Japan Karate Association

Japan Karate Association (日本 空手 協会; Nihon Karate Kyokai; JKA; sometimes referred to simply as Kyokai 協会 in Japan) is one of the most influential Shotokan karate organizations in the world. It is also one of the oldest karate organizations continuously in operation until the present.

Contents 1 Origins 2 Splinter groups 3 Kenshusei (instructor intern) training program 3.1 Graduates 3.2 Note 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

Origins

Gichin Funakoshi played a major role in introducing karate from Okinawa to Japan, adjusted to reduce injury and merged with approaches for athletic training. On May 27, 1949, some of his senior students, such as Isao Obata, Masatoshi Nakayama, and Hidetaka Nishiyama, formed a karate organization dedicated to research, promotion, events management, and education: the Japan Karate Association. Funakoshi, then around 80 years old, held a position equivalent to emeritus chief instructor. Nakayama was designated as the chief instructor.
The JKA emerged from karate clubs at Japanese universities located in the Tokyo region. Most of these universities, however, distanced themselves from the JKA during the 1950s. Takushoku University always kept strong ties with the JKA, being the alma mater of many of the senior JKA instructors, such as Nakayama, Nishiyama, Okazaki, Asai, Kanazawa, and Enoeda, who were responsible for the JKA's consolidation during the 1960s and 1970s.
General uneasiness on how karate was taught by the JKA instructors and disagreements on Funakoshi's funeral arrangements in 1957 motivated some of the senior karateka connected with Funakoshi, but not associated with the JKA, such as Shigeru Egami, Genshin Hironishi, and Tsutomu Ohshima, to form their own organizations, such as Shotokai and Shotokan Karate of America). They claimed to practice Shotokan karate closer to what Funakoshi taught, as compared to the JKA style. The JKA Shotokan approach is also based on Funakoshi's karate, but with significant adaptations introduced mostly by Nakayama, who was JKA chief instructor until his death in 1987. Under Nakayama's leadership, a generation of respected instructors spread karate worldwide, guided from the JKA's headquarters in Tokyo.
Nakayama's books, which include Dynamic Karate and the Best Karate series, are fundamental references on Shotokan karate as practiced under the JKA. Clive Nicol, in his classic book Moving Zen, describes the karate practice at the JKA's honbu dojo (headquarters training hall) in Tokyo during the early 1960s, from his unique perspective as a western karate student going from white to black belt in a few years.

Splinter groups

The JKA experienced several divisions from the 1970s onwards. Notable splinter groups formed as follows:

• In 1977, JKA instructor Shiro Asano formed his own organization, and invited Hirokazu Kanazawa to be chief instructor. The group is now known as Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation (SKIF).

• Following Nakayama's death in 1987, the JKA experienced a turbulent period, both at the Tokyo headquarters and worldwide. Taiji Kase and Hiroshi Shirai, senior JKA instructors in Europe quit to form the World Karate-Do Shotokan Academy. Taketo Okuda, JKA chief instructor in Brazil, quit to focus on his own organization, Butoku-kan.

• In 1990, a legal dispute started between two groups about the control of JKA. One group was led by Tetsuhiko Asai, the other by Nobuyuki Nakahara. After several court rulings, the issue was ultimately settled by the Japanese Supreme Court on June 10, 1999, in favor of Nakahara's group, which included Masaaki Ueki and Masahiko Tanaka. The other group, led by Tetsuhiko Asai, JKA chief instructor after Nakayama, and including Keigo Abe and Mikio Yahara, left JKA to form other organizations: Japan Karate Shotorenmei (JKS), Japan Shotokan Karate Association (JSKA), and Karatenomichi World Federation (KWF), respectively.

• In 2007, the International Shotokan Karate Federation (ISKF), with headquarters in the US, led by Teruyuki Okazaki, 10th dan and one of the most senior JKA instructors, became independent.^{[citation needed]}

• In 2009, Shihan Takahashi broke away from JKA Australia to form the TSKF Australia (Traditional Shotokan Karate-Do Federation).^{[citation needed]}

Due to these divisions, there is today the notion of a JKA karate style—that is, karate that follows the JKA tradition to a large extent, but is taught by instructors who are not officially affiliated with JKA (though some of them are former JKA instructors).

[edit] Kenshusei (instructor intern) training program

In 1956, the JKA started its kenshusei instructor intern training program at the JKA honbu dojo, in Yotsuya, Tokyo, which had been built in 1955. This program was instituted by Masatoshi Nakayama. The training program has promoted the consistency and quality control of JKA training practices over the years, graduating some of the world's most well known karateka (practitioners of karate), as listed below.

[edit] Graduates

The following table lists JKA kenshusei training program graduates in order of year of graduation. The reported rank of graduates no longer with the JKA is that from their current organization. Such rank is not necessarily recognized by the JKA.

Name	Year of Graduation	Rank	Position
Mikami Takayuki	1957	9th dan	USA JKA/AF Southern
Takaura Eiji	1957
Kanazawa Hirokazu	1957	10th dan	Founder SKIF
Tsushima Toshio	1958
Yaguchi Yutaka	1958	9th dan	USA ISKF Mountain States
Ouchi Kyo	1959
Sato Masaki	1959
*Saito Shigeru	1959
Inaba Mitsue	1960
Kano Masahiko	1960
Watanabe Gunji	1960
*Ogata Kyoji	1960
Kisaka Katsuharu	1961		USA
Nakaya Ken	1961
Ogawa Eiko	1961
Ueki Masaaki	1961	8th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Keinosuke Enoeda	1961	9th dan	"Deceased 29th March 2003". http://www.kugb.org/.
*Miyazaki Satoshi	1961	8th dan	"Deceased 31st May 1993". http://www.jka-vlaanderen.be/.
*Mori Osamu	1961
*Takahashi Yoshimasa	1961
*Majima Kenshiro	1962
Sakai Ryusuke	1962	7th dan
Jitsuhara Shoji	1963
Ochi Hideo	1963	8th dan	"JKA Germany". http://www.deutscher-jka-karate-bund.de/.
Takahashi Yasuoki	1963
*Itaya Michihisa	1963
Abe Keigo	1965	9th dan	Japan JSKA [1]
Oishi Takeshi	1965
*Tabata Yukichi	1965
Takashina Shigeru	1966	8th dan	USA JKA/WFA South Atlantic
Higashi Kunio	1967
Iida Norihiko	1967
Okamoto Hideki	1967	8th dan	Egypt
Takahashi Shunsuke	1967	8th dan	Chief Instructor TSKF Australia [2]
Yano Kenji	1967
Okuda Taketo	1967	8th dan	"Butoku-kan (Brazil)". http://www.butoku-kan.com.br/.
Baba Isamu	1970
Horie Teruo	1971
Nishino Shuhei	1971
*Hayakawa Norimasa	1971
Kanegae Kenji	1972
Osaka Yoshiharu	1972	8th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Sato Teruo	1974
Mori Toshihiro	1975
Imura Takenori	1977	7th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Kurasako Kenro	1977	7th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Kawawada Minoru	1978	7th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Komaki Masaki	1978
Omura Fujikiyo	1978	7th dan	"JKA Thailand". http://www.karatethai.com/.
Fukami Akira	1979
Kaneko Taneaki	1979
Sakata Masashi	1979
Abe Miwako	1980
Tsuchii Takayuki	1980
Yamamoto Hideo	1980
Ogura Yasunori	1982	7th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Imamura Tomio	1983	7th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Kashiwagi Nobuyuki	1984
Koike Tsuyoshi	1984
Yokomichi Masaaki	1984
Izumiya Seizo	1986	6th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Shiina Katsutoshi	1986	6th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Hanzaki Yasuo	1987	6th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Nakamura Yoko	1987
Naka Tatsuya	1989	6th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Noda Kenichi	1990
Taniyama Takuya	1990	6th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
*Imai Hiromitsu	1991
Takahashi Satoshi	1992	5th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Kobayashi Kunio	1993	5th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Ogata Koji	1994	5th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Walter Crockford	1996	5th dan	"JKA Canada". http://www.jkawfcanada.com/.
Ikenaga Atsushi	1996
Hirayama Yuko	1998	4th dan	HQ Secretariat
Okuma Koichiro	1998	4th dan	HQ Full-Time Instructor
Iwasawa Mayumi	1998	3rd dan	HQ Secretariat
Aragaki Misako	2003	3rd dan	HQ Secretariat
Ubukata Koji	2003
Yamada Satomi	2004
Nemoto Keisuke	2004
Okuie Satomi	2004
Kurihara Kazuaki	2004
Shimizu Ryosuke	2004
Elmar Caagbay	2007	3rd dan	PS Full-time Instructor
Kumeta Riki	2008

[edit] Note

This list is incomplete. For instance, it does not include some members who were expelled or resigned from the JKA:

• Abe Keigo, 9th dan (former JKA HQ instructor) JSKA Chief Instructor
• Aramoto Nobuyuki, 8th dan (former JKA instructor)
• Asai Tetsuhiko, 10th dan (former HQ JKA instructor) JKS/IJKA Chief instructor (passed)
• Inaba Tsuneyuki, 7th dan (former JKA instructor
• Isaka Akito, 7th dan (former JKA instructor) KWF
• Ishimine Minoru, 7th dan (former JKA instructor)
• Kagawa Masao, 8th dan (former JKA instructor) JKS Chief Instructor
• Kagawa Masayoshi, 7th dan (former JKA member, not JKA instructor graduate)
• Kanayama Kyosho, 7th dan (former JKA instructor)
• Mizuno Yoshihisa, 8th dan (former JKA instructor)
• Naito Takashi, 7th dan (Has left E.T.K.F & returned to JKA)
• Shin Naomitsu, 7th dan (former JKA member, not JKA instructor graduate)
• Tamang Pemba, 8th dan (former JKA instructor) NSKF Chief Instructor
• Tanaka Chougo, 7th dan (former JKA member, not JKA instructor graduate)
• Yahara Mikio, 8th dan (former JKA HQ instructor) KWF Chief Instructor
• Yamaguchi Toru, 8th dan (former JKA instructor)
• Kanazawa Hirokazu, 10th dan (former JKA HQ instructor) Chief instructor SKIF
• Kase Yasuharu, 10th dan (former JKA HQ instructor) Chief Instructor SRKH (passed)
• Kasuya Hitoshi, 8th dan (former JKA instructor) Chief Instructor WSKF
• Katsumata (Suzuki) Yutaka, 7th dan (former JKA instructor)
• Kawazoe Masao, 8th dan (former JKA instructor) ITKF
• Shirai Hiroshi, 9th dan (former JKA instructor) WSKA
• Kyle Kamal Helou, 4th dan (JKS instructor) JKS
• Tatetsu Meicho, 7th dan (former JKA instructor)
• Asano Shiro, 9th dan (former JKA member, not JKA instructor graduate) SKIF
• Kato Sadashige, 9th dan (former JKA member, not JKA instructor graduate) Chief Instructor IJKA (not recognized or sanctioned by Asai IJKA)

The list at the JKA's website, which includes most members who left or were expelled, may also be incomplete. The JKA has not included some former members who have completed the course and are not currently affiliated with JKA. In addition, during the troubled period between 1990 and 1999 each JKA faction held its own instructors' course. Currently, the JKA does not recognize graduates from the instructors' courses led by the JKS (Japan Karate Shoto Renmei, which also held the name JKA between 1990 and 1999).
Karateka such as Ennio Vezzuli (Brazil), Nigel Jackson (South Africa), Peté Pacheco (Portugal), Malcolm Fisher (Canada), Leon Montoya (Colombia), Richard Amos (UK, US), Pascal Lesage (France) and others, are mentioned in karate forums as having completed the JKA instructors' course (or having had substantial participation in it) but do not appear on the list of graduates as published in 2008 on the JKA's website.