Toshio_Fujiwara

Toshio Fujiwara

Toshio Fujiwara

Japanese former kickboxer (born 1948)

Toshio Fujiwara (藤原 敏男 Fujiwara Toshio, born March 3, 1948) is a Japanese former kickboxer. Out of 141 professional fights before retiring at age 35, Fujiwara won 126, with a remarkable 99 by knockout; most notably, he was the first non-Thai to win a national Muay Thai title belt in Bangkok, a fact that many older Thais still remember and respect about him. Fujiwara became the first ever non-Thai stadium champion in 1978[1] when he won the lightweight title at Rajadamnern Stadium.

Quick Facts Born, Native name ...

Biography and career

Prior to his kickboxing career, Toshio Fujiwara was mainly engaged in table tennis and maintained great physical fitness. He had no martial arts background before starting Taikiken, a Yiquan derative founded by Kenichi Sawai.[2][3]

A graduate from the Chuo University, he started training kickboxing at the Mejiro Gym in July 1969, learning under Kenji Kurosaki. He soon won the All Japan Kickboxing Federation championship, and did his first travels to Thailand in 1971.

In late April of 1972, Fujiwara fought Rungnapa Sitsomsak. The even fight ended in a DQ win for Fujiwara, as Sitsomak's unsportsmanlike conduct got him disqualified on the third round.[4]

In 1975, he had surgery to his left shin which left him hospitalised for 6 weeks.[5] Three days after leaving hospital he ran at a long-distance event.[5]

On March 18, 1978, Fujiwara fought Monsawan Ruk Changmai for the vacant Rajadamnern Championship. The fight ended in controversial fashion, as Fujiwara accidentally headbutted Monsawan unconscious, when both tumbled when locked in a clinch. Regardless, this fight allowed Fujiwara to be the first non-Thai to secure a Rajadamnern championship title win.[6]

Fujiwara retired from fighting in 1983 with a impressive fight record.[7] Subsequently, he founded his own gym, Toshio Fujiwara Sports Gym, which he runs presently in Tokyo. His most famous student in recent years is Satoshi Kobayashi, but many other well-known kickboxers and martial artists have also trained with him, including Masahiro Yamamoto, Satoru Sayama, Sanshu Tsubakichi and Takaaki Nakamura.

In 2010, he was appointed Chairman of Japan Martial arts Directors (JMD), a commissioning group co-operating with the World Professional Muaythai Federation to oversee the development of the sport in Japan.[8]

Fight record

More information Date, Result ...

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Look Japan: The newspaper of industry". Look Japan. 42 (481–492): 40. ISSN 0456-5339.
  2. [2]
    Serge Trefeu (Thanks to Andre Zeitoun) (2017). "THE LEGEND TOSHIO FUJIWARA, THE MAN IN 99 KO!". Siam Fight Magazine. Retrieved March 6, 2023. [Fujiwara] was already a sportsman but not really in the world of the combat sports. He had practised "Taikiken (Japanese Martial Art inspired by Chinese Yi Quan)". But he was especially, during several years, a champion of table tennis and classified among the best university players of ping-pong of the country...
  3. [3]
    Bryan, Andrew (January 9, 2022). "Toshio Fujiwara & The Invention of Kickboxing". Black Belt Magazine. Retrieved March 6, 2023. Fujiwara wasn't a stranger to sports prior to training with Kurosaki, but his background was very different from kickboxing. Playing tennis, Fujiwara was certainly fit, but his martial arts experience had come from practicing Taikiken, a Japanese style influenced heavily by Yiquan, Fujiawara had amusingly stumbled across a martial art that Mas Oyama himself and practised. The world of kickboxing though, would prove to be very different.
  4. [4]
    Stockmann, Hardy (September 1972). "Thai, Japanese Stage Kick-boxing Showdown". Black Belt Magazine. ...unrated but popular lightweight Rungnapa Sitsomsak fought an even battle with Japan's Toshio Fujiwara until the third round, when the Thai started clowning in the Ring. [...] [Sitsomsak's] behavior became so ridicilous that referee Prasit Kawbboon stopped the fight and disqualified the Thai.
  5. [5]
    Kurosaki, Kenji (1981). Desperate Power, Desperate Mind. Sports Life Company. p. 76.
  6. [6]
    Bryan, Andrew (January 9, 2022). "Toshio Fujiwara & The Invention of Kickboxing". Black Belt Magazine. Retrieved March 6, 2023. Fujiwara's claim to fame was when he faced Monsawan Ruk Changmai, on March 18th 1978 in Tokyo for the vacant Rajadamnern Championship. [...]As the fight progressed, eventually the two entered into a wilder exchange. Toshio tied up in the clinch before barrelling Monsawan over, Monsawan landed on his head, Toshio flipped over his head and Monsawan was out cold. It was a strange win. Perhaps the fight would have been rules[sic] a no contest in Thailand, after all it certainly looked like the win had come via an accidental diving headbutt. This fight was contested in Japan, however. Toshio Fujiawara had become the first ever non-Thai to win the Rajadamnern title.
  7. [7]
    David Asa Schwartz (2021). Modern Sports around the World: History, Geography, and Sociology. ABC-CLIO. p. 199. ISBN 9781440868801. 1983 - Toshio Fujiwara retires as one of the most successful professional kickboxers of all time, winning 126 of 141 matches, including 99 by knockout.
  8. [8]
    "ムエタイ＆RISEをより競技化するためJMD発足、理事長は藤原敏男氏 (JMD launched to make Muay Thai & RISE more competitive)". gbring.com. 2010-01-25. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Toshio_Fujiwara, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.