Gong Kakutogi

At a glance

• Launched in 1968 as Gong, renamed Gong Kakutogi in 1986
• Published by Appli Style since 2019 as a bimonthly
• GONKAKU website, stories syndicated to Yahoo! News Japan and a YouTube channel

Overview

Gong Kakutogi, written "ゴング格闘技" in Japanese, is a combat sports magazine. It launched in 1968 as Gong and took its current name in 1986. Kakutogi means "combat sports" in Japanese. The magazine went through two breaks, in 2007 and 2017, before coming back.

Since 2019, it has been published by Appli Style as a bimonthly. The print edition comes out on the 23rd of every odd-numbered month. Masaru Matsuyama recently served as editor in chief. Everything is in Japanese, in print and online.

What you'll find

The editorial focus is MMA, the UFC, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo. The print magazine runs long features, interviews and technical breakdowns, in a format meant to be read over a two-month cycle. Judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu are treated as disciplines in their own right, with clear links to MMA.

Online, the GONKAKU website publishes articles, some of which are syndicated to Yahoo! News Japan, putting them in front of a mainstream Japanese audience. The YouTube channel adds video to the mix. The X and Instagram accounts promote new issues and the site's latest stories.

Why follow

Gong Kakutogi is one of the oldest combat sports titles still publishing in Japan, with a history that goes back to 1968. That track record gives it institutional memory of Japanese combat sports across several generations of fighters. Its technical angle makes it a useful read if you care about how fights are actually won.

The attention it gives to judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu helps you understand the grappling base behind many Japanese fighters. If you don't read Japanese, browser translation works on the GONKAKU site and on the stories carried by Yahoo! News Japan. Technical articles translate less cleanly than news, but the structure of the analysis usually comes through.

MMA Official's take

Gong Kakutogi is for readers who want a technical take on MMA and grappling from a Japanese perspective, and for fans of Japanese combat sports history. Start with the articles on the GONKAKU website to get a feel for the editorial line, then check out the YouTube channel.

If you read Japanese, the bimonthly print issue, on sale on the 23rd of odd-numbered months, is still the most complete format, with its long features and interviews. It is also the best way to see the magazine the way its longtime readers do.