Nobuaki Kakuda (角田信朗, Kakuda Nobuaki; born April 11, 1961) is a Japanese karateka, bodybuilder, and actor. He is also a former kickboxer and K-1 head referee.

After attending university, Kakuda opened a karate dojo in Kobe but was forced to shut it down after two years. He subsequently worked as a dishwasher, ramen chef, and construction worker. At age 28, he was employed as a bouncer at a public bath in Nara, where he dodged knives thrown at him by local Yakuza after denying them entry.

Competitive karate made up the longest portion of Kakuda's martial arts career, beginning relatively early in his life as captain of his university's karate club. Less than a decade later, he was representing Japan in international competition, fighting under kyokushin and eventually seidokaikan rules. He retired following a loss to Michael Thompson at the Seidokaikan Karate World Cup in 1993, but revisited the sport occasionally in later years. His most recent karate fight to date was a decision loss to Hiroki Kurosawa at Pride 6.

From December 1991 to July 1993, Kakuda performed in RINGS, an organization which promoted professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Though his tenure was prior to the federation's official move to no-holds-barred competition, he competed in several shoot fights, including against shootboxer Mitsuya Nagai in a decision loss and kickboxing legend Rob Kaman, under mixed rules. He lost the fight when, in the third round, Kaman smashed his knee into his downed opponent's face and a technical knockout was ruled.

Kakuda's kickboxing tenure began with a victory over fellow newcomer Joe Son at the K-3 Grand Prix '95. After being knocked down early in the fight, Kakuda pummeled Son with unanswered punches and kicks to score a knockout win. His triumph was followed by a more sobering encounter with multi-time world champion Stan Longinidis, who controlled the match with powerful combinations before defeating Kakuda with low kicks.

Kakuda rebounded with several consecutive wins, including a dominant victory over wing chun practitioner Joe Sayah. The streak led to a shot at the vacant WMTC Cruiserweight World Championship at K-1 Braves '97 against legendary Muay Thai fighter Changpuek Kiatsongrit. Kakuda's defensive strategy served him poorly against Kiatsongrit, who won by unanimous decision after controlling all five rounds.

Faring better in his following six matches, Kakuda endured no worse than a draw to mixed martial artist Ryūshi Yanagisawa and gained his only victory over a world champion by defeating Duncan Airlie James. However, after eight years as an active kickboxer, Kakuda sought retirement to focus on his other duties within K-1. What was to be his final match took place at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 in Las Vegas against fellow seidokaikan stylist Musashi. Kakuda endured four knockdowns in the final two rounds and lost via unanimous decision.

Kakuda returned from retirement to take part in the first kickboxing tournament of his career - the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Seoul. His first opponent in 19 months was ex-sumo wrestler Akebono Tarō. Despite being the match favorite due to Tarō's 0-5 kickboxing record, Kakuda found himself in trouble when the former yokozuna made use of his tremendous size advantage by swarming his opponent, wearing him down with knees and uppercuts. Kakuda was left with little opportunity (or room) to strike back and lost by unanimous decision.