is a Japanese

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 ...

ka and a retired professional

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

kickboxer Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, general ...

. Soeno was a renowned practitioner of Kyokushin-kaikan style of karate, before branching out and founding his own style of Shidōkan Karate. Soeno is currently the director of The World Karate Association Shidokan, headquartered at Shizuoka-ken, Japan.

Background

Yoshiji Soeno was born in

Tokorozawa is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 344,194 in 163,675 households and a population density of 4800 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Tokorozawa is located in the ce ...

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefecture ...

. From childhood, Soeno was very interested in martial arts, and learned

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

.''What is Masutatsu Ōyama?'', page124-141,

Wani Magazine is a Japanese publisher founded on September 10, 1971 and based in Shinjuku, Tokyo which specializes in hentai manga magazines. Comic Kairakuten , published by WANIMAGAZINE CO., LTD, Is Japan’s biggest selling ero (hentai) manga monthly m ...

Inc., 1996. Originally he found that Karate was not strong compared to Judo, but

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 ...

was evolving and becoming much stronger. He first studied Wado-ryu Karate-Jujutsu a while. He began the study of Kyokushin karate at the headquarters (

honbu Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top ...

) of Kyokushin Kaikan at

Ikebukuro is a commercial and entertainment district in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. Toshima ward offices, Ikebukuro station, and several shops, restaurants, and enormous department stores are located within city limits. It is considered the second largest ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, where founder Masutatsu Ōyama taught on September 1, 1964. Soeno practiced with the senior pupils who were Shigeru Ōyama, Yasuhiko Ōyama (both from The World Ōyama Karate in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

- Shigeru is Sōshu and Yasuhiko is Saikō Shihan), Tadashi Nakamura and

Hideyuki Ashihara was a Japanese master of karate who founded Ashihara karate in 1980 with the emphasis on ''Sabaki''. He is often attributed as one of the originators of the ''tai sabaki'' (whole body movement) method. He was known for his weapon skills includ ...

at the time. After entering

Josai University is a private university in Sakado, Saitama, Japan, established in 1965. The predecessor of the school, Jōsai Gakuen Middle School, later Jōsai High School, was founded in 1918. The university is operated by the Josai University Educational Corp ...

, Soeno founded the Karate club and taught karate. Miyuki Miura was 2 years one's junior at the club. Soeno had reached the rank of

shodan SHODAN (Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network) is a fictional artificial intelligence and the main antagonist of the cyberpunk-horror themed video games ''System Shock'' and ''System Shock 2''. Character design SHODAN is an artificial in ...

(1st degree

black belt Black Belt may refer to: Martial arts * Black belt (martial arts), an indication of attainment of expertise in martial arts * ''Black Belt'' (magazine), a magazine covering martial arts news, technique, and notable individuals Places * Black B ...

) on April 15, 1967.

Fighting career

Televised

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

was a huge boom from 1965 to 1975 when it was broadcast on the four TV stations, TBS,

Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Compan ...

and

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

all over

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. TV Asahi requested a player from Kyokushin in February, 1969, and Masutatsu Ōyama elected Soeno and

Terutomo Yamazaki is a Japanese karateka from the Kyokushin Kaikan (極真会館) and professional lightweight kickboxer. He is the founder of Gyakushin-Kai (逆真会館) and a Director of Karate in Japan. He presides over the International Budo Karate Organizatio ...

to enter the competitions. Ōyama also founded a kickboxing gym called ''Kyokushin Gym'' where they practiced kickboxing about two months before entering the kickboxing competitions in April, 1969. Soeno fought in the

division at kickboxing. Kyokushin was planning to hold the First All-Japan Full Contact Karate Championships (AJFCKC) at the

Metropolitan Gymnasium in September, 1969. It was not only a karate championship, but martial artists of various kinds also participated in this competition.''Fullcontact KARATE'' (フルコンタクトKARATE), page3-6, page8-11, page14-28, page30-31, fukushodo (福昌堂), October, 1995. Athletes included Gidon Gaddary who was an Israeli

player weighing over 100 kilograms; Paul Jackson who was a

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

from the

; and three

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

boxers from Lumpinee-ranked boxers including Birahon, Sakao and Samanso. The competition was fighting against other combative arts. The rules were simple: It was a foul to use a hand or elbow to the face and to attack a man's vital point. The players did not use any protection. They fought using bare hands, bare knees and bare legs. Soeno lost Yamazaki at finals and won 2nd place. After graduating University, he opened ‘Soeno Dojo’ and ‘Soeno Gym’, giving lessons in both karate and kick-boxing. He also practiced

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

, and Karate in the United States. He founded The World Karatedo Association Shidokan and The Japan Fighting Association New Fighting Shidokan in 1981.

Personal life

Although had distanced himself from the Kyokushin Kaikan, he continued to have personal friendship with Mas Oyama, and the two would often meet at the sauna in Ikebukuro. When Mas Oyama passed away, Soeno had rushed to the Kyokushin headquarters and started crying on the spot. He has tutored

professional wrestlers Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada in combat sports.

Tournament History

* 1st Open Tournament All Japan Karatedo Championships, Runner-up * 2nd All Japan Championship, 3rd place * 4th All Japan Championship, 5th place

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soeno, Yoshiji 1947 births Living people Josai University alumni Japanese male kickboxers Welterweight kickboxers Japanese male karateka Karate coaches Martial arts school founders Sportspeople from Saitama Prefecture Kyokushin kaikan practitioners Wadō-ryū practitioners Shidōkan practitioners People from Tokorozawa, Saitama

Background

Fighting career

Personal life

Tournament History

See also

References