Kunpei KOSAKA
First Japanese spearfishing world record holder.
Freediver.
Career
Born in Akita, Japan in 1995.
A professional spearfisher, and an AIDA freediving instructor, and a PADI rescue diver.
When he was a child, he attended to swimming school more than for 5 years, but finally could not swim even 25 meters.
His longing for the oceanography led him to Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, the top university of marine science in the country, and then met underwater world through spearfishing club.
At a welcome party for new students, he nearly drowned at a depth of 50cm and hyperventilated in places where he could not get his feet on the water. This upset other members so badly at that time.
Because of his fear of water, he is by far the worst diver in the club ever.
For some years, he could not hunt even a small single fish by his own.
One day, he saw a large tuna in an old photograph.
His intense ambition for the fish made him into “Spearfishing-Bum life”, diving all over the world in search of “catching tuna with one breath and polespear”, which had never been done before in the world.
In 2019, in the journey, he dove into the freediving world in Philippines.
In 2020, after 5 years of chasing, he finally succeeded to land a 140lb Dogtooth Tuna and became the first Japanese in history to set a world record for spearfishing.
In the same year, he also set a world record with a 55lb Coral Trout, which was almost the same as the records in all tackle line fishing and spearguns category.
In September, 2020, he went alone to Greece, to learn about Freediving deeply. As an internship student at the Freediving Club Greece, he studied after Stavros Kastrinakis, the former world record holder in freediving. In November, he finally became an AIDA Freediving Instructor.
In 2021, he broke his own world record with a 190lb Dogtooth Tuna, which he landed during the filming of the documentary “Mission 100”.
Currently spends 250 to 300 days a year in the ocean, all over the world, in search of that “one fish” for him, 220lb+ Dogtooth Tuna with his polespear. Freediving PB is 185ft (CWTB), 6’30”(STA).
