Kickboxing, Japan and Thailand

**patfromlogan** · Posted On: 9/08/2010 11:20am

After my last thread was shown to be a trolling with the videos and such, I wish to attempt to make amends and since I am interested in the history of kickboxing and the relationship that karate had with Muay Thai; this thread.

With a little searching I came up with this article from http://www.pngkba.org/resources/history-of-kickboxing/ It doesn't give anything on the history of kickboxing in Thailand, just Muay Thai's influence on the Japanese and then the further history.

When I have time I'll continue. I did look for what Gazere (Asia) referred to in the How did kyokushin fighters beat Muay Thai champs? - No BS MMA and Martial Arts, the FIGHTING BLACK KINGS of videos from the early days, but haven't seen anything yet in the youtube copies .

Japan

On December 20, 1959, a Muay Thai among Thai fighters was held at Tokyo Asakusa town hall in Japan. Tatsuo Yamada, who established “Nihon Kempo Karate-do”, was interested in Muay Thai because he wanted to perform Karate matches with full-contact rules since practitioners are not allowed to hit each other directly in karate matches. At this time, it was unimaginable to hit each other in karate matches in Japan. He had already announced his plan which was named “The draft principles of project of establishment of a new sport and its industrialization” in November, 1959, and he proposed the tentative name of “Karate-boxing” for this new sport. It is still unknown whether Thai fighters were invited by Yamada, but it is clear that Yamada was the only karateka who was really interested in Muay Thai. Yamada invited a Thai fighter who was the champion of Muay Thai (and formerly his son Kan Yamada’s sparring partner), and started studying Muay Thai. At this time, the Thai fighter was taken by Osamu Noguchi who was a promoter of boxing and was also interested in Muay Thai. The Thai fighter’s photo was on the magazine “The Primer of Nihon Kempo Karate-do, the first number” which was published by Yamada.

There were “Karate vs. Muay Thai fights” February 12, 1963. The three karate fighters from Oyama dojo (Kyokushin later) went to the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Thailand, and fought against 3 Muay Thai fighters. The 3 karate fighters’ names are Tadashi Nakamura, Kenji Kurosaki and Akio Fujihira (as known as Noboru Osawa). Japan won by 2-1 then. Noguchi studied Muay thai and developed a combined martial art which Noguchi named kick boxing. However, throwing and butting were allowed in the beginning to distinguish it from Muay Thai style. This was later repealed. The Kickboxing Association, the first kickboxing sanctioning body, was founded by Osamu Noguchi in 1966 soon after that. Then the first kickboxing event was held in Osaka, April 11, 1966.

Tatsu Yamada died in 1967, but his dojo changed its name to Suginami Gym, and kept sending kickboxers off to support kickboxing.

Kickboxing boomed and became popular in Japan as it began to be broadcast on TV. By 1970, kickboxing was telecast in Japan on three different channels three times weekly. Tadashi Sawamura was an especially popular early kickboxer. In 1971 the All Japan Kickboxing Association (AJKA) was established and it registered approximately 700 kickboxers. The first AJKA Commissioner was Shintaro Ishihara, the long time Governor of Tokyo. Champions were in each weight division from fly to middle. Long time kickboxer Noboru Osawa won the AJKA bantam weight title, which he held for years. Raymond Edler, an American university student studying at Sophia University in Tokyo, took up kickboxing and won the AJKC middleweight title in 1972. He defended the title several times and abandoned it. Other popular champions were Toshio Fujiwara and Shima. However, by the late 1970s due to poor ratings and then infrequent television coverage the boom was suddenly finished. Kickboxing had not been seen on TV until K-1 was founded in 1993.

In 1993, as Kazuyoshi Ishii (founder of Seidokan karate) produced K-1 under special kickboxing rules (No elbow and neck wrestling) in 1993, kickboxing became famous again.

The sport has spread through Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
North America

The Count Dante, Ray Scarica and Maung Gyi are the real pioneers of American Kickboxing. Had tournaments back in 1962. Between 1970 and 1973 (in federation PKA) a handful of kickboxing promotions were staged across the USA. In the early days the rules were never clear, one of the first tournaments had no weight divisions and all the competitors fought off until one was left. A very young Benny Urquidez reached the final. Unfortunately at world level there was no infrastructure, no set format of rules, the elements of danger were still included in the combat forms. As the martial arts disciplines grew in popularity mans urge to meet his/her peers on the competition floor demanded conformity, a universal rules system, and a method that would ensure the practitioners safety whilst competing at sporting level. Various groups came forward in an attempt to unite all these Eastern martial disciplines under one set of rules that would cover the many and various forms of combat all under one umbrella. After many many failures, petty squabbles and political in fighting an organization was formed and termed the World Kickboxing Association (WKA). The impetus of the WKA on world martial arts as a whole was revolutionary. They were the first organised body of martial arts on a global scale to sanction fights, create ranking systems, and institute a development programme. Whereby at grass roots level children of all ages under a strict code of ethics and safety could learn via satellite WKA clubs in every City, Town, and village, a martial arts discipline thus ensuring for future years the growth of the sport. Today, the International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) is the most active kickboxing sanctioning body in North America and one of the top 3 worldwide organizations. The IKF also hosts the Largest All Amateur – Full Contact & Muay Thai – Kickboxing Tournament in the World, the IKF World Classic.
Europe, Australia and South America

Jan Plas, the Dutch kickboxer, founded Mejiro Gym with some Muay Thai pioneers in the Netherlands in 1978, after he learned kickboxing from Kenji Kurosaki in Japan. Plas also founded NKBB (The Dutch Kickboxing Association), which was the first kickboxing organization in Netherlands, in 1978. The sport took off in the U.S. with the popularity and success of Kev Kelsey in the 1970s. In South America the kickboxing was introduced by martial artist and kickboxing champion, Hector Echavarria, who brought the famous Joe Corley’s Professional Karate Association, the International Sports Karate Association, and the United States Karate Association to Latin America.

**patfromlogan** · Posted On: 9/08/2010 2:12pm

Hmmm the above is actually from Wiki and has been widely pasted.

Wiki also says:
Kickboxing is often confused with Muay Thai, also known as Thai Boxing. The two sports are similar and people always regard the main difference between them as whether elbow is allowed by rules. This is a typical misconception actually. Elbow is also allowed in New Japan Kickboxing Federation, Shin Nihon Kickboxing Association and ShootBoxing. The first significant discrepancy between kickboxing and Muay Thai lies in the scoring system used by referee to give points at the end of each round. Under Muay Thai rule, knee, middle and high kick are easier to obtain a point than punch and low kick, whereas they all have the same chance to get a point under kickboxing rule. Second, from the standpoint of fighting style, the stance of kickboxing is more able to take advantage of the valuable arts from boxing and absorb them perfectly into its technical system than Muay Thai, so a kickboxer usually has better delivery of punches than a Thaiboxer, especially the combination. The smooth and various punch-kick combos which derive from Kyokushin Karate also characterize kickboxing and differentiate its style from Muay Thai. Based on these above, most kickboxers and MMAers with the so-called style of Muay-Thai in Europe especially in Netherlands and Brazil, got the virtual style of kickboxing (accurately Japanese kickboxing, to be distinguishd from American kickboxing).

and

By the way, albeit Japanese created kickboxing earlier than American, kickboxing still means American kickboxing in European's mind due to some historical and factitious factors. In American kickboxing, the prohibited elbow, knee and kick under knee are all allowed in Japanese kickboxing just like in Muay Thai. Therefore, when European perceived Japanese kickboxing later widely promulgated in Europe by Dutch at first glance, they always regarded it as Muay Thai. The most eminent kickboxing gyms in Netherlands: Mejiro Gym, Chakuriki Dojo, Vos Gym and Golden Glory, all derive from or are significantly influenced by Japanese Kickboxing and Kyokushin Karate. Almost all celebrated Dutch kickboxers with the alleged style Muay Thai, such as Remy Bonjasky, Melvin Manhoef, Ramon Dekkers, Badr Hari and so on, are of the representative Japanese kickboxing style in reality.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickboxing