NEWPORT ISLE OF WIGHT

SHOTOKAN

KARATE

A BRIEF HISTORY OF NEWPORT IOW SHOTOKAN KARATE

Karate is an empty-handed fighting art that has been developed through long years of history and tradition. Its ultimate goal lies not in winning or losing, but in fostering spiritual and physical strength through serious practice, and in trying to achieve an overall balance as individuals.

Like most other modern Martial Arts, Karate has grown and evolved from various influences over hundreds of years and yet some fundamental elements stay the same. Karate was first derived from the fighting style taught to Shao Lin monks in India from where it travelled to China and then to the Okinawan islands of Japan Where the Okinawa people used the art to defend them selves against invaders form mainland Japan. Karate was then brought to mainland Japan by Gichin Funakoshi.

Gichin Funakoshi was the person that was responsible for teaching an art known formerly as the Chinese Hand. Funakoshi is regarded as the father of modern Karate, and was responsible for changing the name from Chinese Hand to Empty Hand, Empty meaning KARA and Hand meaning TE (KARATE) Funakoshi’s pen name was SHOTO therefore students who trained at Funakoshi’s (SHOTO) House or hall (KAN) (SHOTOKAN) were of the Shoto-Kan. Thus SHOTOKAN KARATE was born.

Gichin Funakoshi

Masatoshi Nakayama was a student of Master Gichin Funakoshi, for 27 years, assisting him with instruction and demonstrations. When Funakoshi Sensei passed away, Nakayama Sensei became the Chief Instructor of the JKA (Japan Karate Association) and he introduced Karate as a sport in the late fifties, and was also responsible for passing his knowledge of Martial Arts round the world in the 60’s and 70’s where graduates of his elite Instructor program were allocated assignments to establish and develop Karate around the world. Sensei’s Keinosuke Enoeda and Hirokazu Kanazawa were two of the instructors that came to Britain to develop Shotokan Karate.

Masatoshi Nakayama

Keinosuke Enoeda Gained a reputation as having the strongest punch in Japan, and because of his tremendous fighting spirit, skill, and ability, his nickname was Tora or the Tiger. He trained on the famous JKA instructor’s programme for three years under the tuition of Master Nakayama. Sensei Enoeda was sent out to travel the world instructing visiting South Africa and Hawaii, but settling in Great Britain as the Chief Instructor of the K.U.G.B (Karate Union of Great Britain) in 1965, and passed his knowledge of Shotokan Karate to the likes of Sensei’s Mick Dewey, Dave Hazard, Andy Sherry, Terry O’Neill and many more.

Keinosuke Enoeda

Mick Dewey was a student of Enoeda Sensei and was the chief instructor of Portsmouth Karate Club; he had also started many other clubs in the south. When many of the clubs were established he then handed the clubs over to the senior Dan Grades (Black Belts) All of the clubs at that time were affiliated to the K.U.G.B (Karate Union of Great Britain) but beliefs on certain policy decisions left some members feeling disillusioned. So on the 2nd April 1982 - twenty clubs from the south had voted to form a new organization they named it the South of England Karate Union (S.E.K.U). With Sensei Mick Dewey as Chief instructor and Sensei Mervyn O’Donnell as Secretary, and later Sensei Dave Hazard joined as Technical Director. Some years later by popular vote the name was change to the Shotokan of England Karate Union. One of the main reasons for this was the organization had now become national.

Mick Dewey

Isle of Wight Shotokan Karate. The first Shotokan Karate Club on the Isle of Wight was at Newport youth club back in the late sixties, In the early seventies the club moved to a larger Dojo (Training Place) at Carisbrooke high school. In 1974 Sensei’s Mick Dewey and Phil Elliot from the Portsmouth Dojo took over running the club until there was an established Dan grade to carry on instructing at the club. At this time the club was affiliated to the Karate Union of Great Britain, and in 1982 the club were founder members of the South of England Karate Union. The name has change over the years from Isle of Wight to Carisbrooke and finally Newport Shotokan Karate Club. Also some members who had achieved their Dan Grades at the club have ventured out and started clubs of their own these are Sandown Karate Club and the Fitness Factory Karate Club. Some members from the Sandown club started the Ventnor Karate Club. Sensei Malc Bradley 4 Dan has been chief instructor at the club for 30yrs with Sensei Mick Lambert 3rd Dan senior instructor for 27 yrs. In 1996 the club moved to its present Dojo's at St Georges School Newport.

Malc Bradley

NEWPORT ISLE OF WIGHT SHOTOKAN KARATE » HISTORY