About the author

Allen Tanzadeh born in 1960, received his 8th Dan from the All Japan Karate-Do Federation (Shitokai) as well as the World Shitoryu Karate-Do Federation (WSKF) in 2018.

He began his Karate training in 1972 at the age of 12 and received Shodan in 1977. Since his early career in Karate, his passion enabled him to distinguish himself in numerous ways. As a competitor, he was a member of the Iranian National Team for several years. As a coach, he has been Junior National Team Coach and head of the Coaching Committee in Iran. As a technician, he was a member of the Technical Committee in All Iran Karate-Do Federation. Furthermore, as an author, he wrote a book called “Karate Pioneers” in Persian Language.

He then became Official Examiner of All Iran Karate-Do Federation as well as All Iran Shitokai Karate-Do Association. Around the same time, he became head of Coaching Committee and Chief Instructor of All Iran Shitokai Karate-Do Association, and head of Coaching Committee of All Tehran Karate-Do Board.

He then pursued his Karate path in Japan. While living in Japan from 1990 to 1993, he had chances to train with Masters such as Manzo Iwata Sensei, Hiroshi Murata Sensei, Genzo Iwata Sensei, Takashi Yamazaki Sensei, Takami Sakanashi Sensei, Kato Sensei and so on. Furthermore, he gained tremendous benefit from training under the supervision of Genzo Iwata Sensei at Toyo University considered as one of the top universities in Japanese Karate.

During his stay in Japan, he had a chance to participate in All Japan Karate-Do Federation Shitokai Gassuku and train under the instructions and supervision of Hiroshi Murata Sensei, Toshiyuki Imanishi Sensei, Yukihiro Nozawa Sensei, Takashi Haraguchi Sensei and Iwaki Hashimoto Sensei as well as attending in All Japan Shitokai Technical Seminars conducted by Soke Kenei Mabuni Sensei, Ken Sakio Sensei, Hisatomi Sensei, Imanishi Sensei and Murata Sensei.

At the end of his stay in Japan, he won the 3rd place in individual Kata and went up to the podium with Yukimitsu Hasegawa, at the 1st World Shitoryu Karate-Do Championships in March 1993.

As other activities while in Japan, he received the 1st Degree (Shodan) in Japanese Swordsmanship (Iaido, Muso jikiden Eishinryu) in 1992. In the same year he received Coaching Certificate (Karate-Do Jokyo) from All Japan Shitokai Karate-Do Federation. In the field of competition, he won the 2nd place in Open Kumite and 2nd place in Kata in the 2nd All Saitama-ken Karate-Do Championships. He also won the 3rd place in Open Kumite in the 32nd All Japan Shitokai Karate-Do Championships in the same year.

In 1993, he became Kumite & Kata Referee of World Shitoryu Karate-Do Federation (WSKF), and in 1994 Kumite Referee of Asian Union Karate-Do Organization (AUKO).

In 1994, Tanzadeh was appointed as the Vice President in the 7th Asian & Pacific Shitoryu Karate-Do Congress and won 3rd place in Kata and 2nd place in Team Kumite at the 7th APSKF Championships.

In 1996 he immigrated to Canada. Shortly after settlement, he attended local and international tournaments such as the 11th Kubota Cup while keeping his position as Technical Advisor of All Iran Shitokai Karate-Do Association.

After receiving the Jun-Shihan in 2000 and the Shihan Certificate in 2004 from World Shitoryu Karate-Do Federation (WSKF), he successfully passed the exam for the title of Renshi in 2007. His analytical yet practical approach explained in his thesis “Sen & Uke no Gogensoku” evoked admiration from the examiners. In 2017 he successfully passed the exam for the title of Kyoshi. He presented “Tanzadeh ‘Unsoku’ Agility Test”, “Speed & Agility Test for Karate Kumite athletes, an experiencing a new concept in Sport Karate” as his thesis for Kyoshi title.

He was elected as a member of Directors of World Shitoryu Karate-Do Federation in 2006 and re-elected in 2009. In between, he was also elected as Vice President and Technical Advisor of Asia Pacific Shitoryu Karate-Do Federation in 2007 and re-elected in 2010.

His significant contribution to the Shitoryu Karate Community in the world was recognized at the 6th WSKF World Championships and Congress held in Beijing, China in August 2009. As a result, he received the coveted Distinguished Service Award from Soke Kenei Mabuni and Kaicho Hiroshi Murata.

Currently, he holds “Kyoshi, Master Title” from the World Shitoryu Karate Federation(WSKF), Kumite Referee “B” and a Kata Judge “A” license from World Karate Federation (WKF), former member of Karate Canada Referee Commission, former Chairman of Referee Commission of Ontario Karate Federation, member of Dan Examiner’s panel in Karate Canada and is an official examiner of WSKF as well as the Member of Standing Directors of WSKF and Technical Advisor of Asia Pacific Shitoryu Karate-Do Federation (APSKF) and Secretary General of Pan-American Shitoryu Karate-Do Federation (PSKF). In those roles, Tanzadeh continues to contribute his passion and world level techniques to the Karate Community in the world.