This week in history (26 March – 1 April)

On March 26 1915 Ankō Itosu died.

Itosu, who was a direct student of Sokon Matsumura, was responsible for the introduction of Tode as a form of physical education into the elementary school system of Okinawa in 1901.

Itosu had a number of notable students including Gichin Funakoshi, Kenwa Mabuni, Chosin Chibana and Kentsu Yabu.

On March 29 2003 Shotokan Karate master, Keinosuke Enoeda, died from stomach cancer

Born on 4th July 1935, in Fukuoka, Japan, to a family descended from the samurai, Enoeda attended Takushoku University, where he trained under Masatoshi Nakayama. He was a graduate of the JKA’s Instructor Course and also a former JKA All-Japan Champion in kumite.

A part of the JKA group, that included fellow JKA instructors Taiji Kase, Hirokazu Kanazawa and Hiroshi Shirai, Enoeda toured the USA, Britain, Europe and South Africa. The group gave a number of demonstrations which led to requests for JKA instructors to teach in all the countries they visited.

Eventually settling in the United Kingdom, Enoeda was pivotal in the growth of Shotokan Karate in the United Kingdom. He was a long time member of the Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB). Many of his students, including Pauline Bindra, Andy Sherry, Terry O’Neill, Dave Hazard and Frank Brennan would go on to become major names in the the Shotokan World.

Enoeda was survived by his wife, son and daughter.

On 31 March 1947 Malcolm Dorfman was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.

He started practicing Karate in 1966 under South African Karate pioneer Stan Schmidt.

Dorfman was a long member of the JKA. Following the various splits within the JKA he joined Mikio Yahara‘s Karatenomichi World Federation (KWF) in 1999. In 2017 he was awarded his 9th Dan by Yahara.

On April  1 1922 Gichin Funakoshi gave a Karate demonstration at the Women’s Higher Normal School, in Tokyo, Japan.

********************************************

On April 1  1957, Vernon Bell formed the British Karate Federation (BKF). This becomes the first official Karate association in the British Isles.