On this day, 17 February 1947, Nicholas Adamou was born. Adamou began his karate training, alongside his older brother Chris, in 1964 British Karate Federation’s London dojo.
When Hirokazu Kanazawa began teaching JKA Shotakan for the BKF in 1965, Adamou and his brother become devoted students of Kanazawa.
Following the split from the the BKF, Adamou was a member of the Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB), whose chief instructor was Kanazawa.
Both Nick and Chris Adamou graded for 1st Dan in 1967, under Kanazawa.
Adamou joined Kanazawa’s Shotokan Karate International (SKI) when it was first formed. He also became the first karateka in Britain to be awarded 5th Dan under Kanazawa in 1983.
In 1990 Adamou formed his own karate association, the International Association of Shotokan Karate.
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A very interesting account. Sensei Adamou is still training and teaching regularly at the age of 72, both in England and abroad.
He now holds the rank of 9th Dan. His first association was the NASK, formed in 1989 with an endorsement from Sensei H Kanazawa. It became the IASK in 1994, when clubs from outside the UK, including India, Sri Lanka and the Czech Republic affiliated.
Regards,
Iain Tyrie 7th Dan IASK
Author
Thank you for this information Iain. I am planning on writing about Sensei Adamou.
I am very impressed by your blog Patrick. I myself started my karate journey in 1974 in the BKA. I started training properly in 1981 in SKI, where I received my Shodan from Kanazawa Sensei. In 1989 I joined Sensei Adamou’s association and have been with him since, though I also trained for several years in the JKA while I was a Sandan. I have been fortunate enough to have trained under Kanazawa Sensei many times ( which was my reason for joining Sensei Adamou’s association, as he was closer to Kanazawa than any other instructor I have trained with).
I have also trained under Japanes Sensei’s Asano, Koga, Kasuya, Yahara, Sumi, Isaka, Yamazaki and British Sensei’s N Adamou, T. O’Neil, R. Sidoli, R. Amos, and R. Carpenter to name the most well known ones. I still get inspired when I train with Sensei Adamou. More recently I have trained quite a lot with Sensei Simon Oliver, who is an expert on kata application, kobudo and karate history. It’s a never ending journey- and having just turned 60 I still feel I’ve only just skimmed the surface!
Author
I hear what you are saying Iain. Each time I perform a kata or kihon I continually learn something new. Also in doing the research for these posts, I get inspired. Stories like yours also help keep me humble in this wonderful art that we practise.
Thank you. Keep up the good work.