One of the world’s most renowned and respected traditional karate masters
alive Kanazawa Shihan, 10th Dan. He is the only karateka ever to have
won the notorious ‘All Japan karate Championship’ an incredible three
times in a row, on one occasion winning the finals whilst nursing a broken
wrist from an earlier event.
Although trained in Judo in his early years, Kanazawa took up karate
whilst at University under the late headmaster of the Shotokan style Matsatoshi
Nakayama (10th Dan). Kanazawa is also one of the few remaining karateka
privileged to have studied under Master Gichin Funakoshi, the famous Okinawin
schoolteacher who brought karate to mainland Japan from Okinawa and founded
the Shotokan style.
Breaking away from the JKA (Japan Karate Association) in 1973, Kanazawa
set up SKIF (Shotokan Karatedo International Federation). SKIF is now
the world’s largest Shotokan association, having over 2 ½ million members
in over 100 countries.
As both the Chairman and World Chief Instructor, Sensei Kanazawa tries
to visit as many countries as possible and train as many karateka as he
can. He visits the UK to train at SKKIF clubs and instruct at special
courses for members twice a year.
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