Hidetaka Nishiyama

Hidetaka Nishiyama, born on October 10, 1928, in Tokyo, Japan, and dead on March 10, 2008, was a Japanese karateka known for helping to establish the Japan Karate Association and for pioneering Shotokan karate in the United States. His father was a lawyer and kendo master, and he took up kendo at five and judo soon after, reaching black belt in judo by fourteen. In 1943 he began training in Shotokan karate under its founder Gichin Funakoshi. He captained the Takushoku University karate team in 1949, the year he helped found the JKA, and co-founded the All Japan Collegiate Karate Union. At the time of his death he was one of the surviving students of Funakoshi, and he was posthumously awarded the rank of 10th dan.