Azato was one of Matsumura's students and practiced the art of Shuri-te. He and held the position of foreign affairs advisor within the Shuri Royal Court. He was a member of the aristocracy: He owned a castle and was hereditary lord of the Azato village.

Azato's student, Funakoshi tells us that Azato challenged an armed sword master to a duel and defeated him with his bare hands by deflecting the sword with his arm before immobilising his opponent. In another story Azato and his good friend Itosu were confronted by 30 men and so they fled into a nearby house. The men swarmed around the house and so the two had to fight. Azato leapt out the window and started dispatching one hoodlum after another using a single blow each time while Itosu performed similarly round the other side of the house. What is notable about this story is that it mentions that Azato and Itosu were using what is today called ikken hissatsu, one deadly strike which represents the ability to ability to defeat an opponent with a single devastating attack. This is one of the defining characteristics of modern href="pedia-shotokan.html">shotokan href="pedia-karate.html">karate.