Splitting Heirs! : JKA and the big splits

I have been asked on more than one occasion to describe the fracturing of the JKA world organization and try to explain the separations and splits. I have been asked to explain why this happened and what caused them…to be frank, I don’t often feel comfortable talking about the splits. The truth is that the JKA has been a home to me on and off for almost 35 years and I have had a great amount of respect for all the instructors I have trained with.
Most of the splits represent dirty laundry…one person feeling they are entitled to certain things and then getting upset and I see it as stamping your feet and picking up your ball to go home. Often I see the splitting people as grown men acting as children. But some of the fractures were its timing and the situation called for a new group to be formed.
I am also acutely aware of people who are “ANTI-ORGANIZATION” and also “ANTI-JKA” to them…I say grow up. Lets face it I was not personally involved in any of the splits that I am going to talk about and if you don’t respect Ueki Sensei, Kanazawa Sensei, Yahara Sensei, Asai Sensei or the rest for their contributions to Karate…well I have little time for small minded morons! So, as gingerly as I can I will try to explain a few of the splits, fractures and rebirths as I can. Keep in mind that I mean no disrespect to any groups I mention, don’t mention or even don’t know about. I am simply going on what I can and what I know.
Also, I try to keep all personal issues I may have with some groups to myself. I don’t like to speak ill of some groups because I simply don’t agree with their stance, we don’t interact and the world is a rather large place, I am sure I can avoid “accidentally” Showing up at a seminar or camp that has some people at them. Besides Training and time heal most wounds!
One key factor to keep in mind, at the highest level of the splits, the chief instructors…they all get along if put in a room, why cant their zealous followers….Point of fact, One ISKF Sensei once told me of the heretic (my words…in jest…partially) Kanazawa and how he felt his ideas were not for him or his students. How Kanazawa was “given the boot” because he had “Different ideas”. Fast forward two decades and who is teaching at the ISKF Camp…Kanazawa…IF that does not speak volumes…well I don’t know what does!

Splitting Heirs! : JKA and the big splits

The Japan Karate Association was formed in 1949 when Isao Obata, Masatoshi Nakayama and several other students of Funakoshi Sensei banded together to form a organization dedicated to research, promotion, event management and education in Shotokan Karate. Many say that the early JKA was formed in the image of the Kodokan, a Judo organization dedicated to the same ideals as the JKA.
Gichin Funakoshi held the position of founder and essentially the equivalent of Emeritus Chief Instructor, which Nakayama was designated as the chief instructor. Nakayama was a young man with lots of charisma and a solid grasp of scientific principles. With Nakayama’s designation as chief instructor came a rapid growth of Karate in Japan and initiatives to help it grow worldwide.
Many of the senior instructors came from the Takushoku University and had gone on to study in the JKA instructors training program. Perhaps the first big split was when the Shotokai split from the JKA. The Shotokai was made up of many of the university groups other than Takushoku university.


The Shotokai was the original organization formed by Gichin Funakoshi in the 1930’s to promote and teach Karate in the universities. The original name of the group Dai Nihon Karate do Kenkyukai. After the headquarters club was opened the Shotokai began to represent the students in the universities that would do inter club amateur tournaments while the Shotokan, being the headquarters, was seen as more a professional wing of Funakoshi Sensei’s style.
The JKA at the time focused on becoming a legal entity for a professional group. They worked hard and on April 10th 1957 they became a legal entity under the law when they were recognized by the ministry of education as such. No other Karate organization enjoyed this status and it was another 20 years till a Karate organization was recognized by the Japanese government as a legal entity. Two weeks after this occurred, Funakoshi Sensei passed away leaving the JKA as the only professional Karate organization recognized as a legal entity in Japan.

Because of the distinction between the amateur group and the professional group their began to be some cracks in the relationship and just prior to 1957 when Funakoshi sensei passed away the groups separated and were seen as different bodies all together.
There was some friction and even at the masters funeral the flags for the JKA were not allowed, even though many prominent members of the JKA served as pallbearers.
Shotokai was largely influenced by one of Funakoshi Gigo’s students Shigeru Egami. Egami began training under Gigo Funakoshi and was heavily influenced by his early teaching. His ideas of Karate did not include sport or competition and soon the Shotokai left all tournaments and Egami began changing the training even more.
While Shotokai has fundamentally similar basics, the style is much more loose and includes some practices that are very much different from JKA Shotokan. However Shotokai began emphasizing spiritual training over physical training and changing its overall approach to Funakoshis origin art.
The JKA began to grow with Nakayama at the helm. Sensei Nakayama also began to change the Karate that Funakoshi sensei had introduced and the JKA style began to come into clarity as its changes made it more athletic and stronger with more emphasis on explosive power and speed. The JKA grew under Nakayama and his instructor training program and he began to send instructors out to all corners of the world after ensuring they were properly trained.

Tsutomu Oshima traveled to the states in 1955 to continue his university education at UCLA. He held the first known US practice soon after. He had been a member of the Wasada University club from 1948 on and had also received instruction from Sensei Funakoshi and Egami Sensei of the Shotokai. In 1959 he started the Southern California Karate association and opened clubs all over the US’s western states. The organization renamed itself the Shotokan Karate of American in 1969. The SKA was never really part of the JKA but Oshima has had contact and association with the JKA on and off for many years.
Prior to leaving Japan, Funakoshi Sensei awarded Oshima his 5th Dan himself. By his choice Oshima sensei has never requested higher grades be awarded to him. It is also the highest grade that students can attain in the SKA. While never a full member of the JKA his influence in the states has been great and his organization now reaches into several countries as well as being very popular in the US. His own students purchased a plot of land in California overseeing the Pacific ocean and built Oshima a amazing Dojo that is both a great place to train and also a architectural piece of art.

In 1961 a integral member of the JKA left to create his own associated group, and perhaps the first and best known of these groups. Hidetaka Nishiyama left for the states and began teaching and spreading Karate to the US and Pan Am countries. He formed the ITKF (International traditional Karate Federation). Nishiyama organized the ITKF as a result of disagreements he had with the way the World Karate Championships were organized. He passed away in 2008, the ITKF is now run by his former students but has become less of a factor in international Karate and even in North American Karate since his passing a few years ago.

In 1977, the JKA instructor course trained Shiro Asano left the JKA and started the organization now known as the Shotokan Karate-do International federation or the SKIF and invited Hirokazu Kanazawa to start the organization with him. Kanazawa left the JKA and took the lead on the organization. The first split was generated when Kanazawa came to an inpass with the JKA leaders and wanted to change some of the practices that he saw in Karate as well as wanting to form his own sub group. The split was rather harsh and due to Kanazawas unique views he was seen as a bit of a rebel by some and as a renegade by others. Kanazawa has stated that he has merged ideas and practices of Tai chi with his Karate, specifically the idea of flow and other key concepts. However many feel that this evolution is disrespectful of the original art.
Kanazawa and Asano went on to form a large organization and build a strong group in Europe but have never really been as large as the JKA and failed to really reach all the areas that the JKA has reached out to. While Kanazawa and Asano’s split from the JKA was not friendly in any way, it is worth noting that Kanazawa has kept contact with many of his peers and has taught at many summer camps over the years hosted by many of his old friends.

The JKA continued to expand after Kanazawa left, actually growing at an exponential rate. With the success of the Instructor training program, the JKA began to reach out to all countries across the globe and saw great success in north America, Europe, south America and Africa. Nakyama adapted Funakoshi’s approach more over the years and the JKA began to expand and invite more western members to the Honbu Dojo. The JKA continued to grow and expand its organization with few drop offs.
Nakayama and the JKA undertook a world tour that took him across the globe to shore up elegance in the smaller groups and show that the JKA was strong and could continue to develop and grow even further. This is the period that Nakayama Sensei came to Manitoba and gave Dingman Sensei the task of growing JKA Karate in Manitoba and across the Canadian prairies to the west. It was a time of prosperity for all the JKA and a time of growth.

In 1987 Nakayama Sensei passed away without leaving a replacement to his position. He never stated that he would be replaced by one individual and groups started to form that were definitely drawing lines of elegances away from the JKA core group. The JKA itself began having issues inside the Honbu with specific instructors acting as if they were the new leaders of the organization, in fact at this time two distinct JKA groups used the Honbu and the turbulence begin to effect the world JKA groups.
The first group to leave was a European group headed by famed JKA Dojo enforcer Taiji Kase and his Junior Hiroshi Shirai. While the organization was very popular in Europe, they steered clear of North America. After some time Kase began to teach a very unique off shoot of Shotokan to his students and just prior to his passing he formed the Kase-Ha Shotokan Ryu group that eventually changed to the Kase Ryu style after he passed away. The Kase Ryu is known as the Fudokan now and has some very unique Kata that were added by one of his students Vladamir Yorga and Ilija Yorga. While the mainstream Kase group and the group that Shirai now oversees is mainstream JKA with a few changes, the Fudokan has some very non-JKA ideas that make it a very different group.

Next to leave, in the same year, was JKA graduate Taketo Okuda in Brazil. He had formed his own group, the Butoku-Kan and felt it needed his full focus to grow. His style and organization differed greatly from the mainstream but still held its Shotokan roots. Okuda Sensei still maintained some ties to his JKA and quotes his JKA 8th Dan on his web site but he simply wanted to run his South American group on his own.

The biggest split occurred in 1990 when the Asai led group challenged the Nakahara lead JKA group for the right to lead the JKA. A strange and turbulent time was headed by this dispute. As I said it was strange because both groups used the Honbu Dojo to conduct classes and moved along as if they both represented the JKA name at the same time. The legal battle was waged with Nakahara backed group going to court against the Asai group that had also taken many of the young and promising instructors into the organization.
Asai Sensei had been named as Nakayama Senseis replacement as Chief instructor, however the business end of the JKA was led by Nakahara. Nakahara and Asai did not agree on many things and eventually Asai simply opposed the position of Chairman given to Nakahara and took his instructors out of the “mainstream” JKA and formed what is often called the “Matsuno section JKA”.
For 9 years the legal battle between the two groups. Essentially on one side was a very respectable group lead by Nakahara as the president, Suguira as the Chief instructor and masters like Shotokan Stalwart Ueki Sensei and Kumite stand out Tanaka Sensei, Kata expert Osaka….. against JKA Legend Asai, Young kumite stand out Yahara and Kata and kumite king Kagawa leading an equally respectable group on the other side. . Even if it was rather even, the courts saw that the Nakahara group had legal rights to the JKA name and in 1999 awarded the JKA organization to the Nakahara backed group.

Asai sensei along with his students moved out of the JKA and he began teaching under the JKS banner or the Japan Karate Shotorenmei. This group initially included Kagawa Sensei, Keigo Abe sensei and Mikio Yahara, along with the many students and seniors they had initially rallied behind.
Issues soon overcame this faction as well and saw Keigo Abe leave to form his own group (the JSKA) and then Yahara Sensei soon left to form his ultra-traditional KWF, which he saw as a return to traditional values and avoided focusing on tournament training exclusively.

Abe Sensei once held the office of Director of Qualifications at the JKA, however in the split of 1990, he became the technical director of the JKA Matsuno section. Abe was fiercely loyal to his instructor, Nakayam sensei and stated that he saw Nakayama as his only headmaster/chief instructor. When the courts gave the Nakahara based group control of the JKA name he retired from the Matsuno section JKA and left to form his own JSKA group. Renowned as a staunch traditionalist it is said that his Karate organization represents the unchanged style. Abe is also credited for creating the Shobu Ippon style of tournament sparring that most Shotokan students would recognize. Some say he simply headed the team that produced these and others credit him for the creation on his own.

Mikio Yahara was a very talented star in international Karate competitions and a student of both Nakayama Sensei and a junior of Asai Sensei. He was part of the popular tournament world during the height of its popularity. Yahara is often characterized as a Predatory fighter and aggressive with intent! He was also a Kata champion and famous for his Empi and Unsu Kata. Yahara is known to have taken down 34 Local Yakuza and showing up to a tournament with knife wounds on his arms and legs. He left the Nakahara run JKA with Asai Sensei but soon left Asai Sensei after the opposing faction won the court ruling. He formed the Karatenomichi World Federatino with Isaka Akihito after serving under Asai as assistant Chief instructor.
Yahara is also well known for taping and releasing his own 8th Dan examination in 2006. During his exam he was delivering a physical demonstration of his ideas on Karate when he fractured the ribs of his assistant. In 2007 a student and longtime businessman Kenshin Oshima gave Yahara the ShotoKan Dojo in Japan, a 1 billion yen Dojo.

In 1990 the WSKF was formed by Hitoshi Kasuya and Takaeki Kamiyanagi as a global organization. Kasuya had finished the JKA instructor program in 1973 and was a student of Nakayama. Kasuya was heavily influenced by Nakayama sensei and his scientific approach to Karate. He remained with the JKA till the early 1980’s then moved to the SKIF and became a champion in their tournaments. He left and formed the WSKF after retiring from competition.
The WSKF has never been a large organization, nor do they have a huge roster of students. Kasuya and his followers are very loyal to Nakayama however and practice a style that is close to what Nakayama Sensei taught with little changes.

Perhaps the largest split from the Nakahara run JKA group was when the ISKF left the fold. Prior to 2007 Teruyuki Okazaki was one of the most senior Black belts teaching abroad. He was a 9th Dan JKA and had a very strong following in the US and Canada. His organization began to stretch into all regions of the PAN AM area. This split came at a time when the JKA was seeking to shore up its membership and putting in place specific rules to make sure that the organization was strong and each area had one organization to run it, not many. It also hoped to ensure that no one high ranking Karate personality would form sub organizations and undermine their efforts for growth.
Okizaki Sensei had a meeting with his senior instructors and in June he sent a letter of resignation to the JKA along with his most senior instructor Yutaka Yaguchi 7th Dan JKA. As soon as Okizaki announced that the USA had split from the JKA members began to leave the ISKF. Many of the seniors sent resignations to the ISKF and stated they were loyal to the JKA. Senior members like Koyama, Takashina, Mikami and others all stayed with the JKA and began to rebuild the JKA/A.
Okizaki also began to have issues with the Caribbean wing of his organization. As some European groups joined the ISKF and it looked as if the ISKF was going to continue to grow, it also suffered a great loss. Long time loyal student Frank Woon a Tai left the ISKF to form his own organization the IKD. In January of 2011, after a very public and personal disagreement with Okizaki and his other seniors, Frank left with most of the Caribbean, eastern USA and Canadian ISKF groups to form his own organization.

In 2009 Takahashi Sensei of Australia left the JKA to form his own TSKF Australia. The organization was created as a result of some internal issues that Takahashi had with licensing and not wanting to follow the JKA rules. He has since formed a bond and joined the ISKF, however he still apparently runs his organization as he likes as the ISKF is now more “Open door” and from what I gather…he takes full advantage of this and runs his organization as he sees fit.


As you can see, internal troubles…bickering over who has a right to what and licenses, rank and recognition are normally at the forefront of any split. Some people say it all boils down to money. I am not so sure of that. My take is its all power and perception. For instance, when some high ranking instructors leave a group it seems like the first thing they do is get a rank bump and give the same to all their students and supporters. Prime example is Okizaki hitting the glass ceiling level of 9th Dan with the JKA then getting a “student supported” rank bump to 10th Dan, and all his supporters got dragged up several ranks as well.
I am not going to debate if it was warranted or not. Personally if you want to be a 32nd Dan go for it! These men have done so very much for Karate that its not unwarranted for a rank boost in most cases…..but mostly I think its petty and Oshima Sensei has my deepest respect on the issue of Rank at this point!
Now some people just can not get along and other times both sides are fighting for what they think is right. In the case of Asai vs Nakahara, well perhaps it was a personality thing but really, I can see both sides of the coin after a bit of research. Most of the splits happen because one person gets to a point that they have invested so much time and energy into a organization that they feel the split will help them maintain this effort the way they want. And as I suggested before, its often not about money as others suggest.

I hope this points out a history of the splits and does not paint anyone in unduly dark paint. Really I have the utmost respect for all the instructors that have contributed to the JKA style Karate, from those that split before I was born to those that split as recent as last year. I wish that the splits did not happen but to be honest, it has probably improved training today as each instructor is freer to influence styles and training. Don’t think of it as Okizaki Sensei leaving the JKA…think of it as a chance to keep a specific type of Shotokan alive and keep his influence pure, as well as a time for the JKA to shore up the style and ensure that the true JKA style will continue on for a long time to come.

For those that think I was overly harsh to any of these great men and great organizations I say sorry and go back and re-read my blog, Its not that I like one more than the others, I actually hate everyone equally…and like everyone equally. I see the good and the bad in each group and like the place I am at right now. But if I were suddenly out of the JKA and found myself in the KWF,ITKF, SKI or other group….. I am sure I would like the people in that organization as well. After all I am easy to get along with and don’t want to run anything…I just want to be invited to play.

For those that fear I am playing favorites or have not really been around most of these groups, not only do I have a great number of friends in all these groups, I have personally been a member of the ISKF and JKA in the past, independent, trained with SKI members, ITKF members and a huge variety of people from all different groups…and to be honest…they were all very nice and we pretty much all did the same Karate.