Career
He was part of the Japan national team for the 1964 Summer Olympics football competition in Tokyo. In 1972 he retired from playing for his club, Yawata Steel, in which he had been one of the most successful stars, but as their manager in 1980-1983 and 1987-1989 he oversaw a downward spiral as the once-great club, former Emperor"s Cup winners and contenders for the Japan Soccer League title, were relegated to Division 2 and, a decade later, to the Kyushu regional league, where they would stay until their demise in the late 1990s.