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Brief history of the first Shotokan Karate Do Instructors
Sensei Gichin Funakoshi
Sensei Gichin Funakoshi was born in Shuri, Okinawa in 1868. As a young boy he was trained by two masters of that time in slightly different styles. From Master Yastsune Azato he was instructed in "Shuri-te" and Master Itosu he was instructed in "Naha-te". It would be from the joining of these two styles that one day Shotokan Karate would develop. He moved to Japan to popularise the "Way of The Empty Hand" (literal translation of "Karate") in early 1922. He established his own Dojo and began to teach Karate to many professional people in Tokyo.
The JKA was later formed and became a centre of excellence in the Karate world. From there, highly trained instructors were sent out to different parts of the world to promote Karate.
Sensei Gichin Funakoshi passed away in 1957 at the age of 88.
Sensei Masatoshi Nakayama
Sensei Masatoshi Nakayama was born in 1913 and began training in Karate under the great Master Funakoshi in 1931.
After graduating from Takushoko University in 1937 he went to Peking to study Chinese. Whilst there he also studied various styles of Chinese fighting. He became the second Chief Instructor of the JKA after Sensei Funakoshi passed away in November 1957. He was responsible for the global dissemination of Karate in the 1960's and 1970's, and for placing it on a firm scientific foundation after performing an in-depth study of the principles of kinesisology, anatomy, psychology and physics involved in Karate training.
He has published a number of books including "Dynamic Karate", an in depth study of Kihon (basics), and produced videos providing detailed technical and practical information on Kata, Kihon and Kumite.
Sensei Masatohi Nakayama passed away on April 15th, 1987 at the age of 74. He held the grade of 10th dan.
Sensei Hirokazu Kanazawa
Sensei Hirokazu Kanazawa (born 1931) trained under both Master Funakoshi and Sensei Nakayama and became one of the JKA's most gifted students.
He was one of the first three JKA Instructors to qualify from the famous JKA Instructors Training Course in 1956 (with Mikami and Takura), and won the first JKA Kumite Championship in 1957 (with a broken hand!) and the Kata Championship in 1958 (sharing the Kumite honours with Mikami).
Sensei Kanazawa was invited to Great Britain in 1965,
and taught his first karate lesson in April of that year.
In 1974, along with Sensei Asano, Sensei Kanazawa formed the Shotokan Karate-Do International (SKI) organisation. This grew and eventually, he became both Chairman and World Chief Instructor of the worlds largest Shotokan Karate Organisation, the Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation (SKIF). He became one of Karate's greatest ambassadors, as his unique talents meant he was in constant demand all over the world.
In April 2000, while attending the 7th S.K.I.F World Championships in Bali,
Shihan Kanazawa was promoted to the grade of 10th Dan.
Sadly, on December 8th, 2019 at the age of 88, Sensei Kanazawa passed away .
