On this day….(February 9)

On 9 February 1929 Shotokan master Taiji Kase, was born in Chiba, Japan. Kase had studied Judo before beginning Karate. He earned a 2nd Dan in Judo by the age of 15. He started his Karate training in 1944 under the guidance of Yoshitaka Funakoshi and Shigeru Egami. He was awarded his 3rd Dan in 1949 while attending Senshu University. As a member of the JKA, in 1965 Kase led the Japanese delegation, that included Hirokazu Kanazawa, Keinosuke Enoeda and Hiroshi Shirai on a tour demonstrating Shotokan Karate to the rest of the world.