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Declaration

We declare and assert, as a resolution of the global meeting, that Master Asai Tetsuhiko is the Soshi of the International Japan martial arts Karatedokai (IJKA) as well as of Asai Karate, and that the Not-for-Profit Organization, the International Japan martial arts Karatedokai (IJKA) certified by the Japanese cabinet, is the Soke of Asai Karate.

Master Asai is the Kaiso of IJKA, as he founded the organization, and Master Asai is the Soshi of IJKA as he created new karate waza and kata.

From here on, in accordance with the Japanese traditional system, we define Master Asai as Kaiso and Soshi , IJKA as Soke (the original family), and other IJKA organizations as Bunke (the branch family).
In the case of an event, Soke will contact Bunke, and those who support will come together for the students of Master Asai to train alongside with each other. If requested, a Bunke certification will be issued.

For those who practice karate under the same name of IJKA and learned from the same Master Asai to develop a friendly relationship is to act in accordance with Master Asai’s belief that “those who are learners of Budo should work together and improve through inspiring each other.”

For that reason, our organization will be comprised of as follows:

Soke: IJKA
Kaiso (founder), the Soshi (original master), and the original Shuseki Shihan: Tetsuhiko Asai
Original President of IJKA: Keiko Asai
Nidaime (2nd generation) Shuseki Shihan: Chen Hunt-sung
Nidaime (2nd generation) Head of Technical Office: Chen Hsin-koei
Nidaime (2nd generation) Global instructor: BRUNO KALLER
Toshiyuki Kidokoro
Formenton Giuseppe
Wang Ju-yu
Chou, Chih-Wen
Riedinger Otto
Nidaime (2nd generation) Taiwan Honbu Dojo Global Section Chief: Lin Mau-tsun


President: Keiko Asai

Philosophy

International Japan martial arts Karate dokai is a new karate method, developed by the late Master Asai, based on his unique philosophy, introduced below.

  1. The core of Karate

    2. Its core must be Budo, martial art. However, after the tournaments method was adopted it is losing the Budo aspect from karate. The current trend is leading to more sports karate. Master Asai believed there must be another karate that retains the original core of martial arts.

  2. Physical aspect of karate training:

    3. He found many practitioners suffered leg joints and hip problems from karate training.

    1. He developed a training method that would not harm the practitioners' body
    2. He developed the warm up and down exercises with breathing method that would relax the muscles so that the practitioners can train karate throughout their life without injuring themselves.
  3. Techniques of karate:
    1. Introduced the new techniques that were not found in the traditional karate such as tenshin (body spins), jumps, whip techniques and others.
    2. Improve karate by adopting the different techniques from other martial arts.
    3. Promoted broad and deep waza and the spirit of karatedo, which is open to all styles or schools of karate.
    4. Non political organization that is open to any styles in order to create comprehensive karate.
    5. Create kata that are appropriate for the practitioners of all styles so they can practice karate together and improve their karate.
  4. Mental aspect:

    5. Asai Karate’s emphasis on personhood is mainly from bushi philosophy.

    Master Asai saw many practitioners were focusing only on the prowess, higher dan ranks, and authority seeking. He was very disturbed about this unfortunate trend and he put the improvement of one's character is the most important in karate training. He added "Improvement of character" before "Perfection of character" in Dojo kun. To place most importance in one’s mindset - that is the essence of martial art and karate.

    To the practitioners who claimed they were better or stronger karateka, Master Asai said stay weaker but continue training. He left with us the saying that “the weak appears strong and the strong appears weak” as well as “the big courage is not courage.” (Translator’s note: these sayings mean that the truly strong person is not arrogant to boast the strength, and thus appears weak.)

    Master Asai's desire was to have global friendship and peace.
    Therefore, Asai karate means learn from the past but always develop new. Based on the improvement of the spiritual (mental) aspect, our Karate is a comprehensive and rich in vision that includes;

    • martial arts karate
    • excellent physical exercises
    • life time karate for all ages and both sexes
    • including social welfare (see below)
  5. Wheel chair karate

    6. For the details of wheel chair karate please refer to the explanation on our website.

    As a conclusion, I.J.K.A. (International Japan martial arts Karate dokai) is an unique karate family where the practitioners of Asai ryu gather to train martial arts karate harmoneously and to preserve the wishes of late Master Asai as described above.
    This organization stands for what Master Asai searched, improvement of character. Therefore, if you are only seeking the dan ranks or authority this organization is not suitable for you. We welcome only the practitioners who agree to the philosophy and theory of Asai karate. We welcome not only the practitioners around the world who had experienced Asai karate but also anyone even if they have never met Master Asai before if they agree and accept those concepts.

IJKA Rules

  1. IJKA is to establish an Administrational Office and Technical Office.
  2. The Technical Office is formed by:
    1. The Instructor Committee
    2. The Dan Examination Committee
    3. The Tournament Judge Committee
  3. The Technical Office is to overlook matters associated with the techniques of Karate.
  4. The Administrational Office is to overlook financial and administrational matters.
  5. Tournaments are organized by the Technical Office, which works in cooperation with the Administrational Office and obtains feedbacks from branch offices when finalizing decisions.
  6. The Administrational Office and the Technical Office are responsible for disseminating the Karate spirit of Master Tetsihiko Asai.
  7. Technical seminars, dan examination and other certification tests are operated as follow:
    1. Seminars and examinations are held in conjunction with karate tournaments.
    2. Member countries invite a certified IJKA instructor or dan examiner to their own dojos to hold technical seminars or certification tests. Cost information is provided separately.
  8. IJKA does not assign a specific organization as the sole representative of a country.
  9. Any individual or a group wishing to join IJKA may contact Japan headquarters directly without contacting the country head.
  10. Please read the IJKA Policy before applying for a membership. Once you agree with the Policy, please proceed to the application.
    1. Complete “Branch certification application form” using Microsoft Office Word, and send the document to Secretariat as an attachment via email. (Apply for the individual membership at the same time.)
    2. Along with the application form, please send the karate history of the instructor in charge of the applicant organization and a copy of his/her dan certificate.
    3. Read the transaction information and make payment for the evaluation fee of non-refundable JPY3000.
    4. IJKA headquarters will approve/disapprove the application with the opinion from the evaluation committee. Once you receive the letter of admission from IJKA evaluation committee, please proceed to make the payment for the annual membership.
    5. Once the payment is confirmed, the registration process begins.
  11. Members are not to bring personal conflicts into the organization.
  12. Country heads are to provide support and care for neighboring dojos and are to not abuse their authorities.
  13. Country heads are appointed for two years and appointments are renewable.
  14. In case of events held under the name of IJKA hosted by IJKA Member Country, the Member is to send a written report along with either photos or a video footage to the Japan headquarters.
  15. Members must not display dan levels certified by other organizations at events held under the name of IJKA.
  16. IJKA Member Country is to keep contact (via email) every three months.
  17. The branch certification issued after the payment of annual membership certifies the organization as an IJKA branch. It does not grant the branch the authority to conduct dan examination or anything that requires specific certification.
  18. In any circumstances, payments made to IJKA, such as annual membership, is in principle non-refundable once the transaction is complete.
  19. If membership fees remain unpaid for 6 months following initializing, it is considered a withdrawal and membership will be terminated.
  20. Membership may be terminated upon the decision made by Administration if a member: Displays unfriendly or uncooperative attitude; Violates the policies stated in this section and or; Takes any action that may damage the name of, or, interfere or disrupt the objectives of the Organization.
  • These policies are subject to change based on the decisions made by the President, Shuseki Shihan, Head of Technical Office, Head of Administrational Office and administrative members.

The Technical Office Rules

  1. The Technical Office is formed by:
    1. The Instructor Committee
    2. The Dan Examination Committee
    3. The Tournament Judge Committee
  2. Instructor Committee is comprised of members who possess 4th dan or higher and an instructor certificate.
  3. Members who possess 3rd dan or higher and an instructor certificate may choose to become Instructor Committee Assistant Member.

Dan Examination

  1. For 1st - 3rd dan examination, there must be at least 2 instructors for the examination.
  2. For 4th dan and above, there must be at least 3 instructors for the examination, including either the Chief Instructor or the Head of Technical Office.
  3. The 3 focus points that are judged during the exam are:
    1. Person's character (displays diligent effort to improve character based on Dojokun)
    2. Training behavior (attendance, trains hard at the dojo)
    3. Karate technique
  4. We will not accept any dan certification issued by organizations that do not have relations to the late Master Asai.
  5. Those who possess dan certification issued by an organization not affiliated with the late Master Asai, or mastered multiple forms of martial art but wish to obtain a dan from IJKA, fulfill the requirements for each level as described on our website, and are permitted for trial from Shodan.
  6. For dan certifications issued by organizations that had relations to the late Master Asai, either the chief instructor or the head of Technical Office will evaluate the karate skills of the applicant, either in person or by a video footage showing the performance.
    1. If mistakes were found in the performance, the applicant is able to practice under the guidance of either the chief instructor or the head of Technical Office until the performance meets dan’s requirements.
    2. The applicant is able to seek advice from the masters up to three times, with an advisory fee of JPY 3,000 each time.
    3. Evaluation by video is limited to the evaluation of transferability of the dan already obtained from outside groups. (There is no dan certification test by video.)
  7. Those who are certified, they are now permitted to transfer their dan to the IJKA system.


Secretariat Policy

  1. Secretariat is to manage and look after the overall operation of IJKA.


Council(Established in order to deal with violations)

Chair：Keiko Asai
Vice Chair：Chen Hunt-sung
Members：Chen Hsin-koei
BRUNO KALLER
Toshiyuki Kidokoro
Formenton Giuseppe
Wang Ju-yu
Chou, Chih-Wen
Riedinger Otto
Lin Mau-tsun　
Ji Bang -Yen　
Lin Chyuan-jeng　

The difference between Karate and Bujutsu Karate

Recently, in the world of karate, it seems that the bigger the organization the more power it has, and therefore the more trustworthy. This leads to success as a business, and income becomes abundant. This then becomes the driving force for trying to gain more and more memberships.
In the world of bujutsu, what matters is the personhood. Especially in Japan, bujutsu has formed its shape based on the spirit of bushido.
For that reason, waza is not taught to an individual until his/her personhood has been assessed. This is not to be stingy. There is an old teaching in bujutsu circle that says:
“Do not teach bujyutu to those who harbor bad personhood for it is as to give a sword to a madman.”
This is why it is the norm to have only a few pupils.
We, IJKA, are a bujutsu karatedo-kai, and we too, put the most emphasis on the person’s character. We are vigilant in maintaining a place of karate training for those who love karate.