Katsumi Miyaji

Katsumi Miyaji

Date of birth	(1941-03-10) March 10, 1941
Place of birth	Osaka Prefecture, Japan
School	Shijonaga High School
University	Doshisha University
Occupation(s)	Owner of a landscaping business
Rugby union career
Position(s) Prop Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) - Shijonaga High School () Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1960-1969 Sanyo Electric () International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1969 Japan 1 (0) Coaching career Years Team 1978, 1984, 1987 Japan 1988 Sanyo Electric

Katsumi Miyaji (宮地克実, Miyaji Katsumi) (born 10 March 1941) is a former rugby union player and coach. He played as a prop.

Career

After attending Shijonaga High School, Miyaji headed to Doshisha University. In his university enrollment days, he joined at the second Japanese Association invited NHK Cup along with Yoshihiro Sakata and other players, winning against Kintetsu and virtually took part in rugby. Later, he got a work in Sanyo Tokyo. Also, he took part in the Japan national rugby union team, with which he participated in the Asian championship in 1969, during the match against Hong Kong and won 1 cap. After his retirement, he became the coach of Japan twice in 1978 and 1984. And after the resignation of his predecessor Hitoshi Oka, he took the lead for the third time as head coach for the Japan national team in the 1987 Rugby World Cup, taking the command during the tournament. Then, he took over as coach for Sanyo. Every year in the same period, he fought a nomination against Kobe Steel, which won most in Japan at that time. However, at Sanyo Electric (currently, Panasonic Wild Knights), through the players ad the coaching period, as he was not able to achieve the victory in the National Company Championship, he was known as "a Coach of Agony" (悲劇の名将, Higeki no meishō). Currently he runs a landscaping business, as well, he works on the development of Panasonic Wild Knights' training ground. Nobuhiro Baba, the original author of the TV dorama School☆Wars is a junior student in Shijonaga High School and has been providing a large number of rugby-related materials for writing his work.

Anecdotes

• At the final of the National Rugby Football Tournament on 8 January 1991, immediately after Sanyo Electric's unexpected loss against Kobe Steel, it is said that inside of his mind went blank.
• In the final match of the 45th Japan Rugby Football Championship tournament held in March 2008, after the defeat of Suntory Sungoliath, he visited Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in a sunny day. After the match, Miyaji cried, saying "Honma, it was longer". Furthermore, he was sought from Sanyo Fifteen and he was lifted up.

External links

• Katsumi Miyaji at ESPNscrum