was a prominent Japanese master of Shotokan karate who founded the Japan Shotokan Karate Association in 1999 and is its Chief Instructor. He holds the rank of 9th dan in karate, is a direct student of Masatoshi Nakayama (1913–1987), and was a senior instructor in the Japan Karate Association. Early life Abe was born on October 28, 1938, in the town of Iyoshi, Ehime Prefecture (on the island of Shikoku), Japan. Abe's ancestors included samurai; he has told of an incident from the past where two thieves had entered his family home, saying, "My family killed them; the two graves are still standing near my house." In 1953, aged 15 years, he began training in the martial arts of karate and judo. He initially began studying the Shito-ryu style of karate. In 1956, Abe entered the Nihon University in Tokyo, studying engineering, and graduated four years later. He began training at the honbu dojo (headquarters training hall) of the Japan Karate Association (JKA) in 1958 under Masatoshi Nakayama. In an interview in 2000, he said, "Nakayama Sensei was very serious. He trained us very hard and always encouraged us to not only train hard, but to intellectually study what we were training. He stressed understanding ourselves and being good human beings." Karate career In 1961, Abe fought a notable tournament match against Keinosuke Enoeda, losing by decision after six extensions. He graduated from the JKA instructors' training program in 1965, and was a long-serving member of the instructing team at JKA's honbu dojo. Like other kenshusei (junior instructors) of the day, Abe would practice his techniques on the streets against local gangsters to improve his fighting skills. Through Nakayama, Abe worked on the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967). Nakayama had been invited to appear in the movie, but was unable to do so due to prior commitments, and so recommended Abe instead. Nakayama wrote that Abe's strengths were his backfist technique and his use of distancing, strengths also noted by others years later. He had an accomplished record as a karate tournament competitor, taking first place in the inaugural JKA National Championship, first place in the team competition at the 1973 JKA International Friendship Tournament, and first place in the second and third Japan Karatedo Federation National Championships (representing Tokyo). Abe had a close working relationship with Nakayama, benefiting from his technical knowledge and assisting him with