Azuma Takashi – the founder of Kudo
Kudo was founded and developed by its grand master Azuma Takashi. Azuma was born in 1949 in the distant village of Kesennuma, Japan. He is the president of the Kudo International Federation. He had acquired quite an extensive list of achievements including a 9th degree black belt in Kyokushin Budoka and a 9th degree black belt in Kudo.
Budo was introduced to Azuma when he entered the Judo Club of his school in Kesennuma in 1965. He joined Kyokushin karate after his service in the Japanese armed forces.
Formation of Kudo
The year 1981 is a notable one for Kudo as Azuma discovered his own martial art as he was discouraged by several techniques and characteristics used in ‘Kyokushin’, Azuma writes in his book that he was “good at grabbing the collar and head-butting in fights” and he sensed that the full-contact rules of ‘Kyokushin’ do not necessarily provide adequate safety.
Tracing back history to the year 1995, the name of the “Karate Do Daidojuku” association changed its name to “Kakuto Karate Federation Daidojuku”.
Journey to the present
According to the media frenzy created in the mid-1990s Daidojuku changed its direction to the “safe yet practical” approach successfully.
In the year 2001, Azuma Takashi changed Daidojuku’s fate by asking the public to refer to the Martial art as Kudo. In the same year, Kudo was able to launch the first world championship competition leading to a great success. This step has allowed the international community to recognize Kudo as one of the finest martial arts. As of today, over 60 countries accept Kudo with great enthusiasm.