The legendary Soviet and Russian athlete is considered one of the pioneers and founders of karate and hand-to-hand fighting in the Soviet Union. Tadeusz Kasyanov became famous after the premiere of the adventure action movie “Pirates of the 20th Century”, in which he played the role of boatswain. Now they are turning to him "Teacher", as a coach who raised several hundred thousand athletes, and the head of the All-Russian Federation of hand-to-hand combat and traditional karate.
early years
Tadeusz Rafailovich Kasyanov was born on November 14, 1938 in the Soviet capital of Moscow. The future martial arts master has Russian, Tatar and Polish roots. The childhood was difficult, in the conditions of post-war devastation and half-starved existence. A difficult criminal situation has developed on Moscow streets.
The family lived in one of the most disadvantaged metropolitan areas at that time - in the vicinity of the Paveletsky railway station. The boy was brought up in an intelligent Moscow environment. According to the master himself, there were practically only women in his circle - "they killed all the men in the war."
In the courtyard, he often had to defend his opinion with his fists in clashes with local hooligans. Tadeusz Kasyanov had to do this much more often than other guys, including because of the unusual Polish name for the Russian rumor. In his childhood, as he later considered, he had as many as 14 nicknames. Street fights tempered the character of the future martial artist.
The first acquaintance with martial arts
Acquaintance with the world of martial arts for Tadeusz Kasyanov began with boxing. At the age of ten, he watched one of the most famous Soviet sports films - The First Glove. Delighted with boxing fights, the boy went for ten sessions in a row at the local Zvezda club near the Paveletsky station. However, he got into the sports section only in 1953.
He began to train in the Soviet society “Wings of the Soviets”, where Mikhail Solkinovich Itkin became his first coach, who in the pre-war years won the capital’s boxing championship. Later he trained under the guidance of Victor Lukyanov and Boris Tishin. At 19, the first success came - he took second place in the Moscow championship and received the title of master of sports. He continued boxing, but began to feel that he had stopped developing.
Meeting on the road
After leaving school, Tadeusz Kasyanov worked for a while in a taxi fleet. Sometimes the young taxi driver had to fight, and he began to meet more and more guys who showed an interesting technique of kicking. At the same time, he first heard the word "karate", and later he got the book "Karate" by American green beret Ed Parker. After reviewing a slightly rare edition, an experienced boxer thought that these were all worthless tricks. In general, he did not like it. However, he did not begin to throw away the expensive book, and he drove the car in the glove compartment.
In 1969, his car was stopped by a young guy who, having seen a book, asked Tadeusz Kasyanov whether he was engaged in it. A new friend suggested pairing after a while.
So the hero of our article met Alexei Shturmin, who is considered the founder of Soviet karate and the first martial arts school in the country. This chance meeting radically changed the life of Kasyanov. He met with Sturmin in the gym, and it turned out that karate is not pampering at all and has real combat capabilities. Having missed a few light punches, Tadeusz asked to be taught as well. At first, he was almost the only student of Sturmin, who was 10 years younger. New associates began to train together, and students began to gather around them.
School foundation
In 1969, Soviet karate pioneers Shturmin and Kasyanov met Anatoly Kharlampiev, one of the founders of sambo. Cooperation with the patriarch later led to the emergence of a new combat system. Throwing technique supplemented the knowledge of shock technique of the founders of Sen'e. In addition, Kharlampiev instilled a great love for knives Tadeusz Kasyanov, knives became an integral part of training.
In the early 70s, three sections of karate worked in Moscow, and only one, with Kasyanov, accepted everyone. In 1975, the school got its name, it was proposed by Leo the Weak, who found the word "sen'e" in the Korean language dictionary. He translated the word as "the road of life."
The origins of the school were in the North Korean style of kwon-thu, which was in service with the power structures of the DPRK. It is translated into Russian as "fist fight", that is, hand-to-hand combat.
Tadeusz Kasyanov was told about this by Sturmin, who studied martial arts with a fellow student - the master of one of the eastern monasteries. He helped him with general education subjects, and the Korean taught them martial art. When Sensei left, he asked his Russian students not to tell anyone his name and not to look.
On a coaching job
In the hall of Tadeusz Kasyanov hung three posters. In the middle is a hieroglyph with the name of the school, and on the left and right are quotes from the works of Lenin and Brezhnev. Therefore, security officers who came to check the work of the section had to admit that ideologically the work was delivered correctly.
In 1979, the famous Central Karate School was opened, which was located in the Trud Weightlifting Sports Palace. The head of the school, Sturmin, invited Tadeusz Kasyanov to work as a head coach.
Filming a movie
The first film in the filming of which was attended by the school of karate Tadeusz Kasyanov, became an action movie about the Soviet army "Zone of special attention." All fights in the picture are made by his students. As the teacher himself recalls, they gathered all the fighters, there was a complete international - Russians, Ukrainians, Koreans and many other nationalities of the country. True, both the students and the coach only duplicated the picture. Kasyanov himself duplicated actor Mihai Volontira in a scene of a fight with recidivists.
In 1979, they began acting in the first Soviet action movie "Pirates of the Twentieth Century." Almost all fans of martial arts of the country knew that the battle scenes were put by Tadeusz Kasyanov. All the stunts in the picture were performed by his students. Kasyanov himself got the role of a combat boatswain, showing good karate skills. After the film, he was long called Boatswain. The action was a stunning success, in the first year it was watched by 87 million people.
Hand-to-hand combat
When the persecution of karate went on (in 1981), he was invited to work in the army. Tadeusz Kasnov about hand-to-hand fighting of that time says that it was an archaic system, and he did not like the name itself. Army manuals were significantly outdated, and they had to reconsider a lot. Gradually, he became involved, he liked to go to military units, train and at the same time collect various techniques.
The new combat system includes elements of saber and sword fencing, a combat section and a throwing sambo system. The most effective methods of boxing, martial arts, including Thai boxing, karate, taekwondo and some styles of kung fu, are also used.
Now hand-to-hand combat consists of two systems: shock and throw. In 1989, the All-Union Federation of Hand-to-Hand Fighting and Traditional Karate was organized, the president of which is Tadeusz Kasyanov. Hand-to-hand combat was recognized as a training system.
personal information
Married to Elena Arsenievna Kasyanova, an English teacher. The spouses have two daughters. Elder Sophia is now the head coach of the Moscow national team, Honored Coach of Russia and President of the Sen'e All-Russian Federation. The youngest Anastasia was engaged in bodybuilding, in the 90s she was the champion of the capital.
In 1992 he led the security company Escort, was arrested on charges of hostage-taking and extortion. He served a year and a half in prison, was released by the court because of the lack of corpus delicti in his actions.
He participated in the writing of eight books on hand-to-hand combat. In 2000, Tadeusz Kasyanov’s book, “Knife Throwing Instructions,” was published, which he devoted to his teacher A. Kharlampiev and ordinary soldiers of the Russian army.