Kenta Iwamoto Details Abuse During Judo Training
Kenta Iwamoto is a rising star in the realm of professional No-Gi. Everytime, the B-Team member steps on the mat, he has one of the best matches of the event.
Sadly, Kenta suffered years of abuse in the beginning of his early Judo training that he recently began talking about.
As a young kid in Japan, Iwamoto’s first Judo instructor was an abusive bully, who would punish students by putting them in submissions. He detailed one instance of his coach repeatedly choking him out on the She’ll Be Right MMA Podcast.
“If you do something bad in the school, (for example) I was playing cards with my friend and you’re not allowed to do that. And then going back to the dojo, the afternoon training, he (the coach) started just in sparring, he’ll choke me out. The coach wakes you up, does it again. It happens often. It was used a lot. Well, not now, but back in the day.”- Kenta Iwamoto
A Cultural Problem
During this time, nobody would come forward with stories about abuse like this. It has long been a problem within Judo and Kenta’s story is one of many.
This isn’t just a problem within Judo, but in martial arts as a whole. We have detailed various cases of abuse within BJJ, which has included violence and sexual abuse.
It’s a good thing that Kenta Iwamoto came forward and shared his story with the world. When more people come forward and speak out against any type of abuse, the culture improves.
We’re happy to see Kenta was able to overcome the abuse he suffered and became a top Jiu-Jitsu athlete.
Bobby is martial artist for almost 20 years with a BJJ black belt under Professor Sergio Miranda. He is also a karate black and former combat sports athlete, who loves all things grappling.