The national high school inter-high school judo tournament (inter-high) started on the 6th, and heated battles have been held for five days. “THE ANSWER” picks up athletes who worked hard in both literary and military arts and participated in big stages nationwide. Matori Takahashi (3rd year) of Akita High School, the No. 1 preparatory school in the prefecture, who participated in the men’s 60kg class of the individual competition, spent her days studying until midnight every day while working hard at club activities. He reveals his own way of keeping up with the academic achievements of those around him while remaining nationally skilled in judo. (Interview and text: THE ANSWER editorial department, Hiroya Miyauchi)
Judo Inter-High, Akita High School and Matori Takahashi participate in the individual competition men’s 60 kg class
The national high school inter-high school judo tournament (inter-high) started on the 6th, and heated battles have been held for five days. “THE ANSWER” picks up athletes who worked hard in both literary and military arts and participated in big stages nationwide. Matori Takahashi (3rd year) of Akita High School, the No. 1 preparatory school in the prefecture, who participated in the men’s 60kg class of the individual competition, spent her days studying until midnight every day while working hard at club activities. He reveals his own way of keeping up with the academic achievements of those around him while remaining nationally skilled in judo. (Interview and text: THE ANSWER editorial department, Hiroya Miyauchi)
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Takahashi’s last inter-high ended with a little regret.
“I was never able to become a kumite that I was good at.
In the first round, he played against Fukai Hirayama (3rd year) from Ninoura (Nagasaki), but he lost the lead due to his pace. Unable to bring out his full potential, he distorted his face after losing the first match.
The judo club has a total of 9 members, 3 in each grade. “Since there are few people, I have no choice but to imagine the other party.” Since there are many lightweight club members who are not accustomed to heavy weight classes, they practice while imagining opponents with large physiques. Takahashi successfully grabbed the Inter-High participation. He was the result of weight training after practice and running training in the morning, but he was at his desk every day on weekdays.
Akita High School is Akita’s No. 1 preparatory school, which is said to exceed the deviation value of 70. Of the last year’s graduates, 194 graduated from the University of Tokyo, including 6, went on to national and public universities.
One of the features is the quiz. Students are expected to take quizzes almost every day, as the subjects are spread out over the days of the week so that the subjects are not too concentrated in one day. Takahashi finished club activities, went home, finished dinner, etc., and started studying for quizzes for about two hours every day from around 10 p.m. I usually go to bed after the hands of the clock have passed midnight.
Akita High School aims for both literary and martial arts, saying, “It’s an environment where you can do your best in both studies and judo.” In the morning, he took the train at 6:30, which was close to the first train, for training before class, but he didn’t neglect his studies because the level of the people around him was high.
