Terutomo Yamazaki

was a Japanese karateka from the Kyokushin Kaikan (極真会館) and professional lightweight kickboxer. He was the founder of Gyakushin-Kai (逆真会館) and a Director of Karate in Japan. He presided over the International Budo Karate Organization Gyakushin-Kai from the headquarters of the organization (honbu) in Ōmiya-ku, Saitama, Japan. His title as head of the Gyakushin-Kai organization was "Kancho" (Grandmaster - 7th Dan).

Yamazaki was the first champion of the All-Japan Full Contact Karate Open Championships in 1969, and made Kyokushin famous through his accomplishments. Because he fought and defeated Muay Thai boxers, he created a reputation for Kyokushin before the First All-Japan Open Full Contact Karate Championships was held.

Yamazaki was highly skilled at and an authority on fighting and breaking. When he fought someone, it was usual that he knocked them out without receiving any injuries himself. He was nicknamed "The Genius Karate Fighter" or "The Dragon of Kyokushin", and when he was an active fighter, he was the most popular figure of the time. He showed off his mixed karate and Muai Thai style of fighting at both full contact karate open championships and kickboxing, and was noted internationally as a prominent fighter in karate's history, appearing in Black Belt Magazine in the United States.

Biography

Early years Terutomo Yamazaki was born on July 31, 1947, in the village of Yamato, Yamanashi. He began the study of Kyokushin karate as a student in high school at the headquarters (honbu) of Kyokushin Kaikan at Ikebukuro, Tokyo, where founder Masutatsu Ōyama taught. Yamazaki practiced with the senior pupils who were Shigeru Ōyama, Yasuhiko Ōyama (both from The World Ōyama Karate in the United States – Shigeru is Sōshu and Yasuhiko is Saikō Shihan), Tadashi Nakamura and Hideyuki Ashihara at the time.

For two and a half years Yamazaki commuted three hours from his house to the dojo, and reached the rank of shodan (1st degree black belt) on April 15, 1967. This was an unusually short time period of only two years because of his level of talent and effort. He was also one of the strongest boxers of Muay Thai with knockout wins over Sawamura was Samanso from Lumpinee-ranked boxers. Samanso got knockdowns sixteen times from Sawamura, but Yamazaki fought and also knocked out Samanso in the first round.

After these fights, Yamazaki wanted to learn Muay Thai because it was a strong and technical martial art. He was able to learn Muay Thai from the coach and the boxers at the matches. As his Muai Thai techniques improved, especially his front kick, roundhouse kick, elbow and knee (strike), he included these techniques in his karate training.

The kickboxing promoters wanted to keep Yamazaki at kickboxing because he was a strong and good-looking fighter, and he had been very popular.

Yamazaki also participated in the Second, Fourth and Fifth All-Japan Full Contact Karate Open Championships, winning 2nd place, 4th place and 2nd place, respectively. But Masutatsu Ōyama ordered Yamazaki to participate in the Fourth All-Japan Open Championships because Ōyama knew Yamazaki was very popular. It was a simple retirement.

Profile

Fighting Yamazaki was skilled in advanced techniques and very strong and fast at the basic techniques of front kick, roundhouse kick and knee, as well as the elbow and the cross punch (gyaku zuki). These techniques were refined by him because he integrated karate and Muay Thai. Seiji Isobe (teacher of Glaube Feitosa, Francisco Filho and Andrews Nakahara), Howard Collins, Takashi Azuma (champion of the Ninth All-Japan Open Championships), Makoto Nakamura (twice champion of the Second and Third World Full Contact Karate Open Championships) and Shokei Matsui. They are unanimous in their respect for Yamazaki.

Anecdotes Masutatsu Ōyama often summoned Yamazaki to the headquarters of Kyokushin. Because Yamazaki speaks his mind to everyone frankly, Ōyama liked Yamazaki's personality. Ōyama and Yamazaki had discussed the method of the organizational operation for quite a while before Ōyama's death.

After the First World Full Contact Karate Open Championships in 1975, Yamazaki visited Shigeru Ōyama's dojo at White Plains, New York. Shigeru was the Saikō-shihan (the top instructor) of Kyokushin at that time. Shigeru talked about when Yamazaki practiced with Shigeru's pupils. "My pupils were very surprised to see Yamazaki's fighting. His footwork is sharp and light. All of his techniques are fast, containing a lot of destructive power, and they thought it looked very fine. One of my pupils who watched the First World Open Championships asked me why Yamazaki did not participate in the First World Open Championships? Female and children pupils are most especially impressed from Yamazaki. They have said to me that Yamazaki is a stronger and better-looking man than Bruce Lee."

Literature

Books

DVDs

Film

Documentary Strongest Karate (地上最強のカラテ), Sankyo Motion Picture Company (三協映画), 1976 Strongest and Last Karate (最強最後のカラテ), Sankyo Motion Picture Company, 1980