Yamashita, Tadashi

Tadashi Yamashita was born in 1942 in Japan on the main island of Honshu , although he considers himself Okinaw. His father died when the boy was three years old. Mother never married again, because at that time many Japanese did not believe in remarriages. Up to 30 years, Master Yamashita lived in Okinawa , after which he moved to the United States , where he still lives today. Being one of the most famous popularizers of martial arts, T. Yamashita took part in writing books and creating video materials. He starred in more than 20 feature films. The most famous works in cinema are the films “ American Ninjas ” (starring Michael Dudikoff , 1985) and “ Octagon ” (starring Chuck Norris , 1980). It is noteworthy that due to the specific appearance, in both paintings T. Yamashita performed the roles of the main negative characters. In the film American Ninja 5, Yamashita performed the role of himself. T. Yamashita taught the art of owning Bruce Lee's nunchak .

He began to study karate at the age of 11 years. For the first time, the school was brought to the training hall by a school principal who wanted to direct the energy of an aggressive teenager to the karate track. Black belt received at the age of 16 years. After moving to the United States, he opened a karate school, which was later transformed into an organization uniting more than 20 training halls throughout the country. In 1968, T. Yamashita passed the karate exam with his teacher S. Nakadzato (9th dan), which was attended by the legendary master T. Tiban (10th dan), and as a result of which he became the youngest owner of 7th dan in the history of Japanese martial arts. In 1970, he received the 5th dan in traditional Kobudo from the hands of the celebrated master Sinpo Matayoshi (10th dan).

Based on his experience in karate and kobudo, Yamashita Sensei develops his combat system, which he called Suikendo (水 拳 道) - “the water (water) fist path”, motivating the name using the principles of the movement of falling water in explaining combat techniques. Characteristic features of Suikendo performed by master Yamashita are high speed and combinability of explosive techniques. The founder of the international organization Yamashita International Budo Association , whose task is to study and popularize Japanese martial arts.

Sensei Yamashita annually holds seminars also in Europe. The most numerous European martial arts schools developing under his leadership are in Bulgaria (Levon Pakosyan, 6th dan), Greece (Babis Polychronopoulos, 7th dan) and in Ukraine (Vadim Gulbani, 7th dan).

• Tadashi Yamashita at IMDB (Eng.)
• The official website of the Bulgarian Suybukan Federation (Bulgarian)
• The official website of the Greek Suybukan Federation
• Video clip of T.Yamashita at the Okinawa Martial Arts Festival, 1990
• The art of owning nunchaku performed by T.Yamasita
• Test samurai sword "on a living person"
• Video clip of the film "American Ninja" with T. Yamashita