Ken'ichi Sawai

Kenichi Sawai (澤井 健一, Sawai Ken'ichi, 1903–1988) was a Japanese martial artist and a colonel in the Japanese army. He was an associate of Mas Oyama.

Having achieved a fourth-dan grade in judo under Sanpo Toku and a fifth-dan in kendo, Kenichi visited Beijing in 1939 to challenge Wang Xiangzhai, the founder of yiquan. He made several attempts to defeat Wang, including one where he fought with a shinai whilst Wang used only a stick. However, Kenich was soundly defeated each time. Kenichi subsequently applied to study under Wang, and was accepted. However, virtually all of his training was provided by Wang's student, Yao Zongxun.

Kenichi subsequently returned to Japan, where he introduced a slightly modified version of yiquan which he called Taikiken.