List of top Nippon Professional Baseball strikeout pitchers

The following is a list of Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers who have recorded at least 2,000 strikeouts. In baseball, a strikeout occurs when the batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. Strikeouts are associated with dominance on the part of the pitcher and failure on the part of the batter. 24 pitchers have achieved the distinction of striking out 2,000 batters. Takayuki Kishi and Hideaki Wakui are currently the only active players with 2,000 strikeouts as of 2025. Kazumi Takahashi came the closest to missing out on 2,000 batters, striking out 1,997.

Masaichi Kaneda has the most career strikeouts in Nippon Professional Baseball. During a 19-year career, he struck out 4,490 batters.https://npb.jp/bis/history/ltp_so.html

The List † Denotes elected to Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.Bold Denotes active player.

A player is considered "inactive" if he has not played baseball for one year or has announced his retirement. Stats updated as of the end of 2025 season.MLB.com – Career Leaders for StrikeoutsBaseball Reference – MLB Career Leaders and Records for Strikeouts RankPlayer (R/L)KYears pitchedInnings pitched1Masaichi Kaneda (L) †4,490 1950–19695,526.22Tetsuya Yoneda (R) †3,388 1956–19775,1303Masaaki Koyama (R) †3,159 1953–19734,8994Keishi Suzuki (L) †3,061 1966–1985 4,600.15 Yutaka Enatsu (L)2,987 1967–19843,1966Takao Kajimoto (L) † 2,945 1954–19734,2087 Kimiyasu Kudoh (L) † 2,859 1981–20103,336.28Kazuhisa Inao (R) † 2,574 1956–19693,5999Daisuke Miura (R)2,4811992–20163,27610Choji Murata (R) † 2,363 1968–1990 3,331.111 Masahiro Yamamoto (L) 2,310 1986–20153,348.212Minoru Murayama (R) † 2,271 1959–19723,050.113 Shoichi Ono (L) 2,244 1956–19702,90914Takayuki Kishi (R)2,2002007-present2,68015 Toshiya Sugiuchi (L) 2,156 2002–20152,091.116Kazuhisa Ishii (L)2,1151992-2013 2,153.117 Hiromi Makihara (R) 2,111 1983–20012,48518 Kazuhisa Kawaguchi (L) 2,092 1981–19982,41019Hideaki Wakui (R)2,0852005-present 2,857.120Fumiya Nishiguchi (R)2,0821995-20152,527.221 Hisashi Yamada (R) † 2,058 1969–1988 3,86522Masaji Hiramatsu (R)2,0451967-1984 3,360.223 Nobuyuki Hoshino (L) 2,041 1984–20022,669.124 Hiromu Matsuoka (R) 2,008 1968–19853,240

References

See also List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders