Hidetaka Nishiyama
| Hidetaka Nishiyama | |
|---|---|
H. Nishiyama, c. 2007
|
|
| Born |
October 10, 1928 Tokyo, Japan |
| Died | November 7, 2008 (aged 80) Los Angeles, California, US Lung cancer |
| Style | Shotokan Karate, Kendo |
| Teacher(s) | Gichin Funakoshi, Gigō Funakoshi, Moorio Mochida, Isao Obata, Masatoshi Nakayama |
| Rank | 10th dan karate (ISKA, ITKF), 3rd dan kendo |
| Spouse | Yohko Nishiyama |
| Children | Yumi Nishiyama, Amy Nishiyama, Nami Nishiyama |
| Notable students | Hiroshi Shirai, Takeshi Oishi, James Yabe, Falah Kanani, Vern Vaden, Susan Vance, Avi Rokah, Nicolas Salcedo, Tati Eugenio, Ron Vance, Justo Gomez |
| Website | http://www.hidetakanishiyama.com/ |
Hidetaka Nishiyama (西山 英峻 Nishiyama Hidetaka?, October 10, 1928 – November 7, 2008) was a prominent Japanese master of Shotokan karate. He was an internationally recognized instructor, author, and administrator, and helped to establish the Japan Karate Association. Nishiyama was one of the last surviving students of Gichin Funakoshi, founder of Shotokan karate. He was based in the United States of America from 1961 until his death in 2008, and was a pioneer of karate in that country. He was posthumously awarded the rank of 10th dan in karate.
Nishiyama was born on October 10, 1928, in Tokyo, Japan. His father was a lawyer and a kendo master, and he had two sisters, Sumiye and Michiko. During Nishiyama's childhood, karate was mostly unknown in Japan, and children were required to train in either judo or kendo in middle school. He started learning kendo in 1933 and judo in 1938. Recalling the beginning of his martial arts training, Nishiyama said, "I began, as is the custom in Japan, on the 5th day of the fifth month at the age of five. I started in kendo." His kendo instructor, Moorio Mochida, had a strong and lasting influence on the youth's development in the martial arts. By the time Nishiyama reached 14 years of age, he had attained black belt status in judo.
In 1943, Nishiyama was promoted to the rank of 1st dan in kendo (and would eventually reach 3rd dan in that art), and began training in Shotokan karate at the art's honbu dojo (headquarters training hall) under its founder, Gichin Funakoshi. His interest in karate had been sparked by two things: an old book written by a sword master (Nishiyama estimated the book to have been written around 1550), and Zoku Sugata Sanshiro (1945), a film by Akira Kurosawa. He recalled that training in the honbu dojo was around 80% kata (patterns) and 20% kihon (basics), and that Funakoshi and his son, Gigō Funakoshi, would divide the teaching load evenly between them.
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