What Is JKA?
The Japan Karate Association (Nippon Karate Do Kyokai) is an
educational body for the study of Shotokan Karate and provides its members
with worldwide technical standards and certification. Japan Karate Association
was founded by Master Gichin Funakoshi in 1955 in order to preserve and
improve the teaching of Shotokan Karate. The Association was approved as a corporation by the Ministry of Education in 1958. Today JKA is registered
as an non-profit organization with the Japanese Government.
What made JKA different from other karate organizations was the "JKA
Instructor Program" started by the late Master Masatoshi Nakayama. The most promising
JKA students were selected and enrolled in this full time program for at
least a year, with some of them attending the program not only once but several times.
After they finished the Instructor's Program they became ambassadors
of JKA Shotokan karate. They went to Europe, North and
South America, South East Asia, Africa and introduced Shotokan karate to the world.
Some very well known graduates of the program are:
- Motokuni Sugiura (Japan)
- Keinosuke Enoeda (Great Britain)
- Takayuki Mikami (USA)
- Hideo Ochi (Germany)
- Maasaki Ueki (Japan)
- Masahiko Tanaka (Japan)
- Takeshi Oishi (Japan)
- Hiroshi Shirai (Italy)
just to name a few. Because of this program, Shotokan
karate style spread very fast and today is the most practiced karate style in the world.
The JKA headquarters is located in Japan at:
2-23-15 Koraku, Bunkyo ward
Tokyo, Japan 112-0004
TEL: +81-3-5800-3091
FAX: +81-3-5800-3100
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