The JFA Mid-Term Plan for 2023-2026Japan Football Hall of Fame
JFA Hall of Fame Inductee
TOKITA Masanori
Inductees Recommended by the Committee (Special Selection)
- Born in Hyogo on 24 June 1925
Graduates from Kansai Gakuin University.
Plays football at Kobe First Junior High School (now Hyogo Prefectural Kobe High School), Kansai Gakuin University, and Tanabe Seiyaku. Demonstrates excellent dribbling and crossing skills and becomes the finest right-winger in Japan after the Second World War. Lines up alongside Toshio Iwatani at Kobe First Junior High School and achieves consecutive titles in the Meiji Shrine Sports Tournament (1941, 1942) and a title in the 1st Kashihara Shrine Tournament (1942), before becoming captain in 1943. Returns to education after the war at Kansai Gakuin University, and contributes to two consecutive Kansai Students' League titles and an overall Students' Championship in 1948.
In his first year with Tanabe Seiyaku, Tokita helps the team to its first title in the 3rd All-Japan Company Championship in 1950, and in forming a strong right-sided combination with Taro Kagawa - an older, fellow former student from Kobe First Junior High School - performs a key role in helping the team win six championships in a row (ultimately extended to seven in 1957), and achieve a 94-match unbeaten record of 93 wins and one draw. Wins the All-Japan Championship on four occasions as a key member of an all-Kansai Gakuin team (Kansai Gakuin Club).
With the Japan national team, Tokita appears at the 1st Asian Games in 1951 (New Delhi), the 2nd Asian Games in 1954 (Manila), and the Asian qualifiers for the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. Appears as the oldest player in the first Asian qualifying game for the Games of the 16th Olympiad in 1956 (Melbourne), shining as the focal point of the attack and contributing to Japan's first ever victory over South Korea, one of the strongest teams on the continent. Represents the spiritual leader of the team, and appears in the Olympic Games themselves as captain. One of the key performers in promoting the technical abilities and spirit of Japanese football throughout the post-war recovery period, paving the way for the next generation.
Appears in 12 "A" matches, scoring two goals.
Passes away in 2004.
