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FUNAKOSHI
SHOTOKAN KARATE ASSOCIATION
With my
teacher
(L) Sensei
Peter Lindsay, 5th Dan, (FSKA)
(R) Shihan
Kenneth Funakoshi, 9th Dan, (FSKA)
Chief
Instructor, Funakoshi Shotokan Karate Association
Shihan Funakoshi is seen
pictured here with me during a three day summer camp and
seminar that was being held in Victoria, British
Columbia, Canada.
The Funakoshi Shotokan
Karate Association (FSKA) is a non-political organization
with affiliated dojos around the world whose philosophy
is to promote goodwill, while upholding the principles
and values of karate practitioners. The world
headquarters of the FSKA is located in Milpitas,
California, and the organization is presided over by its
Chief Instructor, Shihan Kenneth Funakoshi, 9th Dan.
Dedicated to spreading
traditional karate-do and its values Shihan Funakoshi
makes annual trips to many of his affiliated dojos in the
United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Europe, Russia,
Mexico, and other countries around the world in order to
help perpetuate the art of Shotokan Karate-Do.
As his student I make a
point of traveling to the U.S.A. each year to train with
Shihan Funakoshi either at the Honbu dojo in Milpitas,
California, or at the various seminars he gives prior to
the annual FSKA World Championship Tournament that is
held each year.
I took the following
photograph of Shihan Funakoshi during a course I attended
at Sensei Andre Dulce's superb main dojo in Bellevue,
Washington in the Fall of 2002. The course is an annual
event and on this particular occasion we also celebrated
the 30th anniversary of the of the founding of the
Washington Shotokan Association.
A Master of
the art of Shotokan Karate
Shihan Kenneth Funakoshi,
Founder and Chief Instructor of the Funakoshi Shotokan
Karate Association, started judo training in 1948 under
Arakaki Sensei at the Fort Gakuen Japanese Language
School in Honolulu, Hawaii. He attended Farrington High
School in the Kalihi District and was on the football
team and captain of the Territory of Hawaii (Hawaii was
not a state yet) Championship swim team. While attending
the University of Hawaii on a swimming scholarship
Funakoshi Sensei started Kempo training under Adriano
Emperado from 1956 to 1959.
In 1960, Shihan Funakoshi
started Shotokan training when the Japan Karate
Association (JKA) assigned its first Grand Champion,
Sensei Hirokazu Kanazawa, to teach at the Karate
Association of Hawaii, Shihan Funakoshi remained a
student of Sensei Kanazawa's for the next three years.
Then from 1963-1966 Shihan Funakoshi trained under Sensei
Masataka Mori, another instructor from the JKA. Finally
from 1966 to 1969, he trained under the third and last
instructor sent by the JKA, the legendary Sensei
Tetsuhiko Asai, another former Grand Champion from Japan.
In 1969, after training 10
years under three of Japan's top Shotokan instructors and
then winning the Grand Championship of the Karate
Association of Hawaii for five years in a row (1964-1968),
Shihan Funakoshi was appointed as the Chief Instructor
for the Karate Association of Hawaii.
Shihan Funakoshi moved to
San Jose, California to teach karate in December 1986. In
1987, the non-political Funakoshi Shotokan Karate
Association was founded with its world headquarters now
in Milpitas, California and the organization now has
affiliates throughout the United States, Canada, England,
Ireland, Europe, Russia, Mexico, and many other countries
around the world.
- Part the
clouds - see the way.
-
- "The
objective of karate-do is to contribute to the evolution
- of the
human spirit through physical and mental training."
- Sensei
Peter Lindsay
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