This week in history (21 October – 27 October)

25 October

On 21 October 1941 Edward Arthur Whitcher he was born in Dagenham, Essex.

Whitcher started training at the  dawn of Karate in the United Kingdom. He was the first British subject to be promoted to 3rd Dan from the Japanese Karate Association (JKA), at their Tokyo headquarters in 1971.

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On 25 October 2013 David Coulter took part in the annual 100 Kata Challenge a worldwide event to commemorate Okinawa Karate Day.

Participants in the event have to perform 100 repetitions of a Karate kata of their choice.

26 October

On 26 October 1957 the Federation Internationale De Karate (FIK) was formed at the headquarters of the French Karate Federation, located at 34 rue de la Montagne Sainte Genevieve, Paris.

Present at the creation of the FIK was Vladimiro Malatesti (representing Italy), Vernon Bell (representing Great Britain), Jurgen Seydel (representing Germany), Henri Plee (representing France) and Hiroo Mochizuki (representing Japan and Yoseikan Karate).

The Federation Internationale De Karate had the following aims:
• To foster closer ties between karateka from around the world.
• To co-ordinate the activity of Karate in all nations
• To establish technical and organisational rules
• to organise and supervise international events
• To represent Karate on the international sports scene

27 October

On 27 October 1948 Life Magazine featured an article on Karate. The article had a picture showing black belts Hiroshi Kamata and Gojuro Harada, both from Waseda University, engaged in a sparring session. It is thought that Henri Plee, the Father of European Karate, saw this article and led to his interest in Karate.

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On 27 October 1964 the 3rd All-American Karate Tournament was held in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Chief Judge of the tournament was Hidetaka Nishiyama, the President of the All-American Karate Federation (AAKF). Masataka Mori, the Chief Instructor of the Karate Association of Hawaii, was the Chairman of the tournament. Yasu Uyehara won the kumite event, with Thomas Morikawa winning the kata event.