Category: JKA

Yasunori Ogura

Seek perfection of character. Everything else follows on from that. Yasunori Ogura A stalwart of the JKA, Yasunori Ogura is known for his attention to detail. He is a former kumite and kata champion, who is a senior instructor at the JKA Hombu. Yasunori Ogura was born on 21 January 1958, in Hokkaido, Japan. Growing …

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Koichi Sugimura

As your body gets weaker you have got two choices: to accept or to change your philosophy of life. Koichi Sugimura A pioneer of Shotokan Karate in Switzerland, Koichi Sugimura was an advocate of traditional Karate practice, especially through the teachings of Gichin Funakoshi. Koichi Sugimura, the youngest of four children, was born in South …

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Yoshinobu Ohta

Once you start using age as an excuse then you never stop using this excuse. There is no excuse, you should just keep going. Of course, as we get older our body strength becomes weaker and so we automatically become slower with less power but most important is don’t make this an excuse, try to …

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Fujikiyo Omura

With hard training and of course competitions too, we come close to know how our body and mind responds to different given situations, and we try to make the best out of it, eventually, we have to implement this hard-earned knowledge in our daily life. Fujikiyo Omura Known for the speed and dynamism of his …

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Yuko Hirayama

Budo, for me, is to face and confront yourself. Yuko Hirayama One of the few female JKA instructors, Yuko Hirayama is one of the only women to complete the JKA Instructors Course. She is the highest-ranked woman teaching at the JKA Hombu. Yuko Hirayama was born on 18 June 1969 in Yokohama, Japan. She was …

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Miki Nakamachi

You are always going to make mistakes in life, but you always have to look at and face up to them. When you stop doing it, then your weaknesses are exposed. Don’t look for affirmation from somewhere else, because that means that you have no self-belief inside yourself… and in that case, no amount of …

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Richard Heselton

I want to move on, improve and evolve – I once heard someone say “yesterday’s solutions don’t solve today’s problems” and I totally agree with this. Richard Heselton The name Richard Heselton it’s not as well known as it should be. He is one of the best Shotokan karatekas of his generation. Nicknamed the ‘Monster‘, …

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Shojiro Koyama

Modern life is too quick and competitive, changes are rapid, and Karate helps us to see past the world around us and into ourselves. Our pace of living keeps us looking ahead; Karate helps us rediscover ourselves. Studying kata is like basic education and kumite is the final examination. The only diploma is using Karate …

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Hiroshi Shoji

It is my belief that to polish our waza (techniques) and our minds through Budo will make us healthy, live long and become useful for the community. Hiroshi Shoji The first JKA All Japan kata champion, Hiroshi Shoji was known for his exceptional timing. An instructor at the JKA Hombu, he was known for his …

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Takeshi Naito

Each era must accept tradition to grow, but not remain as it was 30 or 40 years ago. As I said “traditional” means “to continue” but accepting changes and improvements. Over time, everything undergoes an evolution, we always try to improve, to keep the positive and remove the negative: then it is a question of …

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