 He entered Tenri University in 1978, and continued his success by winning the college-level world judo championship in 1979 and 1980.After graduating from Tenri University, he began work as a teacher for a school in Nara Prefecture in 1982.He was chosen as the -60 kg representative for the Japanese olympic judo team for the 1984 Summer Olympics, where he won a gold medal by defeating future gold medalist Kim Jae-Yup only 69 seconds into the match.