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Sensei Taiji Kase was born in Chiba (Tokyo), Japan on February 9th, 1929. In his youth, he trained with Yoshitaka Funakoshi, the son of Gichin. His father was a judoka and by the age of 16, Kancho Kase was already a Nidan in Judo. In 1945, during WWII, he started to practice karate at the Shotokan Dojo in Tokyo. Shortly after the war he became the youngest 3rd Dan karateka in Japan. As one of the most qualified instructors of the Japan Karate Association, he got the honour to lead and train the team of instructors sent to a mission in 1965 to present Shotokan Karate in South Africa, the USA and Europe. In 1968 he settled in Paris, where he lived until his death in November 2004 The development of competitive sport karate, as well as many turbulent changes in the world karate policy, has often poisoned the international karate community. Sensei Kase always remained devoted to his choice in life - to practice and teach Shotokan karate as it was taught to him, free from any sport's or political conditions. Kase Sensei had reached a level of absolute control, depending on a state of harmony between mind and body. His amazing ability to generate and control his inner energy, gave to us a new and unique dimension to Shotokan karate as well as for life itself. This deep humanity made Sensei Kase a perfect reference to everybody who loves karate and are willing to follow the way of Shotokan karate as it was passed on from Gichin and furthermost Yoshitaka Funakoshi to Sensei Kase more than 50 years ago. Sensei Kase 9th Dan died on 24th November 2004. He's buried in the famous Pére Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
