Why is Japan so dominant in wrestling?

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

In both men and women's wrestling...in both Greco and Freestyle, Japan is amazingly good.  Why is this?

Asian countries tend not to be known for proficiency at strength-based sports, but rather precision/technique based sports like diving, table tennis and badminton.

Yet Japan seems to stand out as an Asian country that is tops overall when it comes to wrestling.  What explains this?  I can't imagine sumo is the reason why.

[Wrestleknownothing]

Come on. You have become a parody of a parody.

 

[BuckyBadger]

Japan is excellent in lower weights, and also produce some stud middleweights (but with less consistency). Very rarely do they have a competitive upper weight. 

Edited August 9 by BuckyBadger

[Wrestleknownothing]

Just now, BuckyBadger said:

Japan is excellent in lower weights, and also consistently produce some stud middleweights (but with less consistency). Very rarely do they have a competitive upper weight. 

Excellent point. And one of the things I noticed about their lower weights is how lightening quick they all are.

[Rassling]

Where the mind goes the body follows. This concept is applicable to us all but this nation seems to have perfected it. 

Read up on what role the mind plays in Japanese self defense techniques and other sports. They train both the mind and the body equally and the results speak for itself.

[CHROMEBIRD]

Ozaki and Susaki tho

[pokemonster]

Their culture is one of extreme dedication and hard work. Pays off. 

[Phantom]

1 minute ago, pokemonster said:

Their "culture" is one of extreme dedication and hard work. Pays off. 

Answer in BOLD

[scourge165]

6 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

In both men and women's wrestling...in both Greco and Freestyle, Japan is amazingly good.  Why is this?

Asian countries tend not to be known for proficiency at strength-based sports, but rather precision/technique based sports like diving, table tennis and badminton.

Yet Japan seems to stand out as an Asian country that is tops overall when it comes to wrestling.  What explains this?  I can't imagine sumo is the reason why.

Yeah...I...I can't think of anything they're known for that requires strength?

 

Huh...I'm sure something will come to me

[GrandOlm]

My  educated guesses.

No Russia in Greco or Freestyle accentuated it. 

Generally a large wealthy country with low levels of emigration. 

Certain forms of grappling (judo and sumo) are culturally relevant and have mass participation (idk how much sumo still is among the younger crowd but it still is high school and college sport over there I think). 

People then get funneled from judo and sumo into the olympic wresting (cant make in judo, to small for sumo etc) and from the time they are teens, Japan's excellent program trains them up and competition is fierce enough to produce great wrestlers. 

That plus a culture of hard work, discipline, and excellence. 

Also just filling a natural vacuum, especially in Greco. Sweden and Finland used to rule greco with the Germans a tier below. They are as bad  as the US in the modern day. Then Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland had strong programs before also falling. 

And wrestling is not popular in Japan. But they have a good system. 

[BuckyBadger]

15 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

In both men and women's wrestling...in both Greco and Freestyle, Japan is amazingly good.  Why is this?

Asian countries tend not to be known for proficiency at strength-based sports, but rather precision/technique based sports like diving, table tennis and badminton.

Yet Japan seems to stand out as an Asian country that is tops overall when it comes to wrestling.  What explains this?  I can't imagine sumo is the reason why.

Asian countries dominate in weight lifting at the lower weights.

[Eagle26]

Definitely a lot is the culture… they value hard work and dedication. They value wrestling and put a big emphasis on technique. However, you have to include the influence of genetics as well. Like Jamaican sprinters, the Japanese wrestlers are very quick! There’s only so much you can do to train that… sometimes you have it or you don’t 

[WrestlingRasta]

I’ve spent time there wrestling and I would say discipline is at the very forefront. Starts there and they are very very disciplined in every aspect of life. 

[Doublehalf]

3 hours ago, WrestlingRasta said:

I’ve spent time there wrestling and I would say discipline is at the very forefront. Starts there and they are very very disciplined in every aspect of life. 

Asking sincerely- in what ways would they be more disciplined than our guys for example? 

[PortaJohn]

21 minutes ago, Doublehalf said:

Asking sincerely- in what ways would they be more disciplined than our guys for example? 

Have always wanted to go to Japan.  Every time I've talked to someone who has it's always the same impression.  Astonished by the organization, discipline, focus, every other synonym you can think of.  I'd imagine the Japanese wrestling team follows the same philosophy as their famed metro system  

[denger]

It's also a very polite culture, where deference to elders is paramount. I can imagine that playing well when it comes to coaching & learning, and to developing elite talent. 

[WrestlingRasta]

45 minutes ago, Doublehalf said:

Asking sincerely- in what ways would they be more disciplined than our guys for example? 

Just in lifestyle is what I meant. Discipline is an intrical intrical part of their culture.  What we think of here in America as someone have a rare level of self discipline, is pretty much the norm there.  Discipline, routine, respect.  Three huge pillars in the culture.  It starts there. 

[Rassling]

48 minutes ago, Doublehalf said:

Asking sincerely- in what ways would they be more disciplined than our guys for example? 

Like night and day.

[cowcards]

Japan isn’t all of a sudden good at wrestling. They’ve been a top-4 team for more than this past Olympic cycle. 

2024- 1st medals/1st gold

2023- 2nd medals/1st gold

2022- 2nd in medals/tied 1st gold

2021- 4th in medals/tied 2nd gold

They’ve been ahead or tied with the US, Russia, Iran multiple times. 
 

Looking at their finalists this year:

Higuchi was a a former world champ/olympic silver

Kiyooka beat a former world/olympic champ to make the team

Takayuki is a world bronze

Fumita is an Olympic silver/2x world champ

Kusaka is a world bronze 

Fujinami is a multiple world champ

Sakurai is a world champ 

Motoki is a world silver

Kagami is a world champ

All of those results are during this cycle. Only one of those moves up more than 1 spot and that’s Kusaka going from bronze to gold. In men’s wrestling they are alway really good from 74 and down. With the Olympics and less weights it makes them more likely to have a better than normal result. 

If you’d take off your USA glasses for a minute you’d see they have the better team this year. Hell, the best wrestler in the world (Susaki) coming in didn’t even make the finals! It could’ve been even better.