Hirokazu Kanazawa

Hirokazu Kanazawa April 2005

Hirokazu Kanazawa ( Japanese 金澤 弘 和 , Kanazawa Hirokazu ; born May 3, 1931 in Iwate Prefecture , Japan ; † December 8, 2019 ) was one of the most important karate masters of our time. He was a holder of the 10th Dan . In 2012 he was awarded the honorary title Meijin , so he was the only living title holder of the highest awards in Budo at the time . He was one of the last active masters who trained with the legendary Shōtōkan founder Funakoshi Gichin .

biography

Kanazawa's interest in martial arts was aroused at a young age , as both his father and uncle were experts in ju-jutsu . But Kanazawa first began with Kendo , like many young people in Japan at the time. A little later he did judo and boxing . He got his first contact with karate through a classmate who taught him the basics of Okinawa karate.

Karate study

Later Kanazawa studied at Takushoku University in Tokyo , where he joined the local Shōtōkan- Dōjō . Here he became a student of Nakayama Masatoshi and at the same time regularly took part in the lessons of the legendary founder of the Shōtōkan style, Funakoshi Gichin. Thus he was one of the last living karate masters who studied under Master Funakoshi.

After completing his studies in 1956, he went to the JKA (Japan Karate Association) and was accepted into the instructor class. In this the elite of Japanese karate teachers received technical and educational training with the aim of spreading karate worldwide. Kanazawa remained a student of Nakayama, the chief instructor of the JKA.

Successes and JKA time

Despite a broken right hand, Kanazawa won the 1st All-Japanese Karate Championship of the JKA in Kumite (free fight) in 1957 . A year later he took first place in Kata (form) at the 2nd All-Japanese Karate Championship and shared first place in Kumite with Takayuki Mikami , when after four extensions there was still no winner. After that he was employed as a professional full-time karate instructor at the JKA. In 1961 Kanazawa passed the 5th Dan exam and went to Hawaii as the JKA chief instructor . After he achieved the 6th Dan in 1966, he was appointed JKA chief instructor of Great Britain and a year later chief instructor of Europe and the German Karate Association. In 1968 Kanazawa accompanied the European karate team as head coach to participate in the karate world championship in Mexico .

1971 Kanazawa returned to Japan and received the 7th Dan. He became director of the International Division at the Honbu-Dōjō (Zentraldōjō) of the JKA. At the same time he became Shihan (main teacher) of the Dōjōs at the universities of Musashikogyo, Kantogakuin and Kitasato. In 1972 he was the head coach of the Japanese national team and took part in the 2nd WUKO World Championship in Paris . Four years later, Kanazawa was a referee at the 1st IAKF World Championships in Los Angeles and at the JKA Asia-Oceania Championships in Hong Kong .

SKI and Kanazawa's karate

Finally, in 1977, long since it had become a major karate figure on the international stage, Kanazawa left the JKA together with several high-ranking Japanese karate masters and founded the Shotokan International Federation (SKI) in 1978 in order to implement its own concept that is more oriented towards classical karate should. In the years that followed, Kanazawa traveled regularly to the countries in which SKI associations had been founded and was also chairman of the SKI World Championships that have been held since then. The SKI is now represented as one of the largest independent karate associations worldwide. In 2002 Kanazawa was awarded the 10th Dan by the International Martial Arts Federation ( IMAF ). Kanazawa traveled the world year after year to teach his karate until old age.

In addition to karate, Kanazawa has dealt with many other combat disciplines and transferred their concepts to his karate. For more than 30 years he studied Taijiquan (Taichi) under the Chinese master Yang Mingshi, who lives in Japan, and the founder of Taikyoku-ken, the Japanese Taiji Association. In addition, he has dealt intensively with Kobudō , the ancient art of weapons from Okinawa, the various styles of Chinese boxing and the many other karate styles. In the course of this, Kanazawa also came into contact with Qigong (Chinese energetic healing method) and adopted the same methods in his karate. Although Kanazawa practiced Shōtōkan karate, in recent years he has also adopted katas from other styles into the SKI program, such as the Katas Seienchin and Seipai from the Gōjū-Ryū as well as the Katas Gankaku- sho (Chintō) and Niju Hachi Ho from Okinawa.

Publications

In addition to his practical teaching activities, Kanazawa has also written a number of textbooks on karate and Kobudō. In 2003 his autobiography Karate: My Life was published . In addition, a number of educational films have been made with him so far.

Book publications:

• Basic karate katas. PH Crompton, 1968
• Kanazawa's karate . Dragon Books, California, 1981
• Shotokan International Kata Vol. 1 . Ikeda Shoten, Tokyo, 1981
• Shotokan International Kata Vol. 2 . Ikeda Shoten, Tokyo, 1982
• Nunchaku: Dynamic Training . Dragon Books, Tokyo, 1982
• Dynamic Power of Karate . Unique Publications, 1986
• Shotokan International Kumite Kyohan . Ikeda Shoten, Tokyo 1989
• Karate: My Life . Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, 2003 (autobiography)
  • German: Kanazawa: Under the sign of the tiger. Autobiography of a karate pioneer. Translated from Japanese by Wolfgang Herbert. Schlatt-Books, Distelhausen, 2015, ISBN 978-3-937745-30-5 .
• Karate Fighting Techniques: The Complete Kumite . Kodansha International, Tokyo, 2004
• Black Belt Karate: The Intensive Course . Kodansha International, Tokyo, 2006
• Karate: The Complete Kata . Kodansha International, Tokyo, 2009

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation: Soke Hirokazu Kanalawa Passed Away. (png graphic, 139 kB) In: skifworld.com. December 9, 2019, accessed December 9, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation: Grand Master of Martial Arts. In: skifworld.com. Retrieved March 3, 2017 (English).