Dec 17 2018
On 19 December 1963 Vernon Bell received a letter from Masatomo Takagi, the General Manager of the Japan Karate Association (JKA), requesting that the British Karate Federation (BKF) officially act as the authorized representative of the JKA in Britain. Earlier that year Bell had received a letter from Takagi indicating that Tetsuji Murakami (Yoseikan Karate), …
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Dec 10 2018
10 December On 10 December 1933 Shotokan master, Takayuki Mikami, was born in Nigata Prefecture Japan. He was the first professional Karate instructor to be sent by the JKA to teach Karate full-time in another country. Mikami arrived in Tokyo in 1952 to study Japanese Literature at Hosei University. Being a farm boy in a big …
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Nov 12 2018
12 November On 12 November 1964 Julie Nicholson was born in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear. Nicholson started Shotokan Karate under the guidance of John Holdsworth and Jeff Barwick, at the age of nine. She eventually came under the instruction of Keinosuke Enoeda. She began her competitive career in 1976 eventually becoming a member of the KUGB (Karate Union of …
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Sep 10 2018
10 September On 10 September 1965 Charles Mack became the first British subject awarded a 2nd Dan in Shotokan Karate from the Japan Karate Association (JKA). Masatoshi Nakayama awarded him his grade at the JKA’s headquarters in Tokyo. Mack had previously been awarded his 1st Dan by Nakayama three years earlier, becoming the first British subject awarded …
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Sep 03 2018
4 September On 4 September 1931 Kenneth Funakoshi, a distant relative of Shotokan Karate founder, Gichin Funakoshi, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Hirokazu Kanazawa, a former Grand Champion in Japan, had arrived in Hawaii in 1960 to represent the Japan Karate Association (JKA) as Chief Instructor at the behest of Masatoshi Nakayama. Funakoshi who was in his early twenties began …
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Aug 13 2018
14 August On 14 August 1934 the founder of American Goju-ryu Karate, Peter George Urban, was born in Jersey City, USA. Serving in the US Navy he was stationed in Yokohama, Japan. In 1953 he began studying Karate as a student of Richard Kim. In 1954 he was transferred to Tokyo. There he was introduced by Kim to Masutatsu Oyama and Gogen Yamaguchi …
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Jul 16 2018
18 July On 18 July 1959 Tetsuji Murakami made his first ever visit to England to teach for the British Karate Federation (BKF). He also conducted a number gradings at 12 Maybush Road, Hornchurch, Essex. ******************************************** On 18 July 1963 Vernon Bell received a letter from his German counterpart, Jurgen Seydel, informing him that Tetsuji Murakami was not an official representative of the JKA …
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Jul 02 2018
2 July On 2 July 2013 Shoei Miyazato, a Kobayashi Shorin-ryu master and early student of Katsuya Miyahira (the successor to Chosin Chibana), died aged 85 years. Although born in Okinawa, Miyazato attended elementary and high school in Osaka, Japan. As it was during the 2nd World War he had to undergo mandatory training in Kendo, Judo and military affairs. At the age of …
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Jun 25 2018
25 June On 25 June 1959 the first written correspondence between Vernon Bell and head of Yoseikan Karate, Minoru Mochizuki took place. Mochizuki had first come to France in the early 1950s to conduct a number of training sessions in Judo and Aikido. All correspondence between Mochizuki and Bell had previously gone through Henri Plee. It was through Plee that Bell had the opportunity …
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May 28 2018
On 28 May 1952 Clive Layton, a prolific author on Karate, was born. Layton began training in Shotokan Karate under Michael Randall ,Chris Adamou, and Nick Adamou. In 1977 he received his 1st Dan from Hirokazu Kanazawa. His books [amazon text=Shotokan Dawn: Vol 1 %26 2&asin=0955512204] detail the beginnings of Karate in Britain under Vernon Bell. On …
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