Tōru Arakawa(, '' Arakawa Tōru ''; November 1932 in

Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...

, Japan; – 20 June 2015) was a

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

master of the style Wadō-ryū. He was one of the few karateka ranked 9th Dan in Japan.

Biography

Tōru Arakawa began karate training at the

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice (Japan), Minister of Justice, in 1889. ...

at the age of 18. At the beginning of the 1960s he traveled to Europe and America together with Tatsuo Suzuki and Hajime Takashima to make karate in the western countries popular. Arakawa served as the manager of the JKF Wadōkai from 1962 to 1979. In 1982, he played a major role in the creation of the first '' Shatai ata'' book, which standardized Kata 's style – encompassing style for JKF competitions. In addition, he trained numerous successful athletes in the 1980s, including

Seiji Nishimura , Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan) he is a Japanese karateka. He has a 7th.Dan black belt in Wadō-ryū karate and is the national trainer of the Japan Karatedo Federation (JKF). Life Born and grew up in the Kumamoto Prefecture, Seiji Nishimura ...

and

Toshiaki Maeda Toshiaki is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Toshiaki can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Some examples: *敏明, "agile, bright" *敏朗, "agile, clear" *敏晃, "agile, clear" *敏章, "agil ...

.Salvador Herráiz: ''Toru Arakawa – Top Master of Japanese Karate Federation'' in ''Budo International Martial Arts Magazin'', No. 288, May 2015, Budo International, Madrid, page 65 Until his death in June 2015, Arakawa taught in his Dōjō

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

and at international seminars in Japan and overseas.

Participation in the following publications

* ''Karatedo Shitei Kata'', 1982, JKF Wadokai * ''Wado-kai Karatedo Textbook, Kata section (Vol. 1)'', 2015, JKF Wadokai

References

External links

Interview with ''Arakawa Tōru'', Fighting Arts Magazine, 1982
1932 births 2015 deaths Japanese male karateka Wadō-ryū practitioners Nihon University alumni Sportspeople from Gifu Prefecture {{Japan-karate-bio-stub