Katsuaki Sato
Japanese karateka, winner of the first Kyokushin World Championship (1975), who in 1977 founded his own school, Satojuku, in Tokyo, focused on knockdown techniques.
Quick Facts
JapanBiography
Katsuaki Sato is a Japanese karateka and the founder of the Satojuku school. He was born on 4 April 1946 on the island of Sakhalin, then under Japanese administration. In 1947 his family moved to Nakoso in Fukushima Prefecture.
At secondary school he trained judo, which he gave up at twenty because of a knee and shoulder injury. In 1969 he began training Kyokushin karate under Terutomo Yamazaki. On 1 October 1971 he received 1st dan (shodan) and in the same year won the Third All-Japan Full-Contact Karate Championship. On 18 March 1973 he reached 3rd dan in both karate and judo.
In 1974 he won the Sixth All-Japan Full-Contact Karate Championship, and on 1 May 1974 he reached 4th dan in karate. In 1975 he won the first Kyokushin Full-Contact Karate World Championship, beating Joko Ninomiya there; according to some sources in the final, according to others in the semifinal. He was a member of the group "Seven Samurai" within Kyokushin.
In 1977 he founded the Satojuku dojo in Mitaka in Tokyo; its headquarters is now in Tachikawa. Satojuku stresses precise knockdown techniques instead of injuring methods and sponsors the annual All-Japan Point & K.O. Tournament at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium. Sato explains the concept of odo as the way champions should behave, based on human feelings, courtesy, honour and selflessness.
Associated Martial Arts
Ranks and titles
- 4th danKarate · 1974
Achievements and honours
- National Championships1st place · 1971
- National Championships1st place · 1974
- World Championships1st place · 1975