List of Shotokan organizations

This is a list of some of the larger Shotokan karate organizations.

Main article: Shotokan

Japan Karate Association, and descendents

The Japan Karate Association (JKA; "Nihon Karate Kyokai" in Japan) was formed in 1949 by several of Gichin Funakoshi's senior students. Takushoku University provided the most members initially, but Hosei, Waseda, Gakushuin, and Keio Universities also contributed members. Masatoshi Nakayama (1913–1987) led the JKA, with Gichin Funakoshi holding a position equivalent to Professor Emeritus. The JKA grew to be one of the biggest karate organizations in the world. Differences between senior instructors and administrators gave rise to several breakaway groups, with the JKA itself eventually dividing into two factions. Nobuyuki Nakahara, Ueki Masaaki, Tanaka Masahiko, Yoshiharu Osaka and others led one faction (Nakahara Faction), while Matsuno Raizo, Asai Tetsuhiko, Abe Keigo and Yahara Mikio led the other (Matsuno Faction). Following legal battles, the Nakahara group retained control of the JKA. The following sections describe some of the Shotokan organizations that descended from the JKA. The founders of these organizations are some of the most senior Shotokan instructors in the world.

International Traditional Karate Federation

Hidetaka Nishiyama (1928–2008) began his karate training in 1943 under Gichin Funakoshi. Two years later, while enrolled at Takushoku University, he became a member of the university's karate team, and in 1949 its captain. He was a co-founder of the All Japan Collegiate Karate Federation and was elected as its first chairman. In 1951, Nishiyama became a founding member of the JKA, and was elected to the JKA Board of Directors. In 1952, he was selected as a member of the martial arts combat instruction staff for the US Strategic Air Command (SAC) Combat Training Program, which also included as instructors Funakoshi, Nakayama, and Isao Obata. Nishiyama came to the United States in 1961, on the invitation of SAC students and JKA members residing in the country, and four months later founded the American Amateur Karate Federation (AAKF), as a branch of the JKA. In 1968, Nishiyama organized the first World Invitational Karate Tournament held in Los Angeles. Following disagreements over organization during the 1st (1970) and 2nd (1973) World Karate Championships, the International Amateur Karate Federation (IAKF) was formed in 1974, with Nishiyama as executive director. In 1985, the IAKF changed its name to the International Traditional Karate Federation (ITKF). Nishiyama obtained the 10th dan in 2003 from the International San Ten Karate Association. He died on November 7, 2008. His former students include Hiroshi Shirai and Takeshi Oishi and James Yabe.

Shotokan Karate-do International Federation

Hirokazu Kanazawa (1931–), 10th dan, broke away from the JKA in 1978, and called his organization "Shotokan Karate-do International Federation" (SKIF). Kanazawa had studied under Masatoshi Nakayama and Hidetaka Nishiyama, both students of Gichin Funakoshi. SKIF introduced elements of Tai Chi Chuan, particularly in the matter of flow and balance, and actively promoted the evolution of Shotokan while maintaining the traditional core of the art. Kanazawa is considered one of the most technically brilliant Shotokan exponents, and was a top contender in competition. Most notably, he won the kumite championship at the first JKA Open Tournament (1957) with a broken hand. Kanazawa was awarded 10th dan in 2000.

International Shotokan Karate Federation

Teruyuki Okazaki (1931–), 10th dan, leads the International Shotokan Karate Federation (ISKF), which is the largest Shotokan karate organization in North America South America and the Caribbean. Okazaki studied under Gichin Funakoshi and Masatoshi Nakayama, and was integral in the founding of the JKA Instructor Trainee program. As part of an effort by Nakayama to spread Shotokan karate internationally, Okazaki came to the USA in 1961. Okazaki founded the ISKF in 1977 and it was part of the JKA until June 2007.

Japan Karate Shotorenmei

Tetsuhiko Asai (1935–2006), 10th dan, often practiced Sumo, Judo, Kendo, and the Spear in his youth. Asai studied at the Takushoku University in Tokyo, where he also studied Shotokan karate. He joined the instructors' program and became a JKA instructor. In later years, Asai instructed in China, Hong Kong, America, Europe, and Hawaii (where he led the Hawaiian Karate Association). Asai was made Chief Instructor of the JKA after Masatoshi Nakayama's death in 1987; however, he—along with a number of other senior JKA instructors—opposed the appointment of Nakahara as Chairman, and so formed a separate JKA (Matsuno Section). Following a lengthy legal battle, the Nakahara group won the rights to the JKA title and Asai's group adopted the name of the Japan Karate Shotorenmei (JKS).

Japan Shotokan Karate Association

Keigo Abe (1938–), as a student at the JKA Honbu, learned directly from Nakayama, which is reflected in his deference to Nakayama as being his only headmaster. Abe was a former senior instructor at the JKA Honbu, having graduated from the instructors' program. He held the office of Director of Qualifications in the original, pre-split JKA. However after the split in 1990, he became the Technical Director of the JKA (Matsuno Section), during some of the association's most turbulent years. In his youth, Abe took 3rd place in the very first JKA National Championships; was the captain of the Japanese team at the second World Championships in Paris, France; won 1st place at the JKA International Friendship Tournament (1973); and took 1st place in the second and third JKF National Championships as a representative of Tokyo. Renowned for his strong traditional approach to Shotokan karate, he retired from the JKA in 1999 to form his own international organisation—the Japan Shotokan Karate Association (JSKA) . Abe was also responsible for formulating the Shobu Ippon tournament rules, which are used by most Shotokan stylists today. Two of the senior instructors supporting Abe in the JSKA are Matsuru Nagaki 8th dan, Assistant Chief Instructor and Makoto Matsunami 8th dan, Technical Director. Keigo Abe was awarded 9th dan in 2008

Karatenomichi World Federation

Mikio Yahara (1947–), 8th dan, is Chief Instructor of the Karatenomichi World Federation (KWF). Yahara graduated from Kokushikan University and became a JKA instructor during that organization's zenith in the 1970s and 1980s. In over a decade of competition, Yahara distinguished himself as a predatory fighter, monopolizing the high ranks of domestic and international championships. As a Kata World Cup Champion, he is probably most famous for his performance of the Unsu and Empi kata. He is known for single-handly defeating 34 local gangsters (yakuza), facing down a gangster with a gun, and turning up for a competition with a knife wound. When Tetsuhiko Asai, Keigo Abe, Yahara, Akihito Isaka and other leading JKA Karateka formed the Matsuno Section of the JKA, Yahara became Assistant Chief Instructor. In 2000, Yahara formed the Karatenomichi World Federation with Isaka and which is represented in over 40 countries. Yahara fractured three of his opponent's ribs during his 8th dan promotion kumite in July 2006. The KWF claims that no other senior karate instructor has ever submitted himself to real kumite, in front of juniors and in front of the camera, for his 8th dan. In April 2007, Yahara and Japanese industrial loan magnate Kenshin Oshima, who is also a personal pupil of Yahara officially opened the ShotoKan, ￥1 billion private members' dojo donated to the KWF by Oshima.

International Karate Daigaku

Frank Woon-a-tai (1964–), 8th dan, born in Guyana, and began training in 1964. He holds a B.A degree in Japanese Studies and History from the University of Toronto. In January 2011, he resigned from the ISKF as Chairman and Technical Director of ISKF Canada, and co-vice Chairman of the ISKF Technical Committee after a disagreement with ISKF HQ to establish the International Karate Daigaku (IKD) an organization of over 80 dojo(s) in several countries. The IKD currently operates in three regions: Canada, The Caribbean and South America and is expected to grow rapidly to the rest of the world.

Master Woon-A-Tai is Kancho (Founder) and Shuseiki Shihan (Chief Instructor) of the IKD. Throughout his distinguished career, he served as first president of the Caribbean Karate College and as chief instructor of Jamaica from 1976 to 1980. He is a founder and chief instructor of JKA/ISKF Guyana, and the Guyana Karate College. He founded the Toronto JKA in 1981, and is presently Chairman and Chief Instructor of the Toronto Karate Daigaku, Ontario Karate College, IKD Ontario and IKD Canada.

Shotokai

The name "Shotokai" (see main article, Shōtōkai) is used as a synonym for the Shotokan ryu association Dai Nihon Karate-do Shotokai. It is the Shotokan Karate association established by Gichin Funakoshi originally in 1930. Shotokai association is the keeper of master Funakoshi's Karate-do heritage.

Sometimes "Shotokai" is considered to be the method of karate taught by Shigeru Egami (1912–1981). Egami was the chief instructor of Shotokan Dojo 1976-1981. Egami began training under Funakoshi in 1930, upon entering Waseda University, and helped to establish that university's karate club. Together with Funakoshi's son Gigo (Yoshitaka), Takeshi Shimoda, and Hironori Ohtsuka, Egami was among the group of Funakoshi's students who toured with him during his exhibitions of karate in Japan during the 1930s. After Gigo's death in 1945, Egami was considered Funakoshi's successor. During his early 40s, Egami began to radically rethink the effectiveness of some of his basic techniques. He writes:

During this questioning I understood one thing. Until that moment I had practiced karate with a fundamental illusion, I had confused hardness with strength and I made every effort to harden my body thinking that I would obtain more strength when hardening the body is equivalent to stopping the movement. This is a fundamental defect. I had then to start massaging and lightening the body I had struggled so many years to harden.

Egami began experimenting with a more relaxed technique.

Following the Master's death in 1957, a rift developed among Funakoshi's students (among other issues, over whether to introduce tournaments). Shotokai and JKA became separate factions. To this day, the Shotokai method of Shotokan Karate has kept loyal to master Funakoshi's teachings. The method is characterized by an emphasis on developing suppleness and relaxation, and a rejection of tournament competition.

Shotokan Karate of America

Tsutomu Ohshima (1930–) began practicing karate at the Waseda University club in 1948, receiving instruction from Funakoshi and Egami among others, and became captain of the club in 1952. In 1955, he moved to UCLA to continue his studies, and led his first U.S. practice soon afterwards. In 1957, he started the first university karate club in the United States, at Caltech, and in 1959 founded the Southern California Karate Association. As more dojos were opened throughout the U.S., the organization was renamed to Shotokan Karate of America (SKA) in 1969. SKA maintains its national headquarters in Los Angeles. Today, Ohshima is recognized as the chief instructor of many other SKA-affiliated Shotokan organizations worldwide. In 1957, Ohshima was awarded the rank of 5th dan by Master Funakoshi, and by his choice, this is the rank he has retained, and the highest rank attainable in SKA.

See also

• List of shotokan techniques
• International Shotokan Karate Federation
• Japan Karate Association
• Japan Shotokan Karate Association
• Karatenomichi World Federation
• Karate Union of Great Britain

External links

• Shotokan Associations Genealogy
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Federation of British Shotokan Karate Union Internationals Shotokan Karate-do of United Nations