Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will soon receive an honourary sixth-dan black belt in Kyokushin Karate-Do. The legendary Japanese champion Kyokushin Karate-Do master Hatsuo Royama who won silver at the First Absolute World Championships and who developed the basic Kyokushin technique is due to arrive in Moscow on Thursday and will present the belt to Prime Minister Putin.
Royama mostly plans to attend the sixth Russian Open Kyokushin-Dan Tournament, to support the 44-strong Japanese junior-league team and to present the belt during the sports event. This is a new sign of Royama's tremendous respect for Putin. In 2001, Royama presented an honourary fifth-dan black belt to Putin.
Alexander Nesterenko is the only member of the Russian Kyokushin Karate-Do Federation to have a sixth-dan black belt. Martial-arts federations give honourary fourth-dan, fifth-dan and sixth-dan black belts to prominent politicians. Such honourary rankings expire after the politician's tenure in office ends. Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet (1915-2006) also had a sixth dan.
Putin has an honourary ninth dan in Judo, a ninth dan in Okinawa Goju-Ryu Karate (2000) and a fifth dan in Kyokushin Karate-Do.
Upon receiving the ninth Okinawa Goju-Ryu Karate dan, Putin admitted modestly that he did not deserve such a great honour and promised to live up to it. However, Katsuyuki Fukatoshi, director of the Japan Karate Federation and head of the Goju Ryu, noted that, although the Russian President was a Master of Sports in Judo, rather than in Karate, top Goju Ryu officials had decided to cite his contribution to the development of martial arts and their popularisation. Incidentally, when Royama presented the first black belt to Putin, another Judo black-belt holder, Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco, wanted to challenge Putin to a fight, but the match never took place.
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The 61-year-old Hatsuo Royama (Umehara) started training at the school of the legendary Masutatsu Oyama at the age of 15 and received a black belt when he was 19. After suffering a defeat, he left the Kyokushin Kaikan and won the first Japanese kickboxing championships. Upon his return to Kyokushin Kaikan, Royama utilised the knowledge he got from his Chinese Kempo instructor, Sawai Kenichi, and Sensei Nakamura Hideo. Royama earned the nickname of "the Deadly Halberd" and "the Low Kick Demon" for his circular kick to the hip.
Royama, a ninth-dan holder, visited the Soviet Union for the first time in 1990 as a leader of a black-belt holders' team. Royama drinks alcohol and smokes. Although he admits that smoking is a bad habit, Royama quotes Oyama as saying that only weak people fight bad habits, while strong people must learn to lead worthy lives with such habits.
The All Japan Judo Federation which did not present a black belt to Putin probably has different standards.
By Oleg Fochkin