Masutaro Otani (大谷 増太郎, Otani Masutaro, 25 March 1896 - 23 January 1977), was an 8th Dan Japanese master of judo and a pioneer of judo in the United Kingdom[1] and the leading student of Yukio Tani.

[2] He is most notable as the president of the British Judo Council alongside Kenshiro Abbe.

[3] He then left Japan as a teenager and moved to Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he began training under Seizo Usui for two years.

He arrived in the United Kingdom in 1919 in Liverpool[4] before moving to London where he joined the Budokwai.

[9] On 23 January 1977,[10] Otani had a stroke, before being taken to Northampton General Hospital where he died at 80 years old, 8th dan.