Karate (空手), also karate-do, is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts under the influence of Chinese martial arts. While modern karate is primarily a striking art that uses punches and kicks, traditional karate also employs throwing and joint locking techniques. A karate practitioner is called a karate-ka (空手家).
Kumite is one of the three main sections of karate training, along with kata and kihon. Kumite is the part of karate in which a person trains against an adversary.
The Karate Union of Great Britain, or KUGB, is an association of Shotokan Karate clubs and Karateka operating across Great Britain, with some oversea affiliations. The 1960s saw a growth in the popularity of Karate, and the KUGB was founded in 1966 to be a democratic, not-for-profit organisation, and was the first single style organisation within the UK. Many other British Shotokan Karate organisations have since formed after splitting from the KUGB. The KUGB is currently affiliated to the European Shotokan Karate Association (ESKA) and the World Shotokan Karate Association (WSKA).
Enshin kaikan (円心会館) is a style of "full contact karate", or knockdown karate, founded in 1988 with dojo and students in various countries around the world.
Hirokazu Kanazawa was a Japanese master of Shotokan karate. He was the Chief instructor and President of the Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation, an organisation he founded after he left the Japan Karate Association (JKA). Kanazawa was ranked 10th dan in Shotokan Karate.
Frank Brennan, is a Shotokan karateka born on 6 May 1960 in the City of Liverpool. He was a British karate champion in the 1970s and 1980s, winning a wide variety of titles both as an individual and as part of the KUGB team. He remains a well-known and well-respected KUGB instructor and coach.
The Karate World Championships, also known as the World Karate Championships, are the highest level of competition for karate organized by the World Karate Federation (WKF). The competition is held in a different city every two years. Championships in the 2000s included Madrid in 2002, Monterrey in 2004, Tampere in 2006, Tokyo in 2008, and Belgrade in 2010. The competition was initially riddled with controversy regarding karate styles and the ruleset.
Andy Sherry was one of the most senior British practitioners of Karate and the retired chief instructor of the Karate Union of Great Britain. Sherry was unanimously convicted at Liverpool Crown Court of five criminal offences of a sexual nature relating to two victims, and sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to sign the Sex Offender Register for 10 years.
The Shotokan of England Karate Union (SEKU), founded in 1982 is a federation of Shotokan karate clubs in southern England, with about thirty clubs from Helston in Cornwall to Bromley in Greater London. The federation is led by Mick Dewey, 8th dan, who was a student of the late Keinosuke Enoeda.
Keinosuke Enoeda was a Japanese master of Shotokan karate. He was a former Chief Instructor of the Karate Union of Great Britain. Enoeda was ranked 8th dan in Shotokan karate, and was widely renowned as a formidable karateka. Following his death, Enoeda was posthumously awarded the rank of 9th dan.
USA National Karate-do Federation is the national governing body (NGB) of karate for the United States Olympic Committee and as such is the official Member National Association (MNA) of the World Karate Federation (WKF) in the United States.
George Kotaka is an American karateka. He has a 4th Dan black belt in karate and is the winner of multiple World Karate Championships and appeared in the documentary Empty Hand: The Real Karate Kids.
The 1986 WUKO World Karate Championships are the 8th edition of the World Karate Championships, and were held in Sydney, Australia from October 3 to October 6, 1986.
Terrance Alan "Tokey" Hill is an American karateka most well known for being the first male American to ever win a WUKO/WKF World Karate Championship which he achieved at the 1980 World Karate Championships in the 80 kg Kumite category. He also won a bronze medal in Kumite at the World Games 1981 He would open up his own school in 1983. He has also been a kickboxing coach for Michael McDonald and later a karate coach for the USA National Karate-do Federation Coach Hill traveled to Argentina as the Assistant Coach for the 1995 USA Karate Team during the debut of Karate at the Pan American Games.
Eugene Codrington, is a British karateka. He has an 8th Dan black belt in karate and is the winner of multiple European Karate Championships and was part of first non- Japanese team to win a World Karate Championships. Eugene is a founder member of the English Karate Governing Board (EKGB) for whom he is Senior Coach.
Guusje van Mourik she is a Dutch karateka, judoka and boxer. She has a 4th Dan black belt in karate, and is the winner of multiple World Karate Championships, and is in The Guinness Book of Records for winning the most karate medals. She was four times world champion, six times European champion and twenty five times national champion in this discipline in the class 60+ kilograms. Also, she was once Taiko world champion and won several medals at the Dutch Judo National Championships. Guusje first found success she achieved in 1974 by winning a silver medal in judo. In 1982 she became Dutch and world champion karate. In 1987, Gussje was given Order of Orange-Nassau. In 1989 she made her debut as a boxer. In 1992 she became head coach of the women's karate team. Since retiring from competitive karate Guus is now a dental technician.
Karate was first introduced to American service men after World War II by Japanese and Okinawan karate masters.
Karate was first introduced in the United Kingdom by Vernon Bell, a judo instructor who attended karate classes with Henry Plée in Paris.
Willy Voss is a German karateka. He won multiple medals in the European Karate Championships and Karate World Championships in Kumite.
Jan Kallenbach was a Dutch martial artist. He was a 7th Dan teacher of Taikiken, a Japanese off-shoot of Yiquan and had a significant history in Full contact Karate (Kyokushin-Kaikan). Veteran Kyokushin practitioners from Japan considered Kallenbach as one of the most dominant foreign fighters during the style's early stages in 1960s and 1970s.
