Japan competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 184 competitors, 148 men and 36 women, took part in 113 events in 21 sports.
* Takao Kawaguchi — Judo, Men's Lightweight (63 kg)
Toyokazu Nomura — Judo, Men's Half Middleweight (70 kg)Shinobu Sekine — Judo, Men's Middleweight (80 kg)Mayumi Aoki — Swimming, Women's 100 metres ButterflyNobutaka Taguchi — Swimming, Men's 100 metres BreaststrokeKiyomi Kato — Wrestling, Men's Freestyle FlyweightHideaki Yanagida — Wrestling, Men's Freestyle BantamweightSawao Kato — Gymnastics, Men's Parallel BarsSawao Kato — Gymnastics, Men's All-Around IndividualMitsuo Tsukahara — Gymnastics, Men's Horizontal BarAkinori Nakayama — Gymnastics, Men's RingsSawao Kato, Akinori Nakayama, Eizo Kenmotsu, Mitsuo Tsukahara, Shigeru Kasamatsu, and Teruichi Okamura — Gymnastics, Men's Team Combined ExercisesYoshihide Fukao, Kenji Kimura, Masayuki Minami, Jungo Morita, Yūzo Nakamura, Katsutoshi Nekoda, Tetsuo Nishimoto, Yasuhiro Noguchi, Seiji Oko, Tetsuo Satō, Kenji Shimaoka, and Tadayoshi Yokota — Volleyball, Men's Team Competition* Kikuo Wada — Wrestling, Men's Freestyle Lightweight
Koichiro Hirayama — Wrestling, Men's Greco-Roman FlyweightKatsumi Matsumura, Takako Iida, Mariko Okamoto, Takako Shirai, Makiko Furukawa, Keiko Hama, Toyoko Iwahara, Sumie Oinuma, Seiko Shimakage, Michiko Shiokawa, Noriko Yamashita, and Yaeko Yamazaki — Volleyball, Women's Team Competition* Motoki Nishimura — Judo, Men's Heavyweight
Nobutaka Taguchi — Swimming, Men's 200 metres BreaststrokeIn the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, Japan entered three men and one woman. Their highest placing competitor was Yoshiko Akayama, at 17th place in the women's competition.
Men's Individual Competition:
Hiroshi Kajikawa — 2381 points (→ 19th place)Masashi Hibino — 2344 points (→ 29th place)Shinji Nakamoto — 2287 points (→ 38th place)Women's Individual Competition:
Yoshiko Akayama — 2301 points (→ 17th place)Men's 5000 metres
Keisuke SawakiHeat — 13:44.8 (→ did not advance)Takaharu KoyamaHeat — 14:12.6 (→ did not advance)Men's High Jump
Hidehiko TomizawaQualifying Round — 2.15mFinal — 2.05m (→ 19th place)Kuniyoshi SugiokaQualification Round — 2.06m (→ did not advance)Men's Light Flyweight (– 48 kg)
Yoshimitsu AragakiFirst Round — Lost to Asen Nikolov (BUL), 0:5Three cyclists represented Japan in 1972.
SprintYoshikazu ChoYaichi Numata1000m time trialTakafumi MatsudaFinal — 1:10.00 (→ 20th place)TandemYaichi Numata and Yoshikazu Cho → 12th placeMen's 3m Springboard
Junji Yuasa — 316.95 points (→ 24th place)Men's 10m Platform
Junji Yuasa — 276.00 points (→ 19th place)Women's 3m Springboard
Taeko Kubo — 236.25 points (→ 24th place)Women's 10m Platform
Keiko Otsubo — 168.24 points (→ 23rd place)Five fencers, all men, represented Japan in 1972.
Men's foilHiroshi NakajimaIchiro SerizawaKiyoshi UeharaMen's team foilShiro Maruyama, Masaya Fukuda, Hiroshi Nakajima, Kiyoshi Uehara, Ichiro SerizawaHandball
Men's Team CompetitionPreliminary RoundLost to Yugoslavia (14-20)Lost to Hungary (12-20)Defeated United States (20-16)Classification Matches9th/12th place: Lost to Norway (17-19)11th/12th place: Defeated Iceland (19-18) → 11th placeThree male pentathletes represented Japan in 1972.
Men's Individual Competition:
Masaru Sakano — 4627 points (→ 31st place)Yuso Makihira — 4583 points (→ 33rd place)Akira Kubo — 4371 points (→ 49th place)Men's Team Competition:
Sakano, Makihara, and Kubo — 13569 points (13th place)Men's Single Sculls
Hideo OkamotoHeat — 8:20.82Repechage — 8:27.36 (→ did not advance)Men's Finn:
Kazuoki Matsuyama — 176.0 (→ 27th place)Men's Flying Dutchman:
Akira Yamamura and Takashi Yamamura — 128.0 (→ 19th place)Six male shooters represented Japan in 1972.
25 m pistolKanji KuboTakeo Kamachi50 m pistolShigetoshi TashiroYoshihisa Yoshikawa50 m rifle, three positionsMinoru Ito50 m rifle, proneMinoru ItoTakeshi SugitaMen's Team CompetitionPreliminary Round (Group B)Defeated Romania (3-1)Defeated Cuba (3-0)Defeated East Germany (3-0)Defeated Brazil (3-0)Defeated West Germany (3-0)SemifinalsDefeated Bulgaria (3-2)FinalDefeated East Germany (3-1) → Gold MedalTeam RosterKenji KimuraYoshinide FukaoJunko MoritaSeiji OhkoTadayoshi YokotaKatsutoshi NekodaYasuhiro NoguchiKenji ShimaokaYūzo NakamuraTetsuo NishimotoMassao MinamiTetsuo SatōMen's Team CompetitionPreliminary Round (Group C)Lost to Spain (4-6)Lost to Soviet Union (1-11)Lost to Bulgaria (4-7)Lost to Italy (5-12) → Did not advanceTeam RosterYukiharu OshitaHirokatsu KuwayamaToshio TakahashiShuzo YajimaHiroshi HashimotoKoji NakanoNaoto MinegishiTatsuo JihiraTakashi KimuraYoshihiro YasumiToru AraseMen's Doubles:
Ippei Kojima and Suresh Goel of India- 1st round - Lost to Ng. Boon Bee and Punch Gunalan of Malaysia (8 - 15, 1 - 15)
Women's Singles:
Noriko Nakayama → Gold Medal- 1st round - defeated Ulla Strand of Denmark (11 - 5, 11 - 9)
- Semi–Final - defeated Gillian Gilks of Great Britain (11 - 3, 8 - 11, 11 - 9)
- Final - defeated Utami Dewi of Indonesia (11 - 5, 11 - 3)
Hiroe Yuki → bronze medal- 1st round - defeated Joke van Beusekom of Netherlands (11 - 3, 11 - 2)
- Semi-Final - lost to Utami Dewi of Indonesia (5 - 11, 9 - 11)
Mixed Doubles:
Kojima and Nakayama- 1st round - lost to Talbot and Gilks of Great Britain (9 - 15, 4 - 15)
