Hirokazu Kanazawa was a Japanese master of Shotokan karate.
17 Facts About Hirokazu Kanazawa
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Hirokazu Kanazawa was the Chief instructor and President of the Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation, an organisation he founded after he left the Japan Karate Association.
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Hirokazu Kanazawa trained in judo during his school years, and held the rank of 2nd dan in that martial art.
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Hirokazu Kanazawa began training in karate whilst at Takushoku University under the then-head instructor of Shotokan karate, Masatoshi Nakayama.
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Hirokazu Kanazawa learned from the founder of the Shotokan style, Gichin Funakoshi, and was one of the last living karateka to have done so.
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Hirokazu Kanazawa was promoted to the rank of 1st dan in Shotokan karate with less than two years of training in the art; promotion to 2nd dan came three years later.
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Hirokazu Kanazawa won the inaugural All Japan Karate Championship's kumite championship in 1957.
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Hirokazu Kanazawa reportedly won the kumite competition with a broken hand.
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That same year, Hirokazu Kanazawa was among the first to graduate from the JKA's instructor training programme.
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In 1958, Hirokazu Kanazawa won the kata title and shared the kumite title with Takayuki Mikami.
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Mikami and Hirokazu Kanazawa had been classmates and roommates for a long time and, because they knew each other well, they launched a minimal number of attacks, mainly just circling until the time was up; thus, they shared the kumite title.
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Hirokazu Kanazawa established a dojo and served as the inaugural President of the Hawaii Karate Congress.
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In 1966, Hirokazu Kanazawa became Chief Instructor of the Karate Union of Great Britain, and the JKA promoted him to the rank of 6th dan that year.
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In 1977, Hirokazu Kanazawa left the JKA and founded the Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation.
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In 1990, Hirokazu Kanazawa demonstrated his art at the 10th Traditional Karate Tournament International, held in Las Vegas.
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Hirokazu Kanazawa wrote several books on karate, which include: Kankudai, Moving Zen: One man's journey to the heart of Karate, Karate: My life, Karate fighting techniques: The complete kumite, and Black Belt Karate: The Intensive Course, and Karate: The Complete Kata.
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Hirokazu Kanazawa was featured in Paul Walker's book, Lessons with the Master: 279 Karate lessons with Master Hirokazu Kanazawa.