The Journey of Kei Ishii: From Childhood to University, Becoming the Strongest Man in Humanity

Updated on March 10, 2024

From Kei Ishii’s childhood to entering Kokushikan University. The beginning of becoming the strongest man in humanity, one in 6 billion people on earth.

Kei Ishii was born on December 19, 1986 in Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture, located between Osaka City and Kyoto City.
He was a huge baby, weighing 3,950g (approximately 4kg), and could not fit into the shoes provided by his parents, who are high school teachers, and continued to gain an extraordinary amount of weight.
Kei Ishii’s grandmother, Yoshiko, took care of him during the day in place of his parents, who both worked.
When Kei Ishii entered nursery school at the age of 4, his grandmother, Yoshiko, got into a fight with the nursery teacher three months after entering the nursery school.
“I’ll let you stop.”
So I came back.
Kei Ishii’s fearless personality, saying whatever is on her mind, and going her own way is said to be similar to her grandmother.

When his family went to the beach, Kei Ishii was so fascinated by the sea life he saw through his underwater goggles that he went far offshore with his face in the water, and his family searched everywhere.
“When you get absorbed in it, you can’t see anything.”
(Mother, Michiko)
Kei Ishii is usually very tight-lipped with his wallet, but when he spots a stall selling beetles and stag beetles at a summer festival, he grabs 5,000 yen and buys a beetle.
I filled the balcony with cases and looked after them happily.
When my grandmother, Yoshiko, saw Kei Ishii holding his hand in his breast pocket when he came home from school, she asked why, and a gecko appeared.
Grandmother Yoshiko
“Kei-kun, throw it away!
Yes.”
However, Kei Ishii
“Yamo-chan”
I named it and loved it.
When he went to his mother’s home in the countryside of Kyoto, Kei Ishii, who was about three times bigger than his classmates, chased insects, fish, and other animals like a carnivore.

His father, Yoshihiko, started judo in high school and went on to attend Nippon Sport Science University.
After graduating, he worked as a high school physical education teacher and advisor for the judo club, while also teaching judo at Shudokan (a municipal martial arts center located in Osaka Castle Park).
Her mother, Michiko, is also a physical education teacher from Nippon Sport Science University and a former handball player for Japan’s national team.
The two, who are seniors and juniors at Nippon Sport Science University, happened to go to the same okonomiyaki restaurant, and the lady at the restaurant told her mother, Michiko.
“I know a good person, so I’ll introduce him to you.”
That’s how we got together.
My father, Yoshihiko,
“I just want it to be thick.”
“I want my child to be strong, like a Hokkaido-born child, not a thoroughbred.”
I fed Kei Ishii miso soup with lots of natto, seaweed, jako, and vegetables, and a bowl of rice the size of a little finger.
His father, Yoshihiko, was strict about etiquette, but he didn’t get angry when he couldn’t study, and when he saw his son and daughter tearing up and playing with stamp sheets that he had been collecting since junior high school, he didn’t get angry and fell asleep.

Again, I never forced it.
Actually, I wanted Kei Ishii to do judo, so I made him wear judo pajamas and took him to the monastery, but…
“The important thing is to make people think that the dojo is a fun place.”
He didn’t make him practice or wear a judo uniform, and he let him play as he pleased.
At home, I casually watch judo matches, place books and manga related to judo and martial arts in the living room, and subtly guide them.
Kei Ishii
“I want to play baseball”
That being said
“When someone throws a ball, hit it with a stick and let them pick it up.
Do you want to do that?
It’s one-on-one for men.”
That said,
“I want to do judo”
I waited for that.
His father, Yoshihiko, is good at admonishing Kei Ishii, who won’t take his dog for a walk.
“He won’t be able to pee unless you take him for a walk…”
He spoke like a story.
Then, Kei Ishii, who was so emotional, finally burst into tears and went for a walk.

Kei Ishii was a quiet boy at Ibaraki City Oike Elementary School.
One day when I was in third grade, my teacher
“Say more what you want.”
“Do more of what you want to do.”
and the importance of individuality and self-expression, and in the process,
“Girls don’t like makeup.”
Also said.
The next day, Kei Ishii went to school wearing foundation and lipstick.
Kei Ishii had a large body, but he had no sense of exercise and was unable to compete in races.
On the other hand, his younger sister, Ai, is good at sports, and when they went to the skating rink for the first time, she skated smoothly, but Kei Ishii clung to her mother, Michiko’s waist, and was unable to let go.
When the J.League became popular and he formed a soccer team with his friends, Kei Ishii became a goalkeeper, but he was not very good at it.
“You can come tomorrow.”
It is said that when you swing a baseball bat, you are several tens of centimeters away from the ball.

“When I see detergents that say it’s dangerous not to mix them, I want to mix them.”
Kei Ishii was relatively good at science, but his academic results were generally poor.
I started attending a local cram school in the first grade, but I didn’t study too seriously, and when I got home from school, I was given handouts for homework, and when I went home, I met Michael, an international student who often came to visit my house.
“Michael, can you do math?”
I showed him the printout, and since arithmetic is just numbers and symbols, Michael solved it smoothly.
“Amazing Michael”
he said flatteringly.
Eventually, the cram school complained and the school decided to quit, but her mother, Michiko,
“thank you for helping me”
Beside him bowing his head, Kei Ishii said,
“Can you do it in a place like this, you idiot?”
However, he was later beaten up and sent to a cram school with more rigorous private instruction.

Started judo.
Practice is twice a week.
The event was held for an hour and a half on Tuesday and Friday evenings at the city gymnasium.
There are only three junior high schools in Ibaraki City that have judo clubs, and in many cases only elementary schools have judo clubs, and this dojo’s training content was designed to improve manners and physical strength.
Kei Ishii did not stand out at this dojo, but rather his younger sister, who joined the dojo, surprised the instructor with her sense, springiness, and sharpness of technique.
“It seems like my father didn’t let me try judo unless he asked me to.
If you do it from a young age, you may end up hating it along the way.
I hadn’t played any sports until then, but I started taking up judo.
I started it because I thought it was cool to see people throw things with such span, but things didn’t go as planned at first.”

In addition to judo, his father, Yoshihiko, was also good at swimming, rugby, and handball, and even won the All-Japan Sambo Championship (8th tournament, 90 kg class, August 1979).
but
“It wasn’t perfect.”
That’s what it means.
“That’s why I didn’t want Kei to become a poor resource.”
said his father, Yoshihiko, to Kei Ishii.

・Kaiotoshi with both legs instead of one leg
・Support fishing foot as a trick
・I was right-handed, but I was left-handed.

taught.
Kei Ishii took more than twice as long to learn, but
“I’ve gotten really good at it.”
I praised while enduring the guilt of lying.
“Skinship in a good way, physical examination in a bad way.”
Check the size and muscles of the body while massaging it.
I often made hot pot dishes and had them eat a lot of fish and meat, and for fried rice, I chopped many kinds of vegetables into small pieces and added them in the same amount as rice.

Kei Ishii is
“Drink as much as you can”
It is said that he drank as much milk as he could and then vomited it up.
“I eventually realized that if I drank this much, I would throw up.”
I became interested in cooking under the influence of my father, and as I grew older,
“For omelet rice, stir-fry ketchup in a frying pan to evaporate the water, then add rice to make it crumbly.
Separate the whites and yolks of the eggs, whisk the whites with as much air as possible, and mix the yolks just enough to break them before baking to make them fluffy.
I’ve gotten so good at it.
However, these days, I use stir-fried eggs and carrots in Chinese style.
“Unpao!”
He named it “ and served it on the table, but it was unpopular because the carrots were raw.

When Kei Ishii was in the fifth grade of elementary school, his father, Yoshihiko, decided to have him take the entrance exam for the powerful Seifu Junior High School (Tennoji Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture).
It is a private junior high and high school with strict lifestyle guidance such as “no cell phones allowed” and “hair must be shaved,” with a deviation score of 63.
It’s difficult to get into Seifu Junior High School unless you’re in the top 10% of grades or in the top 4 in a class of 40 students, but Seifu Junior High School doesn’t recommend sports, so students had no choice but to get in based purely on their academic ability.
His father, Yoshihiko, tried to enroll Kei Ishii into a cram school, but the cram school instructor refused.
“That’s impossible”
such as.
Father, Yoshihiko
“Why would you say something like that from the beginning?
I won’t complain even if I fail, I’ll make you study at home.”
I pushed hard.
For the next two years, Kei Ishii studied at cram school until 10 p.m. after school on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on holidays.
When I got hungry, I went to the udon restaurant near my cram school.
“If you eat 3 cups, it’s free”
I took on the challenge.