List of Famous people born in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan
Tsunemi Tsuda
Tsunemi Tsuda was a Japanese baseball player of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of Japan's Central League.
Ōmura Masujirō
Ōmura Masujirō was a Japanese military leader and theorist in Bakumatsu period Japan. He was the "Father" of the Imperial Japanese Army, launching a modern military force closely patterned after the French system of the day.
Kenshi Hirokane
Kenshi Hirokane is a Japanese manga artist from Iwakuni, Yamaguchi. He graduated from Waseda University with a degree in law, then worked for Matsushita Electric for four years, before making his manga debut in 1974 with Kaze Kaoru.
Misuzu Kaneko
Misuzu Kaneko was a Japanese poet, known for her poetry for children. She was born Teru Kaneko in the fishing village of Senzaki, now part of Nagato, Yamaguchi prefecture. Motifs of fishing and the sea often make appearances in her poems. Celebrated during her lifetime, her works fell into obscurity after her death, until being rediscovered in the 1980s. Since then, she has been regarded as one of Japan's most beloved children's poets.
Hitomi Harada
Hitomi Harada is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Ube, Yamaguchi.
Satoru Sayama
Satoru Sayama is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial arts promoter and writer, best known as the original Tiger Mask. He has wrestled under his real name as well as the names Sammy Lee, and masked Super Tiger, Tiger King, Tiger Mask and The Mask of Tiger. He is the only man to hold the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship simultaneously. He is also the founder of Shooto, Seikendo and Real Japan Pro Wrestling. Bret Hart has called Sayama the "Bruce Lee of wrestling" because of his lightning speed, martial arts abilities, and athleticism.
Tanaka Raizō
Raizō Tanaka was a rear admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during most of World War II. A specialist in the heavy torpedoes that were carried by all the destroyers and cruisers of the IJN, Tanaka mainly commanded destroyer squadrons, with a cruiser or two attached, and he was the primary leader of the "Tokyo Express" reinforcement and resupply shipments during the long campaign for the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands of the South Pacific Ocean. From the Americans, Tanaka acquired the nickname of "Tenacious Tanaka" for his stalwart opposition.
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Yoshiyuki Sadamoto is a Japanese character designer, manga artist, and one of the founding members of the Gainax anime studio.
Yoko Tanaka
Yoko Tanaka is a Japanese footballer who plays as a midfielder for Spanish Primera División club Sporting de Huelva. She was a member of the Japan women's national team.
Riki Harakawa
Riki Harakawa is a Japanese football midfielder who plays for Cerezo Osaka in the J1 League.