On this day….(January 20)

On this day, 20 January 1938, a pioneer of Shotokan in Central England, Cyril Cummins was born.

Cummins began his karate training in 1964  at the Kyu-Shin-Kan School of Judo Ltd, Located in Birmingham. His initial instructors were Jonny Brown, Tommy Ryan and Les Hart. They had learnt their karate mainly from Hidetaka Nishiyama‘s book, Karate: The Art of ‘Empty-Hand’ fighting, They eventually joined the Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB).

Cummins gained his 1st Dan in 1966, from the Budo of Great Britain. After training with Hirokazu Kanazawa, he re-took his Dan grade under the auspices of the JKA/KUGB.