Stan Schmidt

Watch the YouTube video

Stan Schmidt is considered a trailblazer in Karate. With over 50 years of training in Karate, he was at the forefront of the development of Shotokan Karate in South Africa and is referred to as the “Father of South African Karate“. His passion and determination saw him become one of the highest-ranked Westerners in the Japan Karate Association. He has been described as the best non-Japanese Shotokan sensei by Terry O’Neill and Dave Hazard, and as “A teacher of teachers“.

Stanley Owen Schmidt was born on 6 October 1936 in the South African town of Kokstad. As a child, he moved with his family to Johannesburg, where he attended King Edward VII School with golfing great Gary Player.

Schmidt recalled having a happy childhood, even though his father died when he was ten. He had converted his Mum’s coal shed into a makeshift gym where he and his friends would lift weights, box and wrestle.

In 1957, Schmidt began training in Judo under the guidance of Jimmy White, with the help of Claude Chanu. He would eventually earn a 1st Dan in Judo. He started his own Judo club, teaching every other night. At this time, he was also working as a bank teller, a job he had held since leaving school. He worked in this job for over eleven years.

Schmidt first came into contact with Karate after a training accident in which he broke his leg. During his recuperation, Jimmy White had given him several Karate books written by Mas Oyama and Hidetaka Nishiyama. He was fascinated by Karate and set up a small training group that included Ken Wittstock, Norman Robinson and Eddie Dorey. For the next couple of years, they used the books daily as their training manuals.

In March of 1963, Schmidt married his girlfriend Judy, and they honeymooned in Bombay (now known as Mumbai), India, before travelling on to Japan. Schmidt used this as an opportunity to train. He travelled to the JKA’s headquarters in Yotsuya, Shinjuku, Tokyo.

For the next three months, Schmidt had the opportunity to train under Masatoshi Nakayama, the Chief Instructor of the JKA. It was a gruelling but rewarding experience. He had the opportunity to train with renowned Shotokan practitioners such as Hirokazu Kanazawa, Keinosuke Enoeda, and Hiroshi Shirai. Shirai, who had become the 3rd All-Japan Grand Champion the previous year, was the first person that Schmidt sparred against. Although his techniques were still raw compared to those of the Japanese, he managed to land a back kick on Shirai. The Japanese loved his fighting spirit. Enoeda, known for his strong spirit, took Schmidt under his wing, giving him free private lessons after their daily classes.

A day before he was due to return to South Africa, Schmidt took and passed his 3rd kyu grading under Nakayama.

In 1963, the JKA granted Schmidt authority to establish a JKA association in South Africa. He opened his first dojo in Orange Grove, Johannesburg, and later opened a second one. In the same year, he founded the South African JKA Karate Association. The association would go on to have over 15000 members and over 200 dojos. It would also have several 6th Dans or higher grades, graded by the JKA headquarters in Japan.

Taiji Kase, a JKA stalwart and top instructor, arrived in South Africa in April 1964. Primarily located in Durban, he spent the next three months teaching Karate. Schmidt and his fellow students would train three times a day, every day with the JKA master. During this time, Schmidt was graded and awarded his 1st Dan by Kase.

Schmidt’s 1st Dan grading took place at 9 pm at night. During the grading, he mistakenly performed the kata Kanku Dai instead of his grading kata, Bassai Dai. Kase gave him another chance to perform the correct kata. In the training session following the grading, the class had to perform Bassai Dai 65 times.

The following year, Kase returned to South Africa with fellow instructors Hirokazu Kanazawa, Keinosuke Enoeda, and Hiroshi Shirai. The four instructors, who were on a JKA world tour, stayed in the country for six months, each assigned to a separate province to teach. Enoeda stayed with Schmidt at his home in Johannesburg.

Enoeda taught at Schmidt’s dojo three times a day, five days a week.

The 1st South African Championships took place in 1965. Schmidt became the first Grand Champion, winning both the kata and kumite titles. It is entirely possible that he would have gone on to dominate the event for the next couple of years. However, he was advised to retire from competition and concentrate on teaching and judging. This was so that he could support the growth of Shotokan Karate in South Africa from a different perspective.

During the JKA instructors’ visit in 1965, Schmidt was graded and awarded his 2nd Dan by Kase. During his grading exam, he had to spar against Shirai. Enoeda was also present at the grading.

In 1965, after over ten years working as a bank teller at Barclays Bank, Schmidt left his position to concentrate on his Karate.

In 1965, Schmidt was invited to enrol on the infamous JKA Instructors Course. He returned to Japan to train. Other students taking the course during this time included Keigo Abe, Takeshi Oishi and Yukichi Tabata. Instructors on the course included Motokuni Sugiura, Masaaki Ueki, Masahiko Tanaka and Tetsuhiko Asai. Schmidt was graded and awarded his 3rd Dan by Nakayama.

For the next couple of years, Schmidt continued his work on building Shotokan Karate in South Africa. In 1972, he was awarded his 5th Dan by the JKA, and in 1979, his 6th Dan.

Schmidt established a gruelling Karate class in Johannesburg called the “Early Birds“. The class derived its name from its early start, typically 6.00 am. The class was typically aimed at 4th Dans and above. Lower grades were allowed to train by special invitation. The class was modelled on the JKA Instructors Course and was designed to be very challenging. Students who missed a class had to perform a penalty of thirty kata or six kumite matches before being allowed to rejoin the class.

In 1972, Keinosuke Enoeda returned to South Africa with his family. They stayed at Schmidt’s home. Enoeda taught several classes at Schmidt’s dojo.

Schmidt returned to Tokyo in 1973, alongside Ken Wittstock, Norman Robinson, Robert Ferrier, Eddie Dorey, and Dave Friend. They trained at the JKA Hombu.

In 1973, the JKA held an international tournament to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the introduction of Karate into Japan by Gichin Funakoshi. The event was held the day after the 16th JKA All-Japan Karate Championships.

The JKA international tournament was held in Tokyo, before a crowd of 15,000 at the Nippon Budokan Hall. There were competitors from 29 countries. Japan dominated all the events. In the team kumite event, Italy defeated South Africa to reach the final, where they lost to Japan. In the battle for third place, South Africa defeated the United States. Schmidt was a member of the South African team, which consisted of Robert Ferrier, Ken Wittstock, Norman Robinson, and Eddie Dorey.

1976 saw Schmidt make his movie debut alongside good friend Norman Robinson in the feature film ‘Kill or Be Killed‘. They starred as a pair of Karate fighters. They reprised their roles in the 1981 sequel, ‘Kill and Kill Again‘.

In 1987, Schmidt’s mentor, Masatoshi Nakayama, died. As previously mentioned, he had first come into contact with Nakayama in 1963 and trained with him whenever he visited Japan. He was visiting Japan at the time of Nakayama’s death. He stayed on to attend the funeral service held for the JKA Shotokan Master.

In 1988, Schmidt became the first non-Japanese JKA practitioner to pass his 7th Dan. He became the first foreigner (and, for a long time, the only one) to be invited to join the Shihan-Kai, the masters’ guild of the JKA. Fellow South Africans Ken Wittstock and Keith Geyer (Schmidt’s student and son-in-law) would eventually become members of Shihan-Kai. Members of the Shihan-Kai hold the rank of 7th Dan or above.

Schmidt was involved in a car accident in 1990. He received serious soft tissue damage to his hip joint, which resulted in surgery to replace his hip. Two years later, he suffered a setback, which resulted in an operation to replace his other hip.

After two hip replacement surgeries, Schmidt was forced to reassess his training approach. He began analysing his techniques from a different perspective. During his recuperation, he developed his own kata, Uki Kata, which means Floating Log or Tree Kata. There were certain techniques, such as the side snap kick, that he no longer practised because of the pressure they put on his hips. It should be noted that this did not hinder his training. He still trained daily.

In 2012, Schmidt established the College of the Open Hand. The organisation was intended as a forum for the evolution of martial arts through conversation and collaboration among different styles. It provided a forum for forward-thinking martial artists to explore other styles and arts. Schmidt firmly believed that all martial artists have something to learn from each other.

On 14 February 2015, Schmidt was awarded the rank of 8th Dan. He was the first non-Japanese to be awarded this honour by the JKA.

Schmidt emigrated from his beloved South Africa to Melbourne, Australia, with his entire family. He sometimes taught at his son-in-law, Keith Geyer’s, dojo and was a much sought-after instructor on the seminar scene. His knowledge of Karate and his ability to teach it were second to none.

Stan Schmidt died in the early hours of 7 October 2019, from Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), a lung condition he had been suffering from in the later years of his life. He had just celebrated his 83rd birthday.

Schmidt has written numerous articles that have appeared in many top martial arts publications. He has also written several books.

It is arguable that through Stan Schmidt’s dedication, Shotokan Karate established a strong foothold in South Africa. Known as the “Father of South African Karate“, he developed the foundations of Shotokan Karate, which still remain strong in the country.