Who brought karate to Britain?

In 1956 Vernon Bell came home from Paris. ^1,19,25 He was a judo instructor, and he had been training at Henri Plée's Yoseikan dojo, where karate was taught. ^1,19,25 He began teaching what he had learned in Ilford, in Essex, and his group became the British Karate Federation. ^1,19,25 He is often called the father of British karate. ²⁵

Sending for teachers

Bell brought in teachers from abroad. ¹ In 1957 he invited Hoang Nam, from Vietnam. ¹ In July 1959 Tetsuji Murakami arrived, the first Japanese karate instructor to teach in England; he later re-emerged as a 5th Dan in Shotokai under Mitsusuke Harada. ¹ That year a Liverpool branch was set up by Frederick Gille, with Andy Sherry among its early members, and in 1961 Edward Ainsworth started a group in Ayrshire, Scotland. ¹

The masters arrive, 1963 to 1968

Then, in five years, every major style found its way here, and each came with a person.

Mitsusuke Harada, 1963. Harada, who lived from 1928 to 2021, had trained directly under Funakoshi from 1945, and in 1956 Funakoshi gave him 5th Dan. ²⁴ He taught in Brazil before Europe, and in November 1963, invited by Kenshiro Abbe, he taught a course at Abbe's dojo in London and demonstrated at the National Judo Championships. ²⁴ He founded Karate-do Shotokai in 1965, lived in Britain for the rest of his life, was made an MBE in 2007, and died in Cwmbran in 2021. ^24,82 He kept the 5th Dan Funakoshi had given him and never sought a higher grade, and in his Karate-do Shotokai 5th Dan is still the highest grade awarded. ^24,82

Tatsuo Suzuki, Wado-ryu. Suzuki, who lived from 1928 to 2011, had studied directly under Otsuka from 1945 to 1956, and spread Wado-ryu in Britain and Europe from a base in London. ^22,68 He founded the Wado International Karate-Do Federation, and Jon Wicks succeeded him as its chief instructor. ^5,22,68

21 April 1965. The JKA team of Kase, Kanazawa, Enoeda and Shirai gave a demonstration at Kensington Town Hall in London. ^1,20 Kanazawa and Enoeda stayed. ^1,20

Steve Arneil, 1965. Arneil, who lived from 1934 to 2021 and was born in South Africa, had trained with Oyama in Tokyo from 1961. ²³ On 22 May 1965 he became the first person after Oyama to complete the 100 man kumite. ²³ At Oyama's request he moved to London that year, and with Bob Boulton founded British Karate Kyokushinkai, with its first full time dojo in Stratford, east London. ²³ Another account tells it the other way round, with Oyama sending Boulton and Arneil joining him. ⁸

1967 or 1968. The Shukokai Karate Union says Chojiro Tani and Shigeru Kimura brought Shukokai to England in 1968, and the Union itself followed in 1969. ⁷⁹ The British Sankukai Karate Association says Yoshinao Nanbu, who would found Sankukai, introduced Shukokai to Britain in 1967, after a first visit in 1965. ⁸⁴

After Bell

In 1966 former members of Bell's federation founded the Karate Union of Great Britain, with Kanazawa as chief instructor. ^1,18,21,62 From 1968 Enoeda led it, and he kept leading it until he died in 2003. ⁶² After that the KUGB left the JKA, Andy Sherry, the early member from Liverpool, became chief instructor, and JKA England was formed as a separate body, with Ohta Sensei, sensei meaning teacher, as its chief instructor since 2003. ^1,17,18,65 The KUGB belongs to the World Shotokan Karate-do Association, a different body from Kase and Shirai's Academy; Kanazawa's own world body is SKIF. ^18,21

In 1975 Great Britain won the men's team title at the World Championships, beating Japan in the final, with Arneil as team manager and coach. ^1,23,98 In 1979 Morio Higaonna founded the International Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate-do Federation in Poole, Dorset. ^29,71 In 1980 Eddie Daniels founded the Shukokai Karate Federation, the UK body for Kimura Shukokai. ⁸⁰

In 1991 a group led by Steve Cattle left the KUGB to form the English Shotokan Academy, following the budo approach of Taiji Kase, and the same year Arneil led the BKK out of Oyama's organisation to form the International Federation of Karate. ^1,8,23 This century Britain has produced four WKF senior world champions: Leon Walters, Rory Daniels, Paul Newby and Jordan Thomas. ¹⁹

In your club

Karate in the UK is run by many independent associations, each with its own grades, syllabus and insurance; for the Olympic route there is one body, the British Karate Federation, with four home nation members: the English Karate National Governing Body, Karate Scotland, Karate Wales and the Northern Ireland Karate Board. ^60,95 Sport England lists no recognised governing body for karate in England, which is the normal situation here, not a warning sign about any club. ⁹⁵ The governing bodies page sets that out.

What a beginner meets on the first night is the oldest part of the story. The bow, rei, and the kneeling position, seiza, frame every class. ^40,73 The sensei at the front carries a line of teaching that runs back through someone in this chapter. ⁴⁴

The uniform and the belts are Kano's, borrowed by Funakoshi in 1924; the first five kata are Itosu's; sparring with control came from Otsuka's generation. ^1,4,14,30 Higaonna's ship, Funakoshi's sign, Bell's hall in Ilford and a leisure centre tonight are one story.