What Supreme Master Gichin Funakoshi started over 100 years ago, Shotokan Karate, is still practiced today throughout the world. Without a doubt Funakoshi played a major role in introducing and bringing karate from Okinawa to Japan and on May 27, 1949, some of his senior students formed the Japan Karate Association (JKA) dedicated to research, promotion, events management, and education. Master Funakoshi, then around 80 years old, held a position equivalent to emeritus chief instructor and Nakayama was designated as chief instructor.
The JKA emerged from Japanese university karate clubs located in the Tokyo region. Takushoku University being the alma mater of many of the senior JKA instructors, such as Nakayama, Nishiyama, Okazaki, Asai, Kanazawa, and Enoeda always kept strong ties with the JKA. However, during the 1950s some of the other universities began to distanced themselves from the JKA and when Funakoshi passed away in 1957 there were disagreements between his students on funeral arrangements as well as general differences on how karate was taught by the JKA. This led to some of the senior karateka such as Shigeru Egami, Genshin Hironishi, and Tsutomu Oshima to form their own organizations, such as Shotokai and Shotokan Karate of America and distance themselves from the JKA.
Moving forward and up-to today many JKA practitioners left the JKA and started their own organizations promoting the style of Shotokan karate with no affiliation to JKA. This happened multiple times adding confusion on “who is who”, who are they affiliated with and are the rankings and certifications of their students recognized by the JKA. These fragmentation divisions included top ranked JKA instructors disassociating from the JKA as well as others being expelled from the JKA.
Currently, the JKA headquartered in Tokyo Japan is the Keeper of Karate’s Highest Tradition, heir to Shotokan karate and is the world’s largest and most prestigious organization and foremost authority on karate. The JKA is the only legal karate entity officially approved by the Japanese government as an association of members (Shadan Hojin) for the promotion of karate. Here in the United states there are three branches, JKA American Karate Federation led by Mr. Mikami, JKA of New York led by Mr. Mori and JKA/WF Americathat led by Mr. Koyama. All three groups are officialy recognized by JKA Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.
CLUB HISTORY — JKA San Antonio
The clubs lineage and roots can be traced back to as the late 1940’s early 1950’s and the US Armed Forces. In 1948 the US Air Force arranged for a series of martial arts demonstrations at their installations overseas in Tachikawa, Kisarazu, Tokorozawa and Yokosuka military bases. Isao Obata and Masatoshi Nakayama conducted the karate demonstrations.
These demonstrations brought interest to many airman and soon karate and judo clubs were established on the installations. In 1951, Strategic Air Command (SAC) under the command of General Curtis P. LeMay hired Mel Bruno, a judo man to organize and direct a physical training program in martial arts for SAC personnel. One of the training instructors was Hidetaka Nishiyama who taught karate and self defense as combative measures to Air Force pilots and navigators. This program was successful and by 1953 the Air Force decided to expand the concept and sponsor a six-month tour to selected installations in the United States.
The tour included ten of the highest-ranking judo men and three premier karate men from the JKA to include, Isao Obata, Toshio Kamate and Hidetaka Nishiyama. This tour brought awareness to the American public as to the existence of karate and further provided an opportunity export Shotokan to the western hemisphere. In the early 1960s the JKA sent Hidetaka Nishiyama to the United States who settled in the west, Los Angeles California, Teruyuki Okazaki in the east, Philadelphia Pennsylvania and Takayuki Mikami in the South, first in Kansas City, and then in New Orleans Luisiana. These names are only but a few of some of the primier karateka who came and settled in the western hemisphere to promote the art of karate under the guidance of the JKA and Mr. Nakayama.
One of Mr. Nakayama’s American students in the late 1950s was a young US Air Force airman named Peter Velez. When Mr. Velez returned back to the United States from overseas, he continued his training and teaching under the guidance of Mr. Nishiyama. Mr. Velez, a karate pioneer in his own right, was instrumental to spreading karate in the Air Force and to the civilian populace. In the early 70s, Mr. Velez relocated to San Antonio, Texas where he retired from the Air Force and continued to work as a civil service architectural designer. Mr. Velez started a karate club at Randolph AFB, under Mr. Nishiyama’s organization.
Mr. Velez with direct lineage within the early Armed Forces Karate Federation (AFKF) and founder of the Randolph JKA Karae Club maintained allegiance and loyalty in support of Sensei Nishiyama. This continued after Mr. Nakayama passed away in 1989 and Mr. Nishiyama decided to go independent from the JKA. In the early 90s, Randolph Air Force Base closed our training facility and we changed location to off base. Along with the new training dojo came the change from Randolph JKA Karate Club to JKA San Antonio karate club and continued training within Mr. Nishiyama’s organization, International Traditional Karate Federation, ITKF and American Amateur Karate Federation, AAKF. After Mr. Nishiyama passed away, the club aligned with JKA American Federation in 2009.
The style of traditional karate we practice at our dojo is referred to as JKA-Shotokan. The style has no name, Master Funakoshi just called it karate-do. The style name Shotokan was coined by Funakoshi’s students when they posted a sign “Shoto kan” above the entrance of the hall at which Funakoshi taught reading . Shoto was Funakoshi’s pen name as a writer, meaning “pine waves” and Kan means “house”, “school” or “training hall’ so, those who trained karate in Funakoshi’s “school” became known as training karate in the style of Shotokan. The term JKA-Shotokan makes reference to the Shotokan that is practiced today by the Japan Karate Association.
Today, there are karate clubs here in San Antonio and surrounding areas that are teaching Shotokan karate appearing to be similar to the karate practiced by the JKA, however these clubs have made crucial modifications in dynamics, techniques and to the overall philosophy of a self defense martial art.
Here in San Antonio we are the only Dojo promoting Shotokan karate recognized by the Japan Karate Association heir of Shotokan Karate Tradition. All of our practitioners are ranked and certified by the JKA.