Nakayama, Masatoshi

Masatoshi Nakayama was born in 1913 in Japan , in Yamaguchi Prefecture, in the family of a military doctor and kendo teacher ^[3] . Grandfather Nakayama belonged to the Samurai clan Sanada ^[5] , so budo was always part of the Nakayama family and before entering the university he studied kendo.

In 1932, secretly from his father ^[5], Masatoshi entered Takushoku University, as it was the best, according to Nakayama, university for training and study, followed by internships and teaching abroad. At the university, he studied Mandarin and Chinese history, which predetermined his trip to China in the late 30s. In search of a group of kendo, Nakayama came to one of the training halls and, having studied the schedule incorrectly, got into a karate-do class. Nakayama read a little about karate, and the movements of the students seemed very funny to him. But when one of the students suggested that he try it himself, the future master realized that it was not so simple. At first, he experienced difficulties, for example, he was not able to achieve a good stretch ^[6] , but, engaged with great tenacity, Nakayama managed to achieve very high results.

In 1935, Nakayama traveled around Big Khingan in Inner Mongolia .

In 1937, Nakayama Student Exchange ^[5] traveled to Beijing to study Chinese , social studies, and history . Initially, Nakayama was not encouraged by the Chinese martial arts, as much attention was paid to circular movements, which, as Nakayama seemed, led to a loss of concentration. However, after classes with several teachers, Nakayama’s opinion changed.

The main teacher of Nakayama in China was Pai, an elderly master of one of the northern styles. Under the influence of the good technique of working with legs that is characteristic of the northern styles, Nakayama developed two new technical footwork: taisoku-uke (pressing block with the foot or lower leg) and ura-mawashi-geri (circular kick with a turn). These techniques, with the permission of Funakoshi, were introduced to Shotokan in 1946, after Nakayama returned to Japan.

After returning from China, Nakayama intended to teach the Chinese language, but because of the economic and social chaos that reigned in Japan in the first post-war years, he did not succeed and the karate master had to earn a living by trading in underwear ^[5] .

Nakayama was one of the senior instructors in hand-to-hand combat of the US Air Force . Teaching American students allowed him to understand that he needed to explain in more detail why this and not a different technique was used in karate. Americans, unlike the Japanese, demanded justification for the movements, so Japanese instructors began to analyze the technique and gave it theoretical explanations based on the laws of physics.

In 1948, the ban on karate was lifted in Japan, and in 1949 Funakoshi held a meeting to discuss the future of karate. At this meeting, the core of the Japan Karate-do Association (JKA) was formed, in which Nakayama became the head of the technical committee. Technical and examination standards have been developed. Under the control of Funakoshi, Nakayama began to form an instructor program. Thanks to the developed rules for conducting sports, karate fights have become less bloody and traumatic. After the death of Funakoshi, Nakayama was elected as the chief instructor of JKA.

Nakayama himself participated in the battles for quite some time - he spent his last fight at the age of 52 and completed it with a victory ^[6] .

In addition to karate, Nakayama was engaged in skiing and was an instructor in this sport. In 1971, in the Japanese Alps, he fell into an avalanche and nearly died - doctors predicted his death a few days later, and relatives gathered for farewell. However, despite the ban of doctors, Nakayama returned to training, claiming that they help restore strength ^{[5] [6]} .

Masatoshi Nakayama died on April 15, 1987.

Masatoshi Nakayama wrote the following karate books:

• Nakayama M. Dynamics of karate / Per. from English A. Kulikova. - M .: FAIR-PRESS, 1999 .-- 304 p. - (Martial arts). - ISBN 5-8183-0138-9 .
• The best karate
• Nakayama M., Draeger F. Donne. Practical karate on the street / TRANS. from English .. - M .: FAIR-PRESS, 2000. - 288 p. - (Martial arts). - ISBN 5-8183-0130-3 .

Nakayama’s books not only describe various karate techniques and training methods, but also provide a theoretical justification for the technique in terms of physics and anatomy. In addition to books, Nakayama is the author of numerous publications in periodicals and a number of videos.

“If karate is practiced only as a combat technique, then this can only be regretted. The basic techniques have been studied, developed over many years, but in order to become effective, the spiritual aspect must play a dominant role in this art of self-defense ” ^[3] .

“Participation in competitions is not the only goal of karate-do. Physical training and self-defense are also not the exclusive goal of karate-do. These are all components of karate-do. All this is important to achieve the ultimate goal of karate-do, which is not victory over others, but victory over oneself. Until we overcome ourselves, how can we hope to overcome others? ” ^[4]