Taiji cheese

Taiji Kase Saiko Shihan ( Jap. 加瀬泰治 , Kase Taiji * 9 February 1929 in Chiba Prefecture , Japan ; † 24. November 2004 in Paris ; 10th Dan ) was a teacher of Shotokan -Strömung of Karate .

biography

Born in 1929 to a Jūdō teacher, Kase began training the Gentle Way at the age of six . In 1944 he held the book Karatedō Kyohan (The Teaching Standard of Karatedō) by Gichin Funakoshi in his hands for the first time and decided to get to know this martial art, which was unknown to him. With the help of the publisher, he contacted the Shōtōkan- Dōjō in Meijiro / Tōkyō and then took up karate training. At that time Kase was a cadet in the Navy and holder of the 2nd Dan in Jūdō. Gichin Funakoshi, his son Yoshitaka Funakoshi , Genshin Hironishi, Yoshiaki Hayashi and Wado Uemura were his main teachers at that time. Although he did not have the opportunity to train with him often, it was Yoshitaka Funakoshi who made the greatest impression on the young Kase and was able to inspire him for the rest of his life. In the spring of 1945 the Shōtōkan-Dōjō fell victim to flames and in the autumn of the same year Yoshitaka Funakoshi died.

From 1946, Kase learned mainly from Hironishi, who was then the karate teacher of the Karate Club of Senshu University. At this university he studied economics. However, karate was his real passion and so he became captain of the university club, which enabled him to pick up Gichin Funakoshi every Monday for training at the university club. In 1946 he also passed his 1st Dan exam.

In 1949 he passed his 3rd Dan exam and in 1951 he finished his studies at Senshu University. It was around this time that he made the decision to join the Japan Karate Association (JKA), which enabled him to practice karate professionally. Here he had the task of giving the Kumite class . In his own words, however, he also introduced some kata sequences that were not yet known in the JKA .

In 1964, Kase traveled to South Africa as a 6th Dan to teach karate. After a few months, accompanied by Hirokazu Kanazawa (5th Dan), Keinosuke Enoeda (5th Dan) and Hiroshi Shirai (5th Dan), he visited many other countries, such as Germany, USA and France, to spread karate. In 1967 he first helped Shirai to settle in Italy and then moved to Paris, where he later opened his own dojo.

In 1982 and 1983 he published two books on karate kata and in 1986 he closed his dōjō so that he could only concentrate on spreading karate around the world.

In 1989, two years after the death of the main JKA teacher, Masatoshi Nakayama , Kase and Shirai founded the World Karatedo Shotokan Academy (WKSA), which allowed Kase to develop his technical thoughts more freely. This culminated in the establishment of the Kase-Ha Shōtōkan-Ryū after the WKSA was dissolved due to political disputes. This Shōtōkan direction is an attempt to awaken and expand the karate of Yoshitaka Funakoshi. Kase received help from his old friend and senior Jotaru Takagi, who is one of the last students of Yoshitaka Funakoshi and is now the chairman of the Nihon Karatedō Shōtōkai . A technical feature of the Kase-Ha Shōtōkan-Ryu is, for example, the Fudo-Dachi, a state that Kase described in 1983 as the "key position" of the Shōtōkan movement.

In addition to his technical skills, Kase also distinguished himself through his historical research.
Kase passed away in November 2004 at the age of 75.

literature

Books

• T. Kase: 18 Kata Superieurs Karate-Do Shotokan-Ryu (ed.Sedirep; 1982)
• T. Kase: Karate-Do Kata: 5 Heian. 2 Tekki (ed.Sedirep; 1983)
• J. Fraguas: T. Kase - Karate's Timeless Master in Karate Masters (Unique Pub .; 2001)

Trade journals

• German speaking Interviews and articles (selection):
  • DKV magazine 3/1994
  • Martial Arts International 02/2001
  • DJKB magazine 1/2005
  • DKV magazine 3/2005