Masaji Iguro

Masaji Iguro was born in the central prefecture of Yamagata but was adopted by a family from the skiing region Otaru at the age of seven. There, he attended the local high school together with Goro Adachi. Iguro advanced to the Hokkaido Imperial University and after graduation started working for the Sapporo Railway Bureau. At the 1936 Winter Olympics he placed seventh , until that time the highest rank of a Japanese ski jumper. Two years later he placed 10th at the Nordic World Ski Championships at Laahti, Finland.

After the cancellation of the 1940 Winter Games in Sapporo, Iguro retired temporarily from competition and moved to the Ibaraki prefecture working for the company Hitachi. But he returned in 1941 to win the jumping event at the All Japan Ski Championships for the fourth time, after 1933, 1934 and 1937.

In 1950, Iguro was involved in the construction of a temporary jumping hill inside the Korakuen-Stadion in Tokyo for a ski jump event, a tradition revived from the late 1930s. After retirement he served as vice-president of the All Japan Student Ski Federation, as well as of the All Japan Ski Federation and helped prepare the respective events at the 1972 Winter Games at Sapporo. Iguro died at the age of 87 from pneumonia.