Japan competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 213 competitors, 153 men and 60 women, took part in 119 events in 20 sports.
Medalists
| width=78% align=left valign=top |
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%"
|-
! Medal
! Name
! Sport
! Event
! Date
|-
| || Shun Fujimoto<br/>Hisato Igarashi<br/>Sawao Kato<br/>Hiroshi Kajiyama<br/>Mitsuo Tsukahara<br/>Eizo Kenmotsu || Gymnastics || Men's team all-around || July 20
|-
| || Mitsuo Tsukahara || Gymnastics || Men's horizontal bar || July 23
|-
| || Sawao Kato || Gymnastics || Men's parallel bars || July 23
|-
| || Kazuhiro Ninomiya || Judo || Men's 93 kg || July 27
|-
| || Isamu Sonoda || Judo || Men's 80 kg || July 28
|-
| || Yuko Arakida<br/>Takako Iida<br/>Katsuko Kanesaka<br/>Kiyomi Kato<br/>Echiko Maeda<br/>Noriko Matsuda<br/>Mariko Okamoto<br/>Takako Shirai<br/>Shoko Takayanagi<br/>Hiromi Yano<br/>Juri Yokoyama<br/>Mariko Yoshida || Volleyball || Women's tournament || July 30
|-
| || Yuji Takada || Wrestling || Men's freestyle 52 kg || July 31
|-
| || Jiichiro Date || Wrestling || Men's freestyle 74 kg || July 31
|-
| || Haruki Uemura || Judo || Men's open category || July 31
|-
| || Sawao Kato || Gymnastics || Men's individual all-around || July 21
|-
| || Eizo Kenmotsu || Gymnastics || Men's horizontal bar || July 23
|-
| || Eizo Kenmotsu || Gymnastics || Men's pommel horse || July 23
|-
| || Mitsuo Tsukahara || Gymnastics || Men's vault || July 23
|-
| || Koji Kuramoto || Judo || Men's 70 kg || July 29
|-
| || Hiroshi Michinaga || Archery || Men's individual || July 30
|-
| || Kenkichi Ando || Weightlifting || Men's 56 kg || July 19
|-
| || Kazumasa Hirai || Weightlifting || Men's 60 kg || July 20
|-
| || Mitsuo Tsukahara || Gymnastics || Men's individual all-around || July 21
|-
| || Mitsuo Tsukahara || Gymnastics || Men's parallel bars || July 23
|-
| || Hiroshi Kajiyama || Gymnastics || Men's vault || July 23
|-
| || Koichiro Hirayama || Wrestling || Men's Greco-Roman 52 kg || July 24
|-
| || Sumio Endo || Judo || Men's heavyweight || July 26
|-
| || Akira Kudo || Wrestling || Men's freestyle 48 kg || July 31
|-
| || Masao Arai || Wrestling || Men's freestyle 57 kg || July 31
|-
| || Yasaburo Sugawara || Wrestling || Men's freestyle 68 kg || July 31
|}
| width=22% align=left valign=top |
{| class=wikitable style="font-size:95%; float:right"
|-
!colspan=7|Medals by sport
|-align=center
|Sport
| bgcolor=f7f6a8 |
| bgcolor=dce5e5 |
| bgcolor=ffdab9 |
|Total
|-align=center
|Gymnastics
| style="background:#F7F6A8;"| 3
| style="background:#DCE5E5;"| 4
| style="background:#FFDAB9;"| 3
|10
|-align=center
|Judo
| style="background:#F7F6A8;"| 3
| style="background:#DCE5E5;"| 1
| style="background:#FFDAB9;"| 1
|5
|-align=center
|Wrestling
| style="background:#F7F6A8;"| 2
| style="background:#DCE5E5;"| 0
| style="background:#FFDAB9;"| 4
|6
|-align=center
|Volleyball
| style="background:#F7F6A8;"| 1
| style="background:#DCE5E5;"| 0
| style="background:#FFDAB9;"| 0
|1
|-align=center
|Archery
| style="background:#F7F6A8;"| 0
| style="background:#DCE5E5;"| 1
| style="background:#FFDAB9;"| 0
|1
|-align=center
|Weightlifting
| style="background:#F7F6A8;"| 0
| style="background:#DCE5E5;"| 0
| style="background:#FFDAB9;"| 2
|2
|- align=center
! Total
!style="background:gold"| 9
!style="background:silver"| 6
!style="background:#c96"| 10
! 25
|}
Archery
In their second Olympic archery competition, Japan won a silver medal and placed third on the national leaderboard for the sport. The medal was won by Hiroshi Michinaga. Two men and two women competed for Japan.
Women's Individual Competition:
- Minako Sato — 2308 points (→ 14th place)
- Kyoko Yamazaki — 2094 points (→ 26th place)
Men's Individual Competition:
- Hiroshi Michinaga — 2502 points (→ Image:Med 2.png Silver Medal)
- Takanobu Nishi — 2422 points (→ 8th place)
Athletics
Men's 10.000 metres
- Toshiaki Kamata
:* Heat — 28:36.21 (→ did not advance)
Men's Marathon
- Shigeru So — 2:18:26 (→ 20th place)
- Noriyasu Mizukami — 2:18:44 (→ 21st place)
- Akio Usami — 2:22:29 (→ 32nd place)
Men's High Jump
- Katsumi Fukura
:* Qualification — 2.13m (→ did not advance)
- Kazunori Koshikawa
:* Qualification — 2.13m (→ did not advance)
Men's 20 km Race Walk
- Yoshio Morikawa — 1:42:20 (→ 34th place)
Basketball
;Men's team competition
- Preliminary round (group A):
:* Lost to Canada (76-104)
:* Lost to Mexico (90-108)
:* Lost to Cuba (56-97)
:* Lost to Soviet Union (69-123)
:* Lost to Australia (79-117)
- Classification Match:
:* 9th/11th place: Lost to Puerto Rico (91-111) → 11th place
- Team roster
:*Shigeaki Abe
:*Nobuo Chigusa
:*Satoshi Mori
:*Shoji Yuki
:*Yutaka Fujimoto
:*Hirofumi Numata
:*Kiyohide Kuwata
:*Koji Yamamoto
:*Shigeto Shimizu
:*Fumio Saito
:*Norihiko Kitahara
:*Hideki Hamaguchi
- Head coach: Masahiko Yoshida.
;Women's team competition
- Team roster
:*Kimiko Hashimoto
:*Kazuko Kadoya
:*Kimi Wakitashiro
:*Mieko Fukui
:*Miyako Otsuka
:*Miho Matsuoka
:*Kazuyo Hayashida
:*Teruko Miyamoto
:*Keiko Namai
:*Reiko Aonuma
:*Sachiyo Yamamoto
:*Misako Satake
- Head coach: Masatoshi Ozaki
Boxing
Men's Light Flyweight (– 48 kg)
- Noboru Uchizama
- First Round — Lost to Brendan Dunne (IRL), RSC-2
Men's Flyweight (– 51 kg)
- Toshinori Koga
- First Round — Bye
- Second Round — Defeated Virgilio Palomo (COL), 5:0
- Third Round — Lost to Ramón Duvalón (CUB), 0:5
Canoeing
Cycling
Five cyclists represented Japan in 1976.
;Sprint
- Yoshikazu Cho — 5th place
;1000m time trial
- Yoshikazu Cho — 1:09.664 (→ 17th place)
;Individual pursuit
- Yoichi Machishima — 15th place
;Team pursuit
- Yoichi Machishima
- Tadashi Ogasawara
- Yoshiaki Ogasawara
- Tsutomu Okabori
Diving
Equestrian
Fencing
Eight fencers, four men and four women, represented Japan in 1976.
;Men's foil
- Masanori Kawatsu
- Noriyuki Sato
- Toshio Jingo
;Men's team foil
- Masanori Kawatsu, Hideaki Kamei, Toshio Jingo, Noriyuki Sato
;Women's foil
- Hideko Oka
- Yukari Kajihara
- Mariko Yoshikawa
;Women's team foil
- Hideko Oka, Mariko Yoshikawa, Hiroko Kamada, Yukari Kajihara
Gymnastics
Handball
Judo
Modern pentathlon
Three male pentathletes represented Japan in 1976.
Men's Individual Competition:
- Shoji Uchida — 4850 points (→ 31st place)
- Akira Kubo — 4700 points (→ 37th place)
- Hiroyuki Kawazoe — 4591 points (→ 40th place)
Men's Team Competition:
- Uchida, Kubo, and Kawazoe — 14234 points (→ 12th place)
Rowing
Sailing
Shooting
;Open
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"
!rowspan="2"|Athlete
!rowspan="2"|Event
!colspan=2|Final
|-style="font-size:95%"
!Points
!Rank
|-align=center
|align=left|Taro Aso
|align=left rowspan=1|Skeet
|187
|41
|-align=center
|align=left|Saijo Hosokawa
|align=left|50 m rifle, prone
|588
|31
|-align=center
|align=left|Toshiyasu Ishige
|align=left rowspan=1|Trap
|177
|18
|-align=center
|align=left|Takeo Kamachi
|align=left rowspan=1|25 m rapid fire pistol
|591
|12
|-align=center
|align=left|Kazuyo Kato
|align=left rowspan=1|Skeet
|188
|35
|-align=center
|align=left| Kanji Kubo
|align=left rowspan=1|25 m rapid fire pistol
|586
|20
|-align=center
|align=left rowspan=2|Kaoru Matsuo
|align=left |50 m rifle, three positions
|1119
|41
|-align=center
|align=left|50 m rifle, prone
|580
|68
|-align=center
|align=left|Jitsuka Matsuoka
|align=left rowspan=1|Trap
|178
|16
|-align=center
|align=left|Masanobu Ohata
|align=left rowspan=1|50 m pistol
|545
|28
|-align=center
|align=left rowspan=1|Michiha Ozaki
|align=left |50 m rifle, three positions
|1115
|44
|-align=center
|align=left|Shigetoshi Tashiro
|align=left rowspan=1|50 m pistol
|549
|21
|}
Swimming
Volleyball
;Men's team competition
- Preliminary round (group B)
:* Defeated Italy (3-0)
:* Defeated Brazil (3-0)
:* Lost to Soviet Union (0-3)
- Semi Finals
:* Lost to Poland (2-3)
- Bronze Medal Match
:* Lost to Cuba (0-3) → Fourth place
- Team roster
:*Taka Maruiyama
:*Katsutoshi Nekoda
:*Katsumi Oda
:*Tetsuo Nishimoto
:*Yassunori Yassuda
:*Yoshi Fukao
:*Shoichi Yanagimoto
:*Mikiyasu Tanaka
:*Tadayoshi Yokota
:*Seiji Ohko
:*Kinji Shimaoka
:*Tetsuo Satō
- Head coach: Tsutomu Koyama
;Women's team competition
- Preliminary round (group A)
:* Defeated Hungary (3-0)
:* Defeated Peru (3-0)
:* Defeated Canada (3-0)
- Semi Finals
:* Defeated South Korea (3-0)
- Final
:* Defeated Soviet Union (3-0) → Image:Med 1.png Gold Medal
- Team roster
:*Takako Iida
:*Mariko Okamoto
:*Echiko Maeda
:*Noriko Matsuda
:*Takako Shirai
:*Kiyomi Kato
:*Yuko Arakida
:*Katsuko Kanesaka
:*Mariko Yoshida
:*Shoko Takayanagi
:*Hiromi Yano
:*Juri Yokoyama
- Head coach: Shigeo Yamada
