Overview
Tokutaro Ukon (右近 徳太郎, 23 September 1913 – March 1944) was a Japanese association football player known to have been selected for the Japan national team. Contemporary accounts are brief: his career belongs to the pre‑professional, interwar period of Japanese sport when documentation is often sparse.
Career and role
Available sources record Ukon as a member of Japan's national squad, but they do not provide a full match log or a detailed position profile. Like many players of his generation, he most likely combined club or university football with national team duties in an era when the sport remained largely amateur in Japan.
Historical context
Ukon's playing years fall in the 1920s–1940s period when football in Japan grew through schools, universities and regional clubs. International fixtures were fewer and often tied to regional tournaments. Travel, limited media coverage and later wartime disruption mean that many careers from this era are recorded only in brief entries.
Death and legacy
Tokutaro Ukon died in March 1944. The date places his death during the Second World War period, when many athletes' lives and records were affected by military service and conflict. Although individual statistics for Ukon are not well preserved, his inclusion in national selections places him among the early generation of players who helped establish football in Japan.
Notable facts
- Born 23 September 1913; died March 1944.
- Recorded as a Japan national team player during the pre‑war era.
- Represents the limited archival record for many early Japanese footballers.
- For more on period football structures, see general histories of Japanese sport and university teams (further reading).
Because primary details are limited, researchers typically consult contemporary newspapers, university archives and wartime records to reconstruct careers like Ukon's. His profile is a reminder of how sporting history can be fragmented by broader social and political upheaval.