Editing Kickboxing (section)

=== Japan ===
[[Image:Kumite of Motobu Choki.jpg|thumb|Tatsuo Yamada (left) and his master [[Choki Motobu]] (right), 1926]]
On December 20, 1959, a Muay Thai match among Thai fighters was held at [[Asakusa]] town hall in [[Tokyo]]. [[Tatsuo Yamada (karate)|Tatsuo Yamada]], who established "''Nihon Kempo Karate-do''", was interested in Muay Thai because he wanted to perform karate matches with full-contact rules since practitioners are not allowed to hit each other directly in karate matches. He had already announced his plan which was named ''"The draft principles of project of establishment of a new martial art and its industrialization"'' in November 1959, and he proposed the tentative name of "karate-boxing" for this new art.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVXRAgAAQBAJ&dq=osamu+noguchi+kickboxing&pg=PT53|title=The Complete Martial Arts Training Manual|isbn=9781462905553|last1=Martin|first1=Ashley|date=2012-04-16|publisher=Tuttle }}</ref> It is still unknown whether Nak Muay was invited by Yamada, but it is clear that Yamada was the only [[karateka]] who was really interested in Muay Thai. Yamada invited a champion Nak Muay (and formerly his son Kan Yamada's sparring partner), and started studying Muay Thai. At this time, the Thai fighter was taken by [[Osamu Noguchi]] who was a promoter of boxing and was also interested in Muay Thai.<ref name=O68>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q84DAAAAMBAJ&q=osamu+noguchi+kickboxing&pg=PA8|magazine=Black Belt|access-date=10 January 2015|date=October 1968 |title=Kick Boxing "Lethargic Karate"? Official Sees Best Of Both Worlds |page=8}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4NYDAAAAMBAJ&q=osamu+noguchi+kickboxing&pg=PA12|magazine=Black Belt |access-date=10 January 2015|date=February 1973 |title=Japanese Kick-Boxing Promoter Opens Plush Gym In Thailand |page=12 }}</ref> The Thai fighter's photo was on the magazine "The Primer of Nihon Kempo Karate-do, the first number" which was published by Yamada.

There were "Karate vs. Muay Thai fights" on February 12, 1963. The three karate fighters from ''Oyama dojo'' ([[kyokushin]] later) went to the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Thailand and fought against three Muay Thai fighters. The three kyokushin karate fighters' names are Tadashi Nakamura, [[Kenji Kurosaki]] and Akio Fujihira (also known as Noboru Osawa). The Muay Thai team were composed of only one Thai-born fighter.<ref name="8 Limbs">{{cite web|url=http://8limbs.us/muay-thai-thailand/the-origins-of-japanese-kickboxing-the-karate-muay-thai-fight-that-started-it-all|title=Origins of Japanese Kickboxing – The Karate vs Muay Thai Fight That Started It All|publisher=8 Limbs|author=Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu}} December 28, 2015</ref> Japan won by 2–1: Tadashi Nakamura and Akio Fujihira both KOed opponents by punch while Kenji Kurosaki, who fought the Thai, was KOed by elbow. The only Japanese loser Kenji Kurosaki was then a kyokushin instructor rather than a contender and temporarily designated as a substitute for the absent chosen fighter. On June of the same year, karateka and future kickboxer [[Tadashi Sawamura]] faced against top Thai fighter Samarn Sor Adisorn, in which Sawamura was knocked down 16 times and defeated.<ref name="8 Limbs"/> Sawamura would use what he learned in that fight to incorporate in the evolving kickboxing tournaments.

Noguchi studied [[Muay Thai]] and developed a combined martial art which Noguchi named ''kick boxing'', which absorbed and adopted more rules than techniques from Muay Thai. The main techniques of kickboxing are still derived from a form of Japanese full contact karate where kicks to the legs are allowed, [[Kyokushin kaikan|kyokushin]]. In early competitions, throwing and [[headbutt|butting]] were allowed to distinguish it from Muay Thai. This was later repealed. The ''Kickboxing Association'', the first kickboxing sanctioning body, was founded by Osamu Noguchi in 1966 soon after that. Then the first kickboxing event was held in Osaka on April 11, 1966.

Tatsu Yamada died in 1967, but his dojo changed its name to ''Suginami Gym'', and kept sending kickboxers off to support kickboxing.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9uM5id-uMA0C&q=osamu+noguchi+kickboxing&pg=PA132|title=Physical Exercises & the Martial Arts|access-date=10 January 2015|isbn=9789380297057|last1=Shapira|first1=Philip|date=July 2009|publisher=Readworthy Publications (P) Limited }}</ref>

Kickboxing boomed and became popular in Japan as it began to be broadcast on [[Television|TV]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ms4DAAAAMBAJ&q=osamu+noguchi+kickboxing&pg=PA16|magazine=Black Belt |access-date=10 January 2015|date=December 1968 |title=Kick Boxing: The Mixture of Mayhem |first=Lloyd |last=Williamsen |pages=14–21}}</ref> By 1970, kickboxing was telecast in Japan on three different channels three times weekly. The fight cards regularly included bouts between Japanese (kickboxers) and Thai (Muay Thai) boxers. [[Tadashi Sawamura]] was an especially popular early kickboxer.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.nikkansports.com/battle/news/202104010000841.html|title= 「キックの鬼」沢村忠さんが死去 肺がんで入院|trans-title= "Kick Demon" Tadashi Sawamura dies, hospitalized for lung cancer|date= April 2, 2021|website= Nikkan Sports|access-date= February 21, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine  |title= Kick-boxing Booming in Japan|page=11|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=R9gDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA11|magazine= Black Belt |date=December 1971 |quote=Current idol of the young fans is Tadashi Sawamura, 28, a 130-pound ex-karateka who has been knocking out all comers with his powerful knee kicks ever since he introduced kick-boxing to Japan about five years ago.[...]Kick-boxing commands such an audience in Japan that it is now shown weekly over three television channels in Tokyo.|access-date=February 22, 2023}}</ref> In 1971 the All Japan Kickboxing Association (AJKA) was established and it registered approximately 700 kickboxers. The first AJKA Commissioner was Shintaro Ishihara, the longtime Governor of Tokyo. Champions were in each weight division from fly to middle. Longtime Kyokushin practitioner Noboru Osawa won the AJKA bantamweight title, which he held for years. Raymond Edler, an American university student studying at Sophia University in Tokyo, took up kickboxing and won the AJKC middleweight title in 1972; he was the first non-Thai to be officially ranked in the sport of Thai boxing, when in 1972 [[Rajadamnern Stadium|Rajadamnern]] ranked him no. 3 in the Middleweight division. Edler defended the All Japan title several times and abandoned it. Other popular champions were [[Toshio Fujiwara]] and [[Mitsuo Shima]]. Most notably, Fujiwara was the first non-Thai to win an official Thai boxing title, when he defeated his Thai opponent in 1978 at Rajadamnern Stadium winning the lightweight championship bout.

By 1980, due to poor ratings and then infrequent television coverage, the golden-age of kickboxing in Japan was suddenly finished.
Kickboxing had not been seen on TV until K-1 was founded in 1993.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kickboxing – Persian International Martial Arts Federation |url=https://amirmosadegh.ir/styles/kickboxing/ |access-date=2022-04-14 |language=en-US |archive-date=2021-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908133425/https://amirmosadegh.ir/styles/kickboxing/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web  |title=What Is Japanese Kickboxing? Easily Explained For Beginners |url=https://mmachannel.com/what-is-japanese-kickboxing-easily-explained-for-beginners/ |access-date=2022-04-14 |website=MMACHANNEL |date=30 November 2021 |language=en-us}}</ref>

In 1993, as [[Kazuyoshi Ishii]] (founder of [[Seidokaikan]] karate) produced K-1 under special kickboxing rules (no elbow and [[Tachi waza|neck wrestling]]) in 1993, kickboxing became famous again.<ref name="Maylam2001">{{cite web | last=Maylam | first=John | title=K-1 hits the spot | website=The Japan Times | date=2001-10-21 | url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2001/10/21/general/k-1-hits-the-spot/ }}</ref><ref name="TashiroTyrangiel2001">{{cite web | last=Tyrangiel | first=Josh | title=Turning the Martial Arts Into Mondo Mayhem | website=time.com | date=2001-09-03 | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1000699,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071103152110/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1000699,00.html | archive-date=2007-11-03 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
In the mid-1980s to early 1990s, before the first k-1, Kazuyoshi Ishii also partook in the formation of glove karate as an amateur sport in Japan. [[Full contact karate#Gloved|Glove karate]] is based on knockdown karate rules, but wearing boxing gloves and allowing punches to the head. In effect, it is oriental rules kickboxing with scoring based on knockdowns and aggression rather than the number of hits. As K-1 grew in popularity, Glove karate for a while became the fastest-growing amateur sport in Japan.