Naoki Murata (村田 直樹, Murata Naoki, 21 July 1949 – 9 April 2020) was an 8th dan Japanese judoka and author.
[2] He studied at the Faculty of Physical Education, Department of Martial Arts of the Tokyo University of Education, where he obtained the MA degree in physical fitness in 1973.
He has been a judo instructor in more than ten countries, including Iceland and Thailand.
[3] He also worked as an assistant professor at Kagawa University.
In July 2008, he has been appointed the Head of Directors of the Japanese Academy of Budo, chairman of the All Japan Judo Federation's Committee of Education and Proliferation of Judo as well as a member of the federation's Referee Committee.