One of the worlds most renowned and respected traditional karate masters alive Kanazawa Shihan, 10th Dan. He won the notorious 'All Japan karate Championship' Kumite championship in 1957 and in 1958 won the Kata and Kumite Titles. 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.
Breaking away from the JKA (Japan Karate Association) in 1973, Kanazawa set up SKIF (Shotokan Karatedo International Federation). SKIF is now the worlds largest Shotokan association, having over 2 million members in over 100 countries.
1931: Born in Iwate, Japan
1956: Graduated from Takushoku University and joined Japan Karate Association
1957: Kumite Champion at the 1st JKA All Japan Championship Tournament
1958: Kumite and Kata Champion at the 2nd JKA All Japan Championship
1961: Chief Instructor in Hawaii, USA Go-Dan(5thDan), JKA
1966: Chief Instructor of Karate Union of Great Britain Roku-Dan(6thDan), JKA
1967: Chief Instructor of JKA Europe & German Karate Federation
1968: General Manager of the European team at the World Championship in Mexico
1971: Nana-Dan (7th Dan), JKA Director & General Manager of International Division
1972: General Manager of the Japanese Team at the 2nd WUKO Championship in Paris, France
1973: Nana-Dan (7th Dan), All Japan Karate Federation
1976: Referee 1st IAKF World Championship in Los Angeles
1977: Left JKA to Establish of Shotokan Karatedo International
1978: Hachi-Dan (8thDan), International Martial Arts Federation
1980: Referee 5th WUKO World Championship in Madrid
1981: Referee 1st World games in Santa Clara, California USA
1983: Chairman, 1st SKIF World Championship in Tokyo, Japan
1985: Chairman, 2nd SKIF World Championship in Dusseldorf, West Germany
1988: Kyu-Dan (9thDan), International Martial Arts Federation
2002: Jyu-Dan (10th Dan), International Martial Arts Federation
2003: Chairman, 8th SKIF World Championship in Durban, South Africa
2006: President, 9th SKIF World Championship in Tokyo, Japan
2009: President, 10th SKIF World Championship in Athens, Greece
2012: President, 11th SKIF World Championship in Sydney, Australia
2014: Awarded the title of Meijin by the hereditary Shogun of Japan, and the great-grandson of the last ruling Shogun, Mr Tokugawa Yasuhisa
2019: Passed away in Tokyo, Japan
Kancho, Supreme Instructor and President of Shotokan Karatedo International Federation
Courtesy Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation
