Tag: Gichin Funakoshi

This week in history (9 December – 15 December)

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 …

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This week in history (2 December – 8 December)

3 December On 3 December 1941, Shoshin Nagamine gave a public Karate demonstration to members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force and an assortment of dignitaries, including the Police Chief Cabinet secretary and his deputy, plus members of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (Martial Arts section).  Born 15 July 1907 in Naha, Okinawa, Nagamine is the founder …

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This week in history (25 November – 1 December)

25 November On 25 November 1948 the founder of the Okinawan Karate style Uechi-ryu, Kanbun Uechi, died aged 71. Born into a family of farmers, in 1897 Uechi fled his native Okinawa to avoid conscription into the Japanese army. He travelled to Fuzhou (Fuchou) in the Fukien Province of China. Looking to learn martial arts, …

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This week in history (18 November – 24 November)

18 November On 18 November 2004 the 17th World Karate Championships were held at the Monterrey Arena, Monterrey, Mexico. Goju-ryu practitioner Atsuko Wakai from Japan, won her fourth consecutive Word individual kata title. She is one of the most successful tournament competitors, having also won titles at the World Games, Asian Games and All-Japan Karate-do …

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This week in history (11 November – 17 November)

11 November On 11 November 1934 Colin Williams was born. Williams a Shotokan practitioner, started his training during the early days of Karate in the United Kingdom, in the 1950s. In the 1980s he founded the Bukonkai Karate International (BKI) association. He was the association’s Chief Instructor. In 1998 he founded the Malta Bukonkai Karate …

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This week in history (4 November – 10 November)

5 November On 5 November 1961 a Karate exhibition was held at the Honolulu Civic Auditorium, sponsored by the Hawaii Karate Congress. Several top Japanese martial artists, including  Goju-Ryu’s Kanki Izumikawa and Shotokan’s Hidetaka Nishiyama and Hirokazu Kanazawa, displayed their skills to an attentive crowd. ******************************************** On 5 November 1963 Masters Masatoshi Nakayama, Hiroshi Shoji, …

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This week in history (28 October – 3 November)

28 October On 28 October 1939 Keigo Abe was born in Iyoshi, Ehime Prefecture, Japan. A direct student of Masatoshi Nakayama, Abe graduated from the JKA Instructors Program in 1965. He was a long-serving instructor at the Japan Karate Association’s Hombu. After the JKA split in 1990 he became Technical Director of the JKA (Matsuno …

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This week in history (30 September – 6 October)

4 October On 4 October 1924, Motokuni Sugiura, a former Chief Instructor of the JKA, was born in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Sugiura was promoted to 1st Dan by the age of 20. At university he had been taught be Gichin Funakoshi and his son Yoshitaka. After he graduated in 1944 he joined the Tsuchiura Navy …

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This week in history (23 September – 29 September)

24 September On 24 September 2004 noted martial artist Teruo Hayashi died from lung cancer in Osaka, Japan. Described as one of the last great Japanese Budo masters,  Hayashi is the founder of the Hayashi-Ha branch of Shito-ryu Karate. He trained under some of the greats of Japanese and Okinawan Karate, including Seiko Higa, Kenko …

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This week in history (2 September – 8 September)

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 …

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