was a japanese baseball player and manager. he played as a catcher in nippon professional baseball (npb). from 1954 to 1977, he played for the nankai hawks (now the fukuoka softbank hawks). he also played for the lotte orions (1978) and the seibu lions (1979–80). he was awarded the pacific league mvp award five times. as of 2020, he holds the record for second-most home runs and rbis in npb history.