The governance of the school is in question (Tetsuyuki Nakai, former coach / Jiji Press Photo)
A collective assault incident at Hiroshima’s prestigious Kouryo High School came to light at the end of July last year. [Document obtained] The report that Kouryo High School provided to the victim’s parents led to the team withdrawing from last summer’s Koshien tournament after winning its first-round game. Tetsuyuki Nakai, the former coach who had 41 wins at Koshien, also stepped down. While awaiting the results of a third-party committee established in October, a new development has emerged. A member of the school’s baseball team alumni shared the following:
“Nakai, who had kept his distance from the baseball team, apparently visited a club team to recruit middle school students.”
According to a source from a club team practicing in Hiroshima City, Nakai arrived along with an external scout responsible for player recruitment for Kouryo. A team official, whose former players include current professional baseball stars, stated:
“We had a third-year student who had been on Kouryo’s radar since his first year. It was surprising to see Nakai himself come for a player recruitment visit—this was a first.”
Nakai and the scout spoke with the club team’s coaches about encouraging a targeted middle school student to enroll at Kouryo and join its baseball team. Some parents were reportedly uneasy about Nakai’s visit.
“To be honest, there were voices saying, ‘After everything that happened, Coach Nakai hasn’t come out once to explain himself. So why is he coming to us now?'” the source added.
The middle school student from that team is said to have no intention of attending Kouryo.
The victim of the assault and their parents have also claimed that Nakai subjected them to power harassment, pressuring them not to make the assault incident public.
Kouryo High School imposed disciplinary measures on Nakai, effective April 1, demoting him from vice principal to a non-teaching role and reducing his salary for two months. Given that allegations of involvement in the violent incident and power harassment still linger, how does the school view Nakai’s involvement with the baseball team?
When contacted, Chairman Yutaka Iimori responded only, “Please contact us through the school.” The school itself refused to comment further, stating, “We will not provide an answer as a school.”
Just because Nakai engaged in recruiting middle school students does not necessarily mean he will return to coaching the baseball team immediately. However, if this was a unilateral move by Nakai, it raises questions about the school’s governance. If the school has permitted Nakai’s involvement with the team without waiting for the third-party committee’s conclusions, then it should fulfill its duty of accountability to the victims, who have had no contact from the school since the incident came to light.
Reporting and writing by Yuji Yanagawa (Non-fiction writer)
*This article originally appeared in the May 22, 2026 issue of Weekly Post.