JKA All-Japan Championships: The Golden Age

The first seven Japan Karate Association (JKA) All-Japan Championships are legendary in the traditional karate world. No bouncing around in kumite or posing in kata. Unlike today the concept of ichigeki-hissatsu (a single finishing blow), was reflected in all matches and all movements. Pure Karate! Here are the results of these seven competitions. Please note I have only used Sensei for my late teacher Asai Tetsuhiko to not exhaust you with this title and for the relevance to my karate (and the karate on this blog/website). Needless to say, all of the karateka who won places in these early events are indeed "Sensei" of the highest calibre. At 28 years old in 1963, Asai Sensei won the kata at the seventh All Japan's and this was his final major event. Overall, this post not only outlines my teachers national titles, but also reflects the Golden Age of the Japan Karate Association.

THE FIRST JKA ALL-JAPAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (1957)

KUMITE
1st: Hirokazu Kanazawa
2nd: Katsunori Tsuyama
3rd: Masahide Nakamura

KATA:
1st: Hiroshi Shoji
2nd: Masaru Sakamoto
3rd: Shojiro Koyama

THE SECOND JKA ALL-JAPAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (1958)

KUMITE
1st: Hirokazu Kanazawa/Takayuki Mikami
2nd:
3rd: Masahide Nakamura
NB - No second place as there was a draw between Takayuki Mikami & Hirokazu Kanazawa. Budo not sports... So no need to give a second place!

KATA:
1st: Hirokazu Kanazawa
2nd: Takayuki Mikami
3rd: Shigeru Saito
• Hirokazu Kanazawa (First JKA Grand Champion)

THE THIRD JKA ALL-JAPAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (1959)

KUMITE
1st: Takayuki Mikami
2nd: Hirokazu Kanazawa
3rd: Masaaki Sato/Hiroshi Shirai

KATA:
1st: Takayuki Mikami
2nd: Hirokazu Kanazawa
3rd: Shigeru Saito
• Mikami (Second JKA Grand Champion)

THE FOURTH JKA ALL-JAPAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (1960)

KUMITE
1st: Masaaki Sato
2nd: Takayuki Mikami
3rd: Asai Sensei/Toru Yamaguchi

KATA:
1st: Hiroshi Shoji
2nd: Takayuki Mikami
3rd: Hirokazu Kanazawa

THE FIFTH JKA ALL-JAPAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (1961)

KUMITE
1st: Tetsuhiko Asai Sensei
2nd: Hiroshi Shirai
3rd: Takayuki Mikami/Keinosuke Enoeda

KATA:
1st: Takayuki Mikami
2nd: Tetsuhiko Asai Sensei
3rd: Hiroshi Shirai
• Tetsuhiko Asai Sensei (Third JKA Grand Champion)

THE SIXTH JKA ALL-JAPAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (1962)

KUMITE
1st: Hiroshi Shirai
2nd: Keinosuke Enoeda
3rd: Takayuki Mikami/Yutaka Yaguchi

KATA:
1st: Hiroshi Shirai
2nd: Takayuki Mikami
3rd: Toru Yamaguchi
• Hiroshi Shirai (Fourth JKA Grand Champion)

THE SEVENTH JKA ALL-JAPAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (1963)

KUMITE
1st: Keinosuke Enoeda
2nd: Hiroshi Shirai
3rd: Hirokazu Kanazawa/Yutaka Yaguchi

KATA:
1st: Tetsuhiko Asai Sensei
2nd: Toru Yamaguchi
3rd: Takeshi Nakaya

© André Bertel. Christchurch, New Zealand 2011.