Judo gold medalist Natsumi Tsunoda has publicly unveiled the construction site in Chiba Prefecture for her long-awaited dōjō, fulfilling a deeply personal promise that stretches back to her childhood and served as an underlying motivation during her competitive career.
A Grandfather’s Unfinished Vision Breaks Ground in Chiba
The 34-year-old athlete, who claimed the women’s 48kg title at the 2024 Paris Olympics and subsequently announced her retirement from active competition, updated her YouTube channel on Oct. 18 to share footage of the sprawling plot. The property, currently covered in fields and greenery, once belonged to her grandfather—a passionate judo enthusiast who also operated a bone-setting clinic. According to Tsunoda, her grandfather had originally envisioned a combined clinic and judo space on the land, though her parents ultimately did not pursue the judo facility after taking over the medical practice.
“I heard that my grandfather bought this land with the idea of doing them together, but my parents didn’t run a dōjō,” Tsunoda explained in the video. With her parents offering full support for the project, she chose the location to honor her grandfather, who passed away when she was in the fourth grade of elementary school.
Inside the Blueprint for the New Facility
The planned facility is designed to feature an approximate 60-tatami mat space—sufficient for a single competition area—alongside locker rooms and related amenities. Tsunoda noted that she wants a clean, open atmosphere with high ceilings, expressing hope that construction will wrap up smoothly by next year.
For Tsunoda, the dōjō project is not a sudden retirement hobby but the culmination of years of deliberate planning. She revealed that she began seriously contemplating her post-competitive future following the Tokyo Olympics, where she missed out on selection for the national team, a period compounded by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Financial Discipline Forged on the Tatami
“The reason I was able to keep competing after that was because I was thinking about my second career,” Tsunoda said. To fund the venture, she focused entirely on her competitive earnings—maximizing her results to secure a salary and tournament prize money, earmarking every spare yen for the construction fund. That steady financial discipline directly fueled her drive toward the Paris Games.
Addressing the timing of the project at age 34, she emphasized that waiting until other life milestones occurred might stall the momentum. Describing her own character, she noted that she prefers to act while she still has the physical energy and drive, rather than letting the opportunity slip away.
Building a Community Hub for Future Generations
Beyond serving as a personal training base where she can practice freely, Tsunoda intends for the facility to function as a community hub for judo promotion, youth development, and support for student athletes transitioning into their post-competition careers.
The announcement drew widespread praise online, with viewers flooding the video’s comment section to applaud her proactive mindset in retirement, praise the project as a touching tribute to her grandfather, and offer encouragement for her future goals.
Worth a look
