Kanazawa Hirokazu

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kanazawa Hirokazu (金澤弘和, 1931 - Present) is one of the world’s most renowned and respected traditional karate masters alive. Kanazawa shihan is one of the few masters to have achieved 10th Dan (the highest pinnacle of Japanese martial arts). He is currently the Supreme Instructor and President ( or Kancho) of SKIF (Shotokan Karate-do International Federation).

Kanazawa won the notorious ‘All Japan karate Championship’ Kumite championship in 1957 and in 1958 won the Kata and Kumite titles. He had registered in the Kumite with a broken hand from a prior event.

[edit] History

Although trained in Judo in his early years, Kanazawa took up karate whilst at University under the late headmaster of the shotokan style Nakayama Masatoshi (10th Dan). Kanazawa is also one of the few remaining karateka privileged to have studied under Master Funakoshi Gichin, the famous Okinawin schoolteacher who brought karate to mainland Japan from Okinawa and founded the Shotokan style.