On this day….(February 21)

On 21 February 1956, the earliest known letter is written by Vernon Bell to Henri Plee. It is believed that Bell wrote to the Fédération Française de Karaté on becoming affiliated with them.

On 21 February 1995, Steve Cattle died following an epileptic fit. He was only 47 years old. Until his untimely death, Cattle was one of the longest practising Shotokan practitioners in Britain. He was also a keen historian of Karate.

Nicknamed ‘Stumpy‘ as he was only 5ft 6in, Cattle began training in Judo in 1961, eventually reaching the rank of 2nd Dan. He represented Britain at the 1967 World Student Games held in Japan.

However, it is for Karate that Cattle is best known. He began his Karate training in 1963 applying for membership with the British Karate Federation (BKF) in York. He moved to Liverpool to study Degree in Divinity. It was at this time he started training with Keinosuke Enoeda.

Cattle was selected to become a member of the Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB) national team. He was a top competitor nationally and internationally, recognized for his accurate punching and great timing.

In the late 1980s, Cattle left the KUGB and joined Taiji Kase‘s World Karate Shotokan Karate Association (WKSA).

On 21 February 2015, a special banquet was given to celebrate Fumio Demura‘s 50th anniversary of teaching in the United States. 600 people attended the event. Guests included Tsutomo Ohshima, Tak Kubota, and several Hollywood stars. Rather than being the centre of attention, Demura in characteristic fashion honoured his students. He inducted his most loyal students into the Genbu-kai Hall of Fame. At the end of the night, he expressed his gratitude to the audience.