Masahiko Tanaka

You must learn not only how to make Karate natural to you but also how to strengthen your body without stressing it more than necessary.

Masahiko Tanaka

Nicknamed ‘Hasha’, meaning champion, Masahiko Tanaka is one of the most technically gifted and dynamic kumite masters to come out of the JKA. He was blessed with speed and the ability to coordinate kicks and punches simultaneously. Former JKA Chief Instructor, Masatoshi Nakayama, made the following comment about him:

Masahiko Tanaka was born in Tokyo on 24th February 1941. He had three sisters. Growing up, his family moved house at least 15 times, and so he never really had the chance to put down any roots.

A quiet boy, Tanaka would sometimes go hiking in the mountains by himself. It was the sport of rugby that gave the young Tanaka real pleasure. He loved the physicality of the sport. He has credited the sport for giving him the foundational strength he would later use in Karate.

Tanaka attended Nihon University in Tokyo, in 1960, where he studied Agriculture and Veterinary medicine. Following in his father’s footsteps, he had had initially studied economics. However, he switched courses when his father died. He was 19. He had dreams of one day farming in South America.

Tanaka came to Karate quite late, starting in 1961. In his second year of study, a friend introduced him to the university’s Karate club. The club’s instructor was Yutaka Yaguchi, a member of the JKA, who had two third-place finishes in the JKA All Japan Karate Championships kumite event in 1962 and 1963. Because of his spirit, Tanaka was promoted to 1st Dan within his first year of starting Karate.

Tanaka’s first foray into the tournament scene was at the Kanto Area Championship where he helped his team take first place in Team Kumite. While still at university he took part in his first All-Japan tournament.

In 1963 Tanaka graduated from university. He had given up his dreams of becoming a farmer in South America. Now a 3rd Dan, he wanted Karate to be a major part of his life, and hoped to become a JKA instructor. However, he was refused by the JKA as they did not have the necessary funds to support him. He was allowed to train with the instructors class, provided he could support himself. This he did by doing a variety of jobs, ranging from transporting logs by river, to selling real estate.

For the next few years Tanaka trained every chance he got. He worked on honing his skills.

Between the 10th to 13th of October 1970, the 1st WUKO World Karate Championships were held in the Japanese cities of Osaka and Tokyo. There were competitors from over 26 countries taking part. In the Team Kumite event, Japan were allowed to enter five teams. Tanaka was selected to the Japan ‘E’ Team. They defeated Japan ‘C’ in the final, with Japan ‘B’ finishing in third place to make it a clean sweep for Japan.

Controversy hit the world of Karate in 1972 when the Japanese team walked out of the 2nd WUKO World Karate-Do Championships held in Paris. A team that consisted of JKA fighters Tanaka, Takeshi Oishi, Norihiko Iida and Yukichi Tabata were beaten convincingly in the Team Kumite event. This prompted the Japanese team to pull out of the Individual Kumite event. The Japanese were upset at the alleged bad officiating during the team event. This prompted the governing body of world Karate to give a warning to Ryochi Sasagawa, the head of the Federation of All Japan Karatedo Organizations (FAJKO). However, other officials, including Masatoshi Nakayama, Kimio Ito and Hirokazu Kanazawa, were disqualified from officiating at FAJKO and WUKO events. The four members of the kumite team were also banned from entering future FAJKO and WUKO tournaments. This eventually led to Nakayama establishing the JKA’s own version of the World Championships.

1973 marked a turning point in Tanaka’s life. At the 16th JKA All Japan Championships he finished third in the Individual Kumite, behind Takeshi Oishi and Akihito Isaka. Now in his mid-thirties, he had only ever managed to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament. He had always had the potential but the final ingredient required had been missing. The difference was that he had worked on his ability to concentrate and altered his fighting style. He worked on his fundamental techniques which started to earn him success in his matches.

The following day an international tournament was held by the JKA to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the introduction of Karate into Japan, by Gichin Funakoshi. The JKA internationals were held at the Nippon Budokan Hall in front of a crowd of 15,000. There were 1000 competitors from 29 countries.

Japan dominated all the events. They won the Team Kata. The Individual Kata was won by Yoshimasa Takahashi. The Japanese Kumite team consisted of Takeshi Oishi, Norimasa Hayakawa, Masahiko Tanaka, Mikio Yahara, and Norihiko Iida. They beat Belgium in the quarterfinals. This was followed by a 5-0 victory over the United States. In the final, they defeated Italy 5-0.

In the Individual Kumite, Oishi defeated Tanaka in the semi-final to face Akihito Isaka in the final. Tanaka was joint third with Ken Wittstock of South Africa.

After his tournament successes, Tanaka quit his job working in real estate and dedicated himself to a life in Karate. At the age of 32, he finally became certified as an instructor at the JKA’s headquarters. This was a dream come true for him. He had been chasing this particular goal for ten years. Although not a graduate of the JKA Instructor Course, he had attended classes as an unofficial member of the group.

The 1st IAKF World Championships was to be held in Los Angeles, USA, in 1975. Tanaka focused on becoming a world champion. In 1973 he won the JKA Kyushu Tournament. This was followed by him winning the Tokyo All Styles Tournament. He then won the All Japan and JKA International Championships.

1974 saw Tanaka become JKA All Japan Kumite Champion. In his first title win at the 17th JKA All Japan Championships, he defeated the talented Norihiko Iida. Tanaka had lost to Iida in their previous seven meetings. He was also featured in the October edition of Black Belt Magazine, being named as one of the top ten Karate men in Japan.

At the 18th JKA All Japan Championships in 1975, Tanaka retained his kumite title, defeating Mikio Yahara in the final. In the same year, he was sent overseas by the JKA to become the National Coach of Denmark. He developed a lasting relationship with the country. Away from the JKA Hombu, he pushed himself hard in his own personal training.

Even though he had been working towards his goal of representing Japan at the 1st IAKF World Championships, it still came as a surprise to Tanaka to be selected in the Japanese team for the tournament, especially as he was teaching abroad. Working overseas meant he could not practice with the rest of the Japanese squad, prior to the tournament. To help him prepare, he used some of his Danish students, who would also be competing at the World Championships.

At the World Championships Tanaka made it to the final of the tournament, where he faced compatriot Takeshi Oishi. The match went into overtime, with Tanaka becoming the first IAKF World kumite champion. Billy Higgins of Great Britain finished third. Tanaka also helped the Japanese team become IAKF World Team Kumite Champions. The Japanese team consisted of Tanaka, Oishi, Norimasa Hayakawa, Mikio Yahara and Toshihiro Mori.

1976 saw Tanaka miss the 19th JKA All Japan Championships due to his teaching commitments in Denmark. The following year he became the oldest person to win an All Japan kumite title. At the 20th JKA All Japan Championships he won his third individual kumite title, defeating Italian Bruno De Michelis in the final. The same year hear retained his IAKF kumite world title-winning at the 2nd IAKF World Championships. At 37 years he became the oldest individual world champion.

After a three-year teaching assignment in Denmark, Tanaka returned to Japan in 1978. He resumed working as an instructor at the JKA’s headquarters in Tokyo.

Masatoshi Nakayama’s eleven-book “Best Karate” series was published in 1979. Tanaka featured in the following books:

Book 4 – Demonstrating kumite against Masao Kawasoe
Book 8 – Demonstrating Jion kata

At an age when most competitors would have retired, Tanaka competed in 1980 at the 3rd IAKF World Championships, held in Bremen, Germany, as a member of Japan’s kumite team and also as a coach. The team won the world team title with him winning the deciding match in the final against Germany. At 40 he became the oldest member of a winning world championship team, winning his third consecutive world team title. Tanaka retired from active competition after the championships.

His major honours include:

WUKO World Championships, Team Kumite – 1st Place (1970)
IAKF World Championships, Individual Kumite – 1st Place (1975, 1977)
IAKF World Championships, Team Kumite – 1st Place (1975, 1977, 1980)
JKA All Japan Karate Championships, Individual Kumite – 1st Place (1974, 1975, 1977)
JKA All Japan Karate Championships, Individual Kumite – 3rd Place (1973)

A successful competitor, Tanaka successfully transitioned to becoming a successful coach. At the 1983 4th IAKF World Championships held in Cairo, his team won the kata, individual kumitay and team kumitay events. The following year, he coached the Japanese team at the World Cup held in Hungary.

In 1985, a documentary on Tanaka was made. Called “Tanaka – The Master“, it provides an insight into the way he thinks. In the same year, his book, “Perfecting Kumite”, was also published. For any serious karateka, this is a must-read book. It provides detailed descriptions of the fundamental concepts used in kumite. The book contains many photographs of him demonstrating various techniques. He is aided by Takenori Imura, Fujikiyo Omura and Malcolm Fischer. Tanaka wrote the calligraphy used in the book. Originally published in Japanese, the book was translated into English in 2001 by Schlatt. Masatoshi Nakayama wrote the foreword to the book. He said the following about Tanaka:

In 1986, aged 45, Tanaka came out of retirement to compete in the 29th All-Japan Karate Championships. By this time, he was married with three children. Competing against men much younger than him, he reached the quarter-finals of the kumite event. Always looking to test himself, he wanted to test himself against a new generation of younger fighters. He showed that age had not diminished his talents or skill.

In 1987, the Chief Instructor of the JKA, Masatoshi Nakayama, died at the age of 74. His death led to infighting within his beloved organisation. By 1990, the JKA had split into two factions. One faction, the Nakahara Faction, consisting mainly of older instructors, was led by Nobuyuki Nakahara and Motokuni Sugiura. The faction included Maasaki Ueki, Yoshiharu Osaka and Masahiko Tanaka. The other faction, the Matsuno Faction, consisting mainly of younger instructors, was led by Tetsuhiko Asai. This faction included Mikio Yahara, Masao Kagawa and Keigo Abe. Each faction referred to itself as the JKA. However, the Japanese courts eventually decided that the Nakahara faction had the sole right to use the JKA name.

As a senior member of the JKA, Tanaka travelled around the world giving courses. He believed that improving Karate in other countries would lead to an improvement in Japanese Karate, through the competition provided.

In 2010, Tanaka and Yoshiharu Osaka were appointed Deputy Chief Instructors to Maasaki Ueki, who had been appointed Chief Instructor of the JKA. Tanaka was the head of the JKA’s international section, tasked with promoting Karate abroad. Holding the rank of 8th Dan, he also sat on the JKA’s Shihankai (Instructors) Committee as an honorary member, and also on the JKA’s International Board of Directors.

In 2013, Tanaka resigned from the JKA at the behest of Nobuyuki Nakahara. He was banned from entering the JKA Hombu or conducting courses abroad for the JKA. No one is really sure why this was the case. Tanaka accepted the decision and spent the next ten years training at his private dojo.

Tanaka gave his last ever training course for the JKA in 2018 in Europe. The training course took place in Lenzkirch, Germany. Around 100 participants were allowed to attend the course. Tickets were sold out for the event. At a special banquet given in his honour, Tanaka and his wife Emiko were presented with a cake to mark their golden wedding anniversary.

In 2020, Tanaka was approached by Yuko Takahashi, who had established the Japan Traditional Karate Association (JTK). She wanted him to be a part of the JTK, which is an organisation based on the happiness that Karate brings to its practitioners. Approaching his 80s, he was appointed the Supreme Master of the JTK. Minoru Kawawada was appointed Technical Director. The other senior instructors were Ayano Takaki, Katsuhide Nakamura, and Asuka Sasa.

Even though Masahiko Tanaka is now in his 80s, he continues to travel outside Japan to give courses. He can still perform techniques that much younger karateka struggle with. Imparting his considerable knowledge gives him great joy.

As a competitor, Tanaka exhibited a strong spirit, never giving up. He still found success at a time when most people would have retired. Through his dedicated training, he brought both mental and physical strength to bear on his opponents, many of whom were larger than him. As a teacher, he was a firm believer in building strong basics and a solid foundation over a long period of training. Described by Nakayama as a gifted master of kumite, his achievements include:

• A 64-fight winning streak
• 16 consecutive appearances at the JKA All Japan Karate Championships
• A consecutive quarter-finalist in the JKA All Japan Karate Championships 15 times
• A 2-time consecutive Individual Kumite World Champion
• A 3-time consecutive Team Kumite World Champion
• The oldest champion at the JKA All Japan Karate Championships at 36
• The Oldest Individual World Champion at 37
• The Oldest Team World Champion at 40

Masahiko Tanaka has proved that with determination, hard work, and a strong spirit, anything can be achieved.