| What
is the Japan Shotokan Karate Association?
I started my karate organization, Japan Shotokan Karate Association on 10th February 1999. It is, of course, based on one of the shotokan styles in Japan but also includes "Abe style" within it. Let me introduce you to the years preceding this.
During my active Karateka years, I took 3rd place in the first JKA National Championships and participated in the 2nd World Championships in Paris, as captain of the Japanese team. I won first place in the JKA International Friendship Tournament in 1973, and first place in the 2nd and 3rd JKF National Championships as representative of Tokyo. I have always thought that competition was one form of practice of Budo and was useful for improving techniques. I feel however that Karate nowadays is centered only on winning competitions and that everybody trains torwards this end. This is far from the truth. I believe that the true purpose of Karate lies in daily training and the goal is to develop a strong mind and body through this training, and furthermore to contribute to society in General. I came to establish the JSKA to realise this true karate purpose. The JSKA Karate philosophy 1. Learn self-defense as a martial art I hope that Karateka who understand these philosophies will join us. September 2001 Keigo Abe History of JSKA South Africa.
The meaning of karate-do has been lost in the modern era and we have formed this organization to help bring back this philosophy. We accept the sporting side of karate-do, but we emphasize that karate-do is an art of educating the mind and body, and is an art of self defence. Our five maxims state this; character, sincerity, etiquette, self control and effort. This we believe in as it is a way of life in any thing we do. This organization is affiliated to the JSKA International under Shihan Keigo Abe. We also support the World Karate Federation, which is the only world karate body recognised by the International Olympic Committee. We base our principles and training techniques on the JKA system under the Late Shihan Nakayama with some changes and additions to keep our organization with the modern times. All our instructors have qualified grading certification from the JKA, KWF, JKS, SKI, TKI and Shotokan Academy respectively. Our rules and regulations are strictly enforced and maintained. We believe that the affiliated members of our organization comes first and not the senior instructors like in other organizations throughout the world. Our motto is to give the best disciplined and family atmosphere training in South Africa. Our organization is run by a group of Technical Directors, headed by Sensei Michael Kliment and an Executive Committee, headed by Mr. Paul Kliment. We believe in our members and thus look out for everyone of our affiliated members. Karate, not politics comes first in the Japan Shotokan Karate Association in South Africa."
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I
started Karate and Judo training at 15 years old. When
I was 4th dan I entered the Japan Karate Association in 1958 where I met Sensei Masatoshi Nakayama who became my grand master, along with many other
sensei. Sensei Nakayama told me that he was taught not only by Sensei Gichin Funakoshi but also by Yoshitaka Funakoshi his son. So my style of karate has a lot of influence from Sensei Yoshitaka too. The wide foot stances presently used and low stances reflect this. After
I became an instructor at the JKA in 1965 and belonged to the instructors section at the
JKA. In 1985, I became Director of Qualification and from 1990 Technical Director of the
JKA Matsuno section, from which I retired on 31 January 1999.
"The
Japan Shotokan Karate Association of South Africa was founded by Sensei
Michael Kliment, Sensei Sicello Apleni and Mr. Paul Kliment in January
2002 under the auspices of Shihan Keigo Abe in Japan. The organization was
formed because of the different struggles in the different style
organizations within South Africa. We felt that traditional karate was not
adhered to and to much emphasis was placed on politics. Our organization
was developed to help the karate practicing members feel that they are
part of a Japanese heritage style that works as a family. Karate comes
first and the members must be educated in this way to follow the true
ways of karate-do.
