Japan at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Japan competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 184 competitors, 148 men and 36 women, took part in 113 events in 21 sports.
Medalists
| Medal | Name | Sport | Event |
| Takao Kawaguchi | Judo | Men's lightweight | |
| Toyokazu Nomura | Judo | Men's half middleweight | |
| Shinobu Sekine | Judo | Men's middleweight | |
| Mayumi Aoki | Swimming | Women's 100 m butterfly | |
| Nobutaka Taguchi | Swimming | Men's 100 m breaststroke | |
| Kiyomi Kato | Wrestling | Men's freestyle flyweight | |
| Hideaki Yanagida | Wrestling | Men's freestyle bantamweight | |
| Sawao Kato | Gymnastics | Men's individual all-around | |
| Sawao Kato | Gymnastics | Men's parallel bars | |
| Mitsuo Tsukahara | Gymnastics | Men's horizontal bar | |
| Akinori Nakayama | Gymnastics | Men's rings | |
| Sawao Kato Akinori Nakayama Eizo Kenmotsu Mitsuo Tsukahara Shigeru Kasamatsu Teruichi Okamura | Gymnastics | Men's team all-around | |
| Yoshihide Fukao Kenji Kimura Masayuki Minami Jungo Morita Yūzo Nakamura Katsutoshi Nekoda Tetsuo Nishimoto Yasuhiro Noguchi Seiji Oko Tetsuo Satō Kenji Shimaoka Tadayoshi Yokota | Volleyball | Men's tournament | |
| Kikuo Wada | Wrestling | Men's freestyle lightweight | |
| Koichiro Hirayama | Wrestling | Men's Greco-Roman flyweight | |
| Katsumi Matsumura Takako Iida Mariko Okamoto Takako Shirai Makiko Furukawa Keiko Hama Toyoko Iwahara Sumie Oinuma Seiko Shimakage Michiko Shiokawa Noriko Yamashita Yaeko Yamazaki | Volleyball | Women's tournament | |
| Eizo Kenmotsu | Gymnastics | Men's individual all-around | |
| Sawao Kato | Gymnastics | Men's pommel horse | |
| Sawao Kato | Gymnastics | Men's horizontal bar | |
| Akinori Nakayama | Gymnastics | Men's floor | |
| Shigeru Kasamatsu | Gymnastics | Men's parallel bars | |
| Motoki Nishimura | Judo | Men's heavyweight | |
| Nobutaka Taguchi | Swimming | Men's 200 metres breaststroke | |
| Akinori Nakayama | Gymnastics | Men's individual all-around | |
| Mitsuo Tsukahara | Gymnastics | Men's rings | |
| Eizo Kenmotsu | Gymnastics | Men's parallel bars | |
| Eizo Kenmotsu | Gymnastics | Men's pommel horse | |
| Shigeru Kasamatsu | Gymnastics | Men's horizontal bar | |
| Shigeru Kasamatsu | Gymnastics | Men's floor |
Archery
In the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, Japan entered three men and one woman. Their highest placing competitor was Yoshiko Akayama, at 17th place in the women's competition.Men's Individual Competition:
- Hiroshi Kajikawa — 2381 points
- Masashi Hibino — 2344 points
- Shinji Nakamoto — 2287 points
- Yoshiko Akayama — 2301 points
Athletics
- Keisuke Sawaki
- Takaharu Koyama
- Hidehiko Tomizawa
- Kuniyoshi Sugioka
Basketball
Boxing
Men's Light Flyweight- Yoshimitsu Aragaki
Canoeing
Cycling
Three cyclists represented Japan in 1972.;Sprint
;1000m time trial
;Tandem
- Yaichi Numata and Yoshikazu Cho → 12th place
Diving
- Junji Yuasa — 316.95 points
- Junji Yuasa — 276.00 points
- Taeko Kubo — 236.25 points
- Keiko Otsubo — 168.24 points
Equestrian
Fencing
Five fencers, all men, represented Japan in 1972.;Men's foil
;Men's team foil
- Shiro Maruyama, Masaya Fukuda, Hiroshi Nakajima, Kiyoshi Uehara, Ichiro Serizawa
Gymnastics
Handball
;Men's Team Competition- Preliminary Round
- Classification Matches
Judo
Modern pentathlon
Three male pentathletes represented Japan in 1972.Men's Individual Competition:
- Masaru Sakano — 4627 points
- Yuso Makihira — 4583 points
- Akira Kubo — 4371 points
- Sakano, Makihara, and Kubo — 13569 points
Rowing
- Hideo Okamoto
Sailing
- Kazuoki Matsuyama — 176.0
- Akira Yamamura and Takashi Yamamura — 128.0
Shooting
;Open
Swimming
Volleyball
;Men's Team Competition- Preliminary Round
- Semifinals
- Final
- Team Roster
Water polo
- Preliminary Round
- Team Roster
Weightlifting
Wrestling
Badminton (demonstration sports)
Men's Doubles:- Ippei Kojima and Suresh Goel of India
- Noriko Nakayama → Gold Medal
- Hiroe Yuki → bronze medal
- Kojima and Nakayama