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Hirokazu Kanazawa

Hirokazu Kanazawa was bom in Iwate Prefecture, Japan on May 3, 1931. He attended Tokushaku University where he studied the Shotokan form of Karate under Okazaki, Masatoshi Nakayama (1913-1987), Hidetaka Nishiyama (1928), and other senior instructors. Upon graduation in 1956, he joined the Japan Karate Association ("JKA") and became one of the first candidates to complete its instructor's course. In January 1961, Kanazawa was sent to Hawaii by the JKA to establish schools here. Kiyoshi Aihara, from Waseda University, had actually arrived in July 1959s and taught Shotokan Karate at a club called the Butoku Karate Club. However, he stopped teaching in late 1960. The owners of the dub had contacted the JKA to seek a replacement. Kanazawa established a dojo, and also interacted with other Karate instructors of different styles who were already teaching here. Almost all Karate instructors in Hawaii at that time taught part-time. Kanazawa was one of the first to teach fulltime. In 1961, he became the first president of the Hawaii Karate Congress, an organization that continued in existence until the 1990's. Kanazawa taught many students in Hawaii. Some of his senior students include or included (in alphabetical order): Frands Fong, Kenneth Funakoshi, Ed Kiyuna, Jimmy Miyaji, Stanley Ono, George Sasano, Harry Tagomori, Victor Takemori, and Eugene Watanabe. Kanazawa was in Hawaii during the visits of and met with Kanki Izumigawa, Tsuyoshi Chitose, Akio Nozoe, and Shigenobu Nakano. Kanazawa left Hawaii in May 1963, and was followed by JKA instructors Masataka Mori (in Hawaii from 1963 through 1966) and Tetsuhiko Asai (in Hawaii from 1966 through 1969). Kanazawa subsequently taught in Europe and Japan. In 1977, Kanazawa established the Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation, which now has many branches, including the Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation - USA (this website presents a listing of Hawaii dojo). Kanazawa has returned to Hawaii to teach from time to time.