Ai Watanabe

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. (January 2026) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Japanese article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must follow the LLM translation guideline, revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at [[:ja:日向寺亜依]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|ja|日向寺亜依}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Ai Watanabe (née Hyugaji; born 5 October 1994) is a former Japanese rugby union player. She competed for Japan at the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup.

Early years

Watanabe began playing rugby in her senior year of high school, she had previously captained her volleyball club. In 2013, after graduating from Engaru High School, she joined Totsuka Kyoritsu Medical (now Yokohama TKM).

Rugby career

Watanabe was part of the Japanese side that won the 2016 Asia Rugby Women's Championship. She scored tries in both matches against Hong Kong.

In 2017, she was selected for the Japan women's national team for the Women's Rugby World Cup in Ireland. Following the tournament, she announced her retirement from rugby due to a shoulder injury.

Personal life

In 2018, she married Takayuki Watanabe who played for Kobelco Kobe Steelers and the Japanese national rugby union team.

References