In whatever area, when people stay active for a long time, the names by which they were known when they first became famous come to sound out of place. Singer Hibari Misora (1937-1989), for example, outgrew the title “girl genius” and was called a “queen.” The change in names can be interpreted as a medal to honor the person's long and illustrious career.

I think it is about time we stopped using the nickname “Yawara-chan,” the moniker by which judoist Ryoko Tani is known. Tani won her seventh world title in the women's under 48-kilo class Sunday, at the judo championships held in Rio de Janeiro. The nickname, which uses the term of endearment “chan,” no longer sounds befitting for a 32-year-old mother who has accomplished such a remarkable feat.

The comment she made when she won her first world title in Canada in 1993 was: "I want to eat a lot of delicious cupcakes." But since then, except for the last championships that she missed because she was pregnant, Tani has won every world championship she has entered and is now the holder of more world titles than any judo competitor of either sex.

Her strength and speed, which are likened to those of small animals as tough as steel, show no signs of declining.

The Japanese team had a tough time in the championships this time. In particular, in the men's division, Kosei Inoue and Keiji Suzuki both put up poor fights, losing in the second round. In international competitions, judges tend to attach greater importance to the last waza or technique. While some Japanese participants seem to have been perplexed by the trend, such trivial matters did not affect Tani at all.

By winning, she also silenced critics who voiced doubts about her representing Japan when she finished second in the domestic trial.

Judo, a traditional Japanese martial art, was able to successfully become an international sport. But it came with a price: colored judo uniforms and other foreign ideas. Indeed the sport seems to be slipping away from its roots, something made evident by Yasuhiro Yamashita's failed bid for re-election as a director of the International Judo Federation. But that is the evolution of judo. Japan, as the country where it originated, has no choice but to proudly devote itself to the sport.

At next year's Beijing Olympics, other countries will, more than ever, be devising plans to compete against "Yawara-san." But there is one iroclad rule of martial arts that never changes. No matter where he athletes compete or what color uniforms they wear, the stronger one always wins.

09/18/2007　　asahi.com