Birthday: January 15, 1917
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Family: Nekota Ginpachi, Mamoru Takamura
Occupation: Founder and Head Coach, Kamogawa Boxing Gym
Weight Class: Bantamweight (115–118 lbs)
Style: Brawler/In-Fighter
Current Affiliation: Kamogawa Boxing Gym
Trainer: Self-trained
Retired: 1947
Signature Skills: Feints, Iron Fist (bone-breaking body blows)Kamogawa Genji runs the Kamogawa Boxing Gym and is basically the backbone of Hajime no Ippo. His impact on the story is huge—right up there with Takamura and Miyata in terms of pushing Ippo forward as a boxer. He's a former prizefighter himself, competing in post-WWII Japan until he hung up his gloves in 1947 and founded the gym.
As a coach, he's known for being tough and demanding, but it's clear he genuinely cares about his fighters, even if he doesn't always show it openly. He builds real bonds with them through trust and pushes them to be better. What really sets him apart is his boxing IQ—the guy can read a match and craft strategies that completely turn fights around. Fans often note he's most visibly proud of Takamura and Ippo, his two star boxers.
Kamogawa came up fighting alongside Nekota Ginpachi, exchanging blows with him multiple times before they became close friends. He was also tight with Hama Dankichi, another fighter turned trainer. Back during the American occupation, Kamogawa had strong national pride and refused to take food handouts—that era stuck with him.
When he opened the gym, he trained Yagi (who'd eventually manage the place), the then-OPBF Featherweight champ Miyata's father, and Miyata Ichirou himself. He spotted Takamura's potential and brought him in, and Takamura ended up recruiting Aoki, Kimura, and Ippo. Though he didn't take on Itagaki Manabu as a trainee, he corners him in matches and is just as impressed by the kid's speed and skills as anyone else.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
