Feb 01 2021
1 February On 1 February 1960, Michael Manning became the first British Karate Federation (BKF) student to grade to 1st kyu. Manning was one of Vernon Bell‘s original Karate students. He was nineteen when he started training with Bell in Jiujitsu in 1956. Manning was described as having a withered right arm. By the time …
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Dec 21 2020
21 December On 21 December 1957 Trevor Guilfoyle and Gerald Tucker become the first karateka in Britain to be graded to 3rd kyu, under the British Karate Federation (BKF). The grading was conducted by Vernon Bell at 12 Maybush Road, Hornchurch, London. Guilfoyle and Tucker were two of Bell’s earliest students, taking part in the …
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Aug 16 2020
The most important points of my teaching are breathing, movement and timing. But breathing is first…. the first thing we do in this world is to breathe and, you know, even today, 90% of people do not know how to breathe correctly. If the breathing is wrong, your body will go wrong – your mind …
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Aug 16 2020
Politics is the worst thing that can happen to Karate at the upper level. The students don’t care about what’s happening in the political way. They just like to train hard and compete, but because the ‘higher-ups’ have their political views or differences they tend to put a lot of restrictions on what the students …
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Aug 09 2020
There were some differences but not between the masters such as Yamaguchi, Funakoshi, Mabuni, et cetera. All those differences lay between the young students and not the masters. Osamu Ozawa Osamu Ozawa is one of the most respected Japanese masters to have taught in the west. Until his death, he was the highest-ranked Shotokan master …
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Aug 07 2020
I would say “You have got to just keep on doing it!” I have seen on the back of tracksuits the slogan ‘JUST DO IT!’ and that’s perfect! People always find excuses. If you just keep on putting your gi on, things will happen! Aidan Trimble Aidan Trimble is one of those special martial artists …
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Apr 06 2020
7 April On 7 April 1963 Yoshiaki Ajari a student of Hironri Ohtsuka, established the United States Wado-Kai Karate-Do Federation. Ajari had originally moved to the United States in 1957 to study Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. On 7 April 2004, American Karate pioneer, Peter Urban died. Urban began training in Goju-ryu Karate …
Permanent link to this article: http://findingkarate.com/wordpress/this-week-in-history-6-april-12-april/
Jan 27 2020
27 January On 27 January 1934, Raymond Fuller, one of the students present at the founding of the Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB), was born. Fuller started his Karate training in January of 1964 at Vernon Bell‘s Horseshoe pub dojo, located in London. At the time the British Karate Federation (BKF) were affiliated with …
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Apr 08 2019
8 April On 8 April 1944 Michael Randall, who was training in Karate prior to the arrival of the JKA in Britain, was born. Randall joined the British Karate Federation (BKF) in 1964. As a member of the BKF he had the opportunity to train under Tetsuji Murakami and Hiroo Mochizuki. After the arrival of the …
Permanent link to this article: http://findingkarate.com/wordpress/this-week-in-history-8-april-14-april/
Jan 28 2019
29 January On 29 January 1962, one of the founders of the French Karate movement, Jim Alcheik, was assassinated, aged only 31. Alchiek is widely regarded as one of the greatest martial artists to come out of Europe. He held a 4th Dan in Aikido, a 2nd Dan in Karate, a 2nd Dan in Kendo and …
Permanent link to this article: http://findingkarate.com/wordpress/this-week-in-history-28-jan-3-feb/
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