971 (age 54)

Origin

Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan

Height

167 cm

Occupation

Judoka

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Sagittarius / Boar

University

Tokai University

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%BF%E6%A5%A0%E5%BF%A0%E5%A3%AB
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20038710

Tags

• Judoka

Last updated

October 18, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.