The Most Famous
RUGBY PLAYERS from Japan
This page contains a list of the greatest Japanese Rugby Players. The pantheon dataset contains 35 Rugby Players, 1 of which were born in Japan. This makes Japan the birth place of the 15th most number of Rugby Players behind Namibia, and Luxembourg.
Top 2
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Japanese Rugby Players of all time. This list of famous Japanese Rugby Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.
1. Kenki Fukuoka (b. 1992)
With an HPI of 32.64, Kenki Fukuoka is the most famous Japanese Rugby Player. His biography has been translated into 14 different languages on wikipedia.
Kenki Fukuoka (福岡 堅樹, Fukuoka Kenki; born 7 September 1992) is a Japanese former rugby union player. He was named in Japan's squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. He was selected for Japan's 2016 Olympic sevens squad and included in the squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, held in Japan for the first time. Fukuoka won the man of the match award in Japan's victory against Scotland in the 2019 World Cup on 13 October 2019; a victory that saw Japan reach the competition's knockout stage for the first time. In 2021, he entered the Medical school of Juntendo University for professional doctor career.
2. Yoshikazu Fujita (b. 1993)
With an HPI of 27.01, Yoshikazu Fujita is the 2nd most famous Japanese Rugby Player. His biography has been translated into 9 different languages.
Yoshikazu Fujita (藤田 慶和, born 8 September 1993 in Kyoto) is a Japanese international rugby union player. After impressing the coaches with his form playing for the Japan sevens team, Fujita was selected for the Japan national rugby union team and became the youngest ever player to play for Japan when he took the field against the UAE in May 2012 at the age of 18 years and 210 days in his hometown of Fukuoka. On his debut as Japan youngest ever player he scored 6 tries. However soon after his debut later that month he suffered a serious injury where he tore the ligaments in his left knee and was ruled out of action for 10 months. He returned to play in the Pacific Rugby Cup for Junior Japan in March 2013, and then returned to the Japan national team after an injury to Hirotoki Onozawa and scored tries on his return in all three of the matches he played in the Asian 5 Nations. After scoring his 11th try for Japan against Wales in June 2013, Fujita broke the record of George North for most tries scored as a teenager in international rugby.
People
Pantheon has 2 people classified as Japanese rugby players born between 1992 and 1993. Of these 2, 2 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Japanese rugby players include Kenki Fukuoka, and Yoshikazu Fujita. As of April 2024, 1 new Japanese rugby players have been added to Pantheon including Kenki Fukuoka.
