JKA England (JKAE) is the official Japan Karate Association (JKA) organisation for Shotokan karate in England and Wales.
Japan Karate Association England (“JKAE”) is a non profit making association based in England and Wales and is associated with the Japan Karate Association (“JKA”) in Japan, one of the most prestigious, oldest and largest Shotokan Karate organisations in the world.
Under the guidance of the Chief Instructor, Sensei Yoshinobu Ohta (8th Dan), and together with the Executive and Technical Committees, they provide the administrative and practical direction to JKA England.
Every year JKAE holds spring and autumn courses, inviting instructors from the JKA honbu dojo (headquarters) to teach.
History JKAE was officially formed in 2003 with Sensei Yoshinobu Ohta as Chief instructor. Following the death of Keinosuke Enoeda (Sensei Ohta was Master Enoeda’s assistant from 1983 to 2003), the KUGB withdrew from the JKA with Andy Sherry as their chief instructor. The division had a strong geographic correlation: most northern clubs chose KUGB and most southern clubs chose JKAE.
Instructors
The JKAE Chief instructor is Yoshinobu Ohta, ranked at 8th Dan. He is a graduate of Takushoku University and attended the JKA instructors' classes at the JKA honbu dojo in Tokyo. Ohta was the assistant of Enoeda for 20 years since 1982.
Technical committee members are Gary Stewart, 7th Dan; Adel Ismail, 6th Dan; and Giuseppe D’Onofrio, 6th Dan.
Competition JKAE hosts two tournaments every year. The JKAE National Championships and the JKAE Open Championships. In 2022 the Open Championships had more than 400 competitors from 8 countries. From 2004 to 2008 this was held at Guildford Spectrum sports centre. From 2009 this has been held at the K2 Crawley sports centre.
The kumite competition ruleset used is shobu ippon (one point match).
International course history Date Guest InstructorsDecember 2022Hirayama Yuko, Igarashi TatsuroMay 2022Imamura Tomio, Shimizu Ryosuke, Kazuhiro Sawada (JKA Belgium)November 2019Tomio Imamura, Kazuaki KuriharaMay 2019Yasunori Ogura, Sergio Gneo (JKA Belgium), Kazuhiro Sawada (JKA Belgium), Yutaro OganeDecember 2018Tomio Imamura, Yasuo HanzakiMay 2018Takenori Imura, Kazuhiro Sawada (JKA Belgium), Kunio Kobayashi, Mai ShiinaDecember 2017Yoshiharu Osaka, Daisuke UedaMay 2017Yasunori Ogura, Yuji Hashiguchi, Koji ChubachiSeptember 2016Yoshiharu Osaka, Tomio ImamuraMay 2016Minoru Kawawada, Yuko Hirayama, Keisuke NemotoSeptember 2015Takenori Imura, Kazuhiro Sawada (JKA Belgium)May 2015Tomio Imamura, Fujikiyo Omura (JKA Thailand), Mai ShiinaSeptember 2014Katsutoshi Shiina, Kazuhiro Sawada (JKA Belgium)May 2014Yoshiharu Osaka, Koichiro Okuma, Yasuaki Nagatomo (JKA New Mexico)September 2013Masaaki Ueki, Kazuhiro Sawada (JKA Belgium), Ryosuke ShimizuMay 2013Yoshiharu Osaka, Osamu Aoki (JKA Spain), Yasuo Hanzaki, Satoshi TakahashiSeptember 2012Yasunori Ogura, Kazuhiro Sawada (JKA Belgium)May 2012Katsunori Tsuyama, Yoshiharu Osaka, Yuko Hirayama August 2011Tomio Imamura, Seizo IzumiyaMay 2011Masahiko Tanaka, Yoshiharu Osaka, Kazuhiro Sawada (JKA Belgium)September 2010Masaaki Ueki, Minoru Kawawada, Tomio ImamuraMay 2010Masataka Mori (USA), Yoshiharu Osaka, Tatsuya Naka August 2009Masaaki Ueki, Takuya TaniyamaMay 2009Yoshiharu Osaka, Kazuhiro Sawada (JKA Belgium), Yasunori Ogura August 2008 Masaaki Ueki, Kenro Kurasako May 2008 Yoshiharu Osaka, Fujikiyo Omura (JKA Thailand), Nakata August 2007 Masaaki Ueki, Tomio Imamura May 2007 Masahiko Tanaka, Kazuaki Kurihara April 2006 Yoshiharu Osaka, Kunio Kobayashi, Osamu Aoki (JKA Spain) May 2005 Hideo Tomita, Kazuhiro Sawada (JKA Belgium), Yoshiharu Osaka, Takahashi August 2004 Masaaki Ueki, Tomio Imamura
References