It was a mixed day of triumphs and disappointments for the Japanese karate team in the sparring competition at the World Games in Akita on Saturday.
Kenichi Imai defeated Italy's Francesco Ortu 5-4 in the men's 60-kg sparring competition at Tenno municipal gymnasium for Japan's first gold medal of the games.
Yasuhisa Inada added a gold medal for the host country at 70 kg and Sachiko Miyamoto chipped in a third with her victory in the women's 53-kg competition.
Japan finished the day with three gold medals, three silver and a pair of bronze in the martial art event that it had hoped to dominate.
At 70 kg, Inada came out ahead in a 12-11 free-for-all with compatriot Yoshinori Matsumoto as Japan finished one-two in the division.
Meanwhile, Miyamoto, a first-year student at a high school in Higashi-Osaka, triumphed over teammate Eri Fujioka 13-8 to take the gold at 53 kg.