Greeting

The History of Succession and Re-establishment of IJKA

IJKA is established by the late Master Asai in around 1989.
For further details, please visit our website.

It is a new type of karate organization that does not restrict the practitioners to only one school of karate, and incorporates waza from various martial arts.
IJKA Shanghai general headquarters (Sohonbu) was established on July 5th, 2004, and its office and the Dojo opened on November 20th, 2005. Below is the record of these events.

November 20th, 2005 International Japan martial arts Karatedo-kai (IJKA) Shanghai Headquarters Office and Dojo Open ? Sponsored by Mr.Tsai Eng-meng of Want Want China.

Firecrackers opened the celebration. Many renowned martial artists joined the ceremony and participated in the Enbu. The audience was awestruck by the karate performance as they watched the world’s top level techniques. A few hundred people applied to join the technical seminar taught by Asai Shuseki Shihan but only those with more than three years karate experience were able to join. About one hundred people received Master Asai’s passionate two-day training.

As dan certificates were being issued rampantly from those without such qualification in China, about 50 karate practitioners gathered to be examined properly by Master Asai to obtain legitimate dan certification. Chen Hunt-sung Sensei who has 43 years of karate experience also the general instructor of the Shanghai headquarters, and Toshiyuki Kidokoro who has 25 years of karate experience, joined Master Asai from Taiwan to carry out the two day stringent dan examination. The students were especially excited as this was the very first official karate dan examination to take place in China, and also because of the lineup of the examiners.

Tetsuhiko Asai Shuseki Shihan Pass on Karatedo Techniques in Shanghai

International Japan martial arts Karatedo-kai (IJKA) opened its Shanghai headquarters on July 5th, 2004. Asai Shihan saw the students of Shanghai University ardently practicing Karatedo in their self-taught styles, which led him to suddenly host a karate seminar at Fudan University in the evening of July 1st. Word of the event quickly spread and the chairman of the Karatedo Association of Shanghai University and their members, and other avid karate practitioners, gathered to get a glimpse of the eminent karate master. At the start of the seminar, Asai Shihan changed into his dogi and surprised the participants, who came in thinking they’d be lucky if they could hear a story or two from him. The amazed participants quickly changed into their own dogi, and those who did not bring theirs scrambled to find one. Many joined the practice in the dojo with their regular clothes. The air was suffocatingly hot in the dojo, but Asai Shihan taught for two full hours to the participants, who all learned passionately and practiced hard the new basic and new kata of karate.

All the participants came to the airport on July 5rd to see off the master, and enjoyed the last moments together. Everyone was happy that they learned more than they could hope for from Asai Shihan, and said the teachings helped them greatly.

Group photo of Asai Shihan, members of International Japan martial arts Karatedo-kai (IJKA) and its Shanghai headquarters, the chairmen of 関雲風会and 関俊年, the chairmen from karatedokai of Fudan University, Shanghai University, Tongji University and other universities, members and the dojo head of Shanghai, instructors and students.

On August 15th 2006, Master Asai passed away. After his funeral, members of IJKA from around the world visited our home, and talked about the future of the organization. Everyone requested that I take over, but it was so soon after Master Asai’s passing and I could not bring myself to do so at the time.

In November 2006, I was invited to Master Asai’s memorial camp in Switzerland, by Mr. Bruno Koller. For many years, Master Asai held a yearly technical seminar and camp, and members such as Mr. Bruno Koller from Switzerland, Mr, Otto Riedinger from Germany, and Mr. Giuseppe Formenton from Italy joined and many others from various countries trained under Master Asai. So that year, the regular karate camp became a memorial camp.
After the camp, we held a meeting and encouraged ourselves to continue to protect Asai karate, and concluded that I would succeed IJKA. However, still psychologically quite damaged by the loss, I could not do much at the time.

Many people continued to visit me from inside and outside of Japan, and with their warm support, by 2008, I was able to slowly start organizing myself.
On March 8th, 2010, I have succeeded IJKA and reestablished the organization. Since then, we have been making decisions as a group as seen below based on Master Asai’s policies, so as to avoid consolidating power to a few individuals.

May 15th, 2010: Global meeting in Switzerland
March 27th, 2011: Meeting at Sohonbu Tetsuhiko Kan in Taipei, Taiwan
August 7th, 2011: Global meeting at Sohonbu Tetsuhiko Kan
February 19th, 2012: Meeting at Sohonbu Tetsuhiko Kan
December 26th, 28th, 2012: Meeting at Sohonbu Tetsuhiko Kan
April 13th, 2013: Meeting at Sohonbu Tetsuhiko Kan
May 5th, 2013: Global meeting in Switzerland
November 17th, 2013: Meeting at Sohonbu Tetsuhiko Kan
March 16th, 2014: Meeting at Sohonbu Tetsuhiko Kan
(See our website for more detail.)


IJKA did not split into two separate groups. IJKA is an unique organization established by the late master Asai that is open to all schools of karate and has incorporated techniques of many different martial arts. For that reason, following the Japanese tradition, IJKA is the Soke. Master Asai is the Kaiso of Soke, and Soshi of Asai karate. The places he taught such as these in England and other areas are Bunke.


After Master Asai’s passing, there became a vacant spot in Europe for teaching the karatekas coming from all over the world wishing to learn Asai Karate. A former assistant of the Master, who we lost contact with for a long time returned, declaring he has 9 dan, and started teaching the karate created by Master Asai. but since I have never been contacted by the organization he is at, I cannot place my judgment on the situation. I am just observing from a distance.


Currently, IJKA has its honbu dojo in Taiwan Taipei Tetsuhiko Kan. Under the guidance of Shuseki Shihan, Chen sensei, along with European head Mr. Bruno Koller, Italian Chief Instructor Giuseppe Formenton, Germany Chief Instructor Otto Riedinger and other international instructors in respective countries, we are training peacefully and committed more than ever to spreading Asai karate around the world.



Soke
International Japan martial arts Karatedokai (IJKA)
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　President Keiko Asai