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Police in Hidaka, Saitama Prefecture, have arrested a 37-year-old unemployed man on suspicion of assault and trespassing after he entered the grounds of a junior high school and injured three students with a bamboo sword.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Takane Junior High School. Kyodo News reported that the suspect, Norihito Kurihara, entered the school’s premises and attacked some children at random with a 120-cm-long bamboo sword near the main gate. Two boys and one girl sustained head injuries before school officials, including a judo teacher, were able to subdue Kurihara.
Police said Kurihara has been rambling incomprehensibly since his arrest and has given no motive for his actions.
The main gate is usually closed during school hours but was open because the children were returning home, the principal said.
© Japan Today
20 Comments
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virusrex
Very fortunate that the bamboo sword was the most dangerous weapon the man could get.
Sanjinosebleed
Sad! Luckily no one really injured! Give the poor bloke some decent mental care!
Mark
Rambling!?
What else did the police say? was he high? or drunk?
Stephen Chin
Norihito Kurihara should be in a hospital for a long stay : a mental hospital.
TokyoLiving
Well done for the school officials, especially the Judo teacher..
That is what makes Japan safer than any western country..
starpunk
For sure. Was this loony ripped on too much red red wine or what??
Aly Rustom
Judo vs Kendo! Judo saves the day!
any proof of that? I mean we just had an ex PM shot dead a few months ago. Or did you not get the memo?
Toshihiro
Good on the teachers who saved the day. I've done sparring with bamboo swords and they sting! It would be very different if the assailant had a bokuto since it's solid oak and the infamous miyamoto musashi used it to defeat sasaki kojiro. I remember that some schools and buildings have sasumata, a restraining device that looks like a polearm with a curve on the end to pin down and restrain someone. That judo teacher should be praised for his actions, that's what martials arts are for.
sir_bentley28
I just hope the judo teacher left this fool with some painful memories!
nandakandamanda
@ Lamilly above. A wooden gun then?
Actually it was not a wooden sword 木刀, luckily, but a lighter, flexible and safer split-and-bound bamboo Shinai 竹刀. Stupid to use on innocent kids all the same.
Three goals
Obviously a troubled man. Hopefully he can get the right help so he won't do this again.
nandakandamanda
@Awa, I checked it out in J news sources.
nandakandamanda
Although it looks like ‘bamboo sword’, it says ‘Shinai’.
https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp/news_society/articles/000272488.html
garypen
Or just an actual sword.