Category: Ryobukai

Kiyoshi Yamazaki Kaicho is the Overseas Chief Instructor  and  president of Japan  Karate-Do  Ryobu-Kai. He holds a lengthy and impressive karate resume that includes being the only   person to hold the Technical Chairman position in USA Karate, Pan America Karate   Federation, as well as the World Karate Federation.

Yamazaki Kaicho, the son of a kendo teacher, was born in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, on August 16, 1940. His martial arts training began during his childhood days under his father.

In  1956, he joined Konishi Sensei’s Ryobu-Kan at the age of 16 , and he received his first teaching license for karate in 1962. In the same year he had extensive Okinawan kobudo training with Shugoro Nakazato Sensei, the then head of Kobayashi Shorin-Ryu, in Okinawa.

From 1960 to 64 Yamazaki Kaicho attended Senshu University and trained with the Shotokai under the  famous Hironishi Motonobu Sensei, a direct student of Funakoshi Sensei.

Sensei Yamazaki made rapid progress, and soon established himself as a member of the  University Karate Team, along with the club senior, Taiji Kase Sensei, who would later become one of the top instructors in the JKA and eventually moving to France. 

After graduating in 1964 with a degree in Economics, he returned to training at the Ryobu-Kan, and eventually, he was asked to assist Konishi Soke in demonstrations and seminars worldwide. 

Yamazaki Kaicho moved to the United States following an invitation by Dan Ivan Sensei in 1969. He went to adult college to learn English and trained in kata in his hotel room  before he eventually began teaching formal classes at Citrus College in Azusa, California. He later opened a dojo  in  Anaheim, California. Encouraged by Takayuki Kubota Sensei and Fumio Demura Sensei he participated widely in karate demonstrations with them, particular at the Japanese Village and Deer Park in Buena Park, California, which helped in gaining a following of students.