He studied with Mikinosuke Kawaishi, and his assistant, Shozo Awazu.

He received a bronze medal at the 1956 World Judo Championships in Tokyo, shared with Anton Geesink, after losing the semi-final to winner Shokichi Natsui.

He served as sports director of the International Judo Federation (IJF) from 1979 to 1987.

Henri Courtine was honored with the title jūdan (10th dan) in 2007, as the first ever French judoka.

This biographical article related to French judo is a stub.