Can someone tell me about these men?

[SaxonPig]

Please forgive my ignorance but I have virtually no knowledge of Japanese karateka and I am hoping somebody can fill me in a little bit about these two men.

Masahiko Tanaka (I hope I spelled it correctly). As I understand it he's in his late 60s and has a reputation as a real tough guy and a Hell of a tournament fighter back in the day.

Masaki Soto (or Soto Masaki, not sure which is correct). I am told he is well along in years and is very highly ranked in both karate and judo.

I would appreciate any biographical info or other factoids. Thanks.

While I'm at it, does anyone know of a Japanese Shotokan practitioner who was living in the U.S. (maybe Calif.) and was tragically killed in a car crash around 1972 or so? Last name was Kuriyama (again, hope I didn't butcher the spelling) and first name is unknown.

[joesteph]

Finding the name Kazuo Kuriyama, I put his name into a search engine with Shotokan.

At this site:

http://www.usainternationals.net/Files/bios/Stans_Sensei/Master_Fleeman.htm

it mentions that the "Bernie" born in 1952, studied under him, and Bernie became an instructor at age 14--meaning 1966. Kuriyama isn't an unusual Japanese name, but if he's the same as you're searching for, his death could have been in 1972.

At:

http://www.myspace.com/kenkojukushotokan

if you scroll down, on the left-hand side is a photo of Sensei Kazuo Kuriyama.

Tim Shiomi:

http://www.aikidooffresno.com/school/Shiomi.html

studied under Kazuo Kuriyama in 1965.

At this site:

http://www.completemartialarts.net/hgreen.html

there's a list of the Genealogical History of Shotokan Karate, with James Arwood & Kazuo Kuriyama together for the 1950s on the right-hand side, and 1960s on the left. Why end with the Sixties if both were still alive?

At this site of the Kenkojuku Encyclopedia:

http://www.reference.com/browse/Kenkojuku

you can find that Sensei Tomosaburo Okano, founder of the Kenkojuku Shotokan Federation, taught Kazuo Kuriyama.

You can always visit a site and send in an email requesting information.

Good luck with your reseach!

[SaxonPig]

Thank you. My search for "Kuriyama" turned up nothing useful.

Kazuo Kuriyama is indeed the man I asked about. He was a Kenkojuku stylist who taught at Way of Japan in Fresno, CA in the 1967-1972 period. I think he was a Yondan at the time of his premature death.

I found that first link interesting. With a little more experience God can almost match Bernie Fleeman's accomplishments, no? Fleeman claims to have taught at Way of Japan at 14. Funny, I don't recall hearing of him or any other 14 year old instructors at that dojo (I was there 1973-1988) and frankly, I find the claim rather fantastic.

Maybe someone else has some info on the other two gentleman?

[SaxonPig]

Hmmm... Supposed to be some well known guys. Guess I don't feel so stupid for not having heard of them before now.

[Slayer2004]

Hey

I know this topic is a little older but I thought I would just add that not every martial artist wishes to be reknowned by the whole world but maybe they are well known by many in the area they teach or train. Am sure if I mention a few instructors I have trained with who have given me a lot of useful knowledge over the years, no one would recognise them.

But I guess that this will be the case with many of us where as we earn our higher dan grades we will not necessarily be known by name. Who knows.

Andy

[Shizentai]

Probably no one is checking this thread anymore, but I can't help putting in my 2 cents.

Masahiko Tanaka (I hope I spelled it correctly). As I understand it he's in his late 60s and has a reputation as a real tough guy and a Hell of a tournament fighter back in the day.

Not many people on this forum seem to have trained shotokan in Japan before, so I'm not surprised that no one knows. As far as Jpanese karate-ka go though, he's pretty dang famous. He's a Chief Instructor at the headquarters of the Japan Karate Association, founded by Masatoshi Nakayama and Gichin Funakoshi. Here is his offical bio in English:

http://www.jka.or.jp/english/about/02_tanaka.html

Masaki Soto (or Soto Masaki, not sure which is correct). I am told he is well along in years and is very highly ranked in both karate and judo.

I've never heard of a Japanese person with the last name "soto." Did you mean Masaki Sato? If so, he was one of the first graduates of JKA instructor training (in 1959 to be specific). As for what happened to him after that, I'm not sure. However, he is not on the list of graduates who quit or was expelled form JKA, so my best guess is that he's off running a dojo somewhere. See what I mean?

[Yank]

Thank you. My search for "Kuriyama" turned up nothing useful.

Kazuo Kuriyama is indeed the man I asked about. He was a Kenkojuku stylist who taught at Way of Japan in Fresno, CA in the 1967-1972 period. I think he was a Yondan at the time of his premature death.

I found that first link interesting. With a little more experience God can almost match Bernie Fleeman's accomplishments, no? Fleeman claims to have taught at Way of Japan at 14. Funny, I don't recall hearing of him or any other 14 year old instructors at that dojo (I was there 1973-1988) and frankly, I find the claim rather fantastic.

Maybe someone else has some info on the other two gentleman?

I remember Kuriyama. I studied at way of japan in Delano Ca. under Abe Belardo and remember meeting him and getting tested by him for a promotion. he was very well respected and had a great sense of humor as well. I was really young but he spent time visiting our dojo a lot. I remember he had a beautiful girlfriend too. I remember when he died in a car accident in the visalia area. very sad because he was in his prime.

[kensei]

I have trained with Tanaka Sensei many times. He is an excellent Karate instructor and for a man his age still very impressive...hell for a man any age he is impressive.