# Japan at the 1976 Summer Olympics

Japan competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 213 competitors, 153 men and 60 women, took part in 119 events in 20 sports.

## Medalists

| Medal | Name | Sport | Event | Date |
| Gold | Shun Fujimoto Hisato Igarashi Sawao Kato Hiroshi Kajiyama Mitsuo Tsukahara Eizo Kenmotsu | Gymnastics | Men's team all-around | July 20 |
| Gold | Mitsuo Tsukahara | Gymnastics | Men's horizontal bar | July 23 |
| Gold | Sawao Kato | Gymnastics | Men's parallel bars | July 23 |
| Gold | Kazuhiro Ninomiya | Judo | Men's 93 kg | July 27 |
| Gold | Isamu Sonoda | Judo | Men's 80 kg | July 28 |
| Gold | Yuko Arakida Takako Iida Katsuko Kanesaka Kiyomi Kato Echiko Maeda Noriko Matsuda Mariko Okamoto Takako Shirai Shoko Takayanagi Hiromi Yano Juri Yokoyama Mariko Yoshida | Volleyball | Women's tournament | July 30 |
| Gold | Yuji Takada | Wrestling | Men's freestyle 52 kg | July 31 |
| Gold | Jiichiro Date | Wrestling | Men's freestyle 74 kg | July 31 |
| Gold | Haruki Uemura | Judo | Men's open category | July 31 |
| Silver | Sawao Kato | Gymnastics | Men's individual all-around | July 21 |
| Silver | Eizo Kenmotsu | Gymnastics | Men's horizontal bar | July 23 |
| Silver | Eizo Kenmotsu | Gymnastics | Men's pommel horse | July 23 |
| Silver | Mitsuo Tsukahara | Gymnastics | Men's vault | July 23 |
| Silver | Koji Kuramoto | Judo | Men's 70 kg | July 29 |
| Silver | Hiroshi Michinaga | Archery | Men's individual | July 30 |
| Bronze | Kenkichi Ando | Weightlifting | Men's 56 kg | July 19 |
| Bronze | Kazumasa Hirai | Weightlifting | Men's 60 kg | July 20 |
| Bronze | Mitsuo Tsukahara | Gymnastics | Men's individual all-around | July 21 |
| Bronze | Mitsuo Tsukahara | Gymnastics | Men's parallel bars | July 23 |
| Bronze | Hiroshi Kajiyama | Gymnastics | Men's vault | July 23 |
| Bronze | Koichiro Hirayama | Wrestling | Men's Greco-Roman 52 kg | July 24 |
| Bronze | Sumio Endo | Judo | Men's heavyweight | July 26 |
| Bronze | Akira Kudo | Wrestling | Men's freestyle 48 kg | July 31 |
| Bronze | Masao Arai | Wrestling | Men's freestyle 57 kg | July 31 |
| Bronze | Yasaburo Sugawara | Wrestling | Men's freestyle 68 kg | July 31 |
Medals by sport :
| Sport | | | | Total |
| Gymnastics | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| Judo | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Wrestling | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Volleyball | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Archery | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Weightlifting | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Total | 9 | 6 | 10 | 25 |

## Archery

In their second Olympic archery competition, Japan won a silver medal and placed third on the national leaderboard for the sport. The medal was won by Hiroshi Michinaga. Two men and two women competed for Japan.
Women's Individual Competition:
* Minako Sato — 2308 points (→ 14th place)
* Kyoko Yamazaki — 2094 points (→ 26th place)
Men's Individual Competition:
* Hiroshi Michinaga — 2502 points (→ Silver Medal)
* Takanobu Nishi — 2422 points (→ 8th place)

## Athletics

Men's 10.000 metres
* Toshiaki Kamata
   * Heat — 28:36.21 (→ did not advance)
Men's Marathon
* Shigeru So — 2:18:26 (→ 20th place)
* Noriyasu Mizukami — 2:18:44 (→ 21st place)
* Akio Usami — 2:22:29 (→ 32nd place)
Men's High Jump
* Katsumi Fukura
   * Qualification — 2.13m (→ did not advance)
* Kazunori Koshikawa
   * Qualification — 2.13m (→ did not advance)
Men's 20 km Race Walk
* Yoshio Morikawa — 1:42:20 (→ 34th place)

## Basketball
### Men's team competition

* Preliminary round (group A):
   * Lost to Canada (76-104)
   * Lost to Mexico (90-108)
   * Lost to Cuba (56-97)
   * Lost to Soviet Union (69-123)
   * Lost to Australia (79-117)
* Classification Match:
   * 9th/11th place: Lost to Puerto Rico (91-111) → 11th place
* Team roster
   * Shigeaki Abe
   * Nobuo Chigusa
   * Satoshi Mori
   * Shoji Yuki
   * Yutaka Fujimoto
   * Hirofumi Numata
   * Kiyohide Kuwata
   * Koji Yamamoto
   * Shigeto Shimizu
   * Fumio Saito
   * Norihiko Kitahara
   * Hideki Hamaguchi
* Head coach: Masahiko Yoshida.

### Women's team competition

* Team roster
   * Kimiko Hashimoto
   * Kazuko Kadoya
   * Kimi Wakitashiro
   * Mieko Fukui
   * Miyako Otsuka
   * Miho Matsuoka
   * Kazuyo Hayashida
   * Teruko Miyamoto
   * Keiko Namai
   * Reiko Aonuma
   * Sachiyo Yamamoto
   * Misako Satake
* Head coach: Masatoshi Ozaki

## Boxing

Men's Light Flyweight (– 48 kg)
* Noboru Uchizama
** First Round — Lost to Brendan Dunne (IRL), RSC-2
Men's Flyweight (– 51 kg)
* Toshinori Koga
** First Round — Bye
** Second Round — Defeated Virgilio Palomo (COL), 5:0
** Third Round — Lost to Ramón Duvalón (CUB), 0:5

## Cycling

Five cyclists represented Japan in 1976.

### Sprint

* Yoshikazu Cho — 5th place

### 1000m time trial

* Yoshikazu Cho — 1:09.664 (→ 17th place)

### Individual pursuit

* Yoichi Machishima — 15th place

### Team pursuit

* Yoichi Machishima
* Tadashi Ogasawara
* Yoshiaki Ogasawara
* Tsutomu Okabori

## Fencing

Eight fencers, four men and four women, represented Japan in 1976.

### Men's foil

* Masanori Kawatsu
* Noriyuki Sato
* Toshio Jingo

### Men's team foil

* Masanori Kawatsu, Hideaki Kamei, Toshio Jingo, Noriyuki Sato

### Women's foil

* Hideko Oka
* Yukari Kajihara
* Mariko Yoshikawa

### Women's team foil

* Hideko Oka, Mariko Yoshikawa, Hiroko Kamada, Yukari Kajihara

## Modern pentathlon

Three male pentathletes represented Japan in 1976.
Men's Individual Competition:
* Shoji Uchida — 4850 points (→ 31st place)
* Akira Kubo — 4700 points (→ 37th place)
* Hiroyuki Kawazoe — 4591 points (→ 40th place)
Men's Team Competition:
* Uchida, Kubo, and Kawazoe — 14234 points (→ 12th place)

## Shooting
### Open

| Athlete | Event | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Points | Rank |
| Taro Aso | Skeet | 187 | 41 |
| Saijo Hosokawa | 50 m rifle, prone | 588 | 31 |
| Toshiyasu Ishige | Trap | 177 | 18 |
| Takeo Kamachi | 25 m rapid fire pistol | 591 | 12 |
| Kazuyo Kato | Skeet | 188 | 35 |
| Kanji Kubo | 25 m rapid fire pistol | 586 | 20 |
| Kaoru Matsuo | 50 m rifle, three positions | 1119 | 41 |
| Kaoru Matsuo | 50 m rifle, prone | 580 | 68 |
| Jitsuka Matsuoka | Trap | 178 | 16 |
| Masanobu Ohata | 50 m pistol | 545 | 28 |
| Michiha Ozaki | 50 m rifle, three positions | 1115 | 44 |
| Shigetoshi Tashiro | 50 m pistol | 549 | 21 |

## Volleyball
### Men's team competition

* Preliminary round (group B)
   * Defeated Italy (3-0)
   * Defeated Brazil (3-0)
   * Lost to Soviet Union (0-3)
* Semi Finals
   * Lost to Poland (2-3)
* Bronze Medal Match
   * Lost to Cuba (0-3) → Fourth place
* Team roster
   * Taka Maruiyama
   * Katsutoshi Nekoda
   * Katsumi Oda
   * Tetsuo Nishimoto
   * Yassunori Yassuda
   * Yoshi Fukao
   * Shoichi Yanagimoto
   * Mikiyasu Tanaka
   * Tadayoshi Yokota
   * Seiji Ohko
   * Kinji Shimaoka
   * Tetsuo Satō
* Head coach: Tsutomu Koyama

### Women's team competition

* Preliminary round (group A)
   * Defeated Hungary (3-0)
   * Defeated Peru (3-0)
   * Defeated Canada (3-0)
* Semi Finals
   * Defeated South Korea (3-0)
* Final
   * Defeated Soviet Union (3-0) → Gold Medal
* Team roster
   * Takako Iida
   * Mariko Okamoto
   * Echiko Maeda
   * Noriko Matsuda
   * Takako Shirai
   * Kiyomi Kato
   * Yuko Arakida
   * Katsuko Kanesaka
   * Mariko Yoshida
   * Shoko Takayanagi
   * Hiromi Yano
   * Juri Yokoyama
* Head coach: Shigeo Yamada