Page "Kickboxing" Paragraph 37

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.