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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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