Kancho Bio









Chief Instructor: Kancho Takemasa Okuyama 10th Dan

  • President and Chief instructor of Hachi-O-Kai, Intenational Karate Association in Canada, Argentina,
    Bosnia, Cehia,
    Columbia, Croatia, Ecuador, Hungary, Israel, Macedonia, Palestine, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Yugoslavia and in India.
  • President of the Universal Peacekeeping Martial Arts Organization
  • General Director of the International Karate Association
  • Received "Key to the City" of Cali, Columbia
  • Special medal and recognition from the Moscow Police Deparment in Moscow, Russia
  • Hall of Fame: Builder Division of Karate Ontario
  • Honourary Member of the Official International Association of Private Security Manpower, and in the North American Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
  • Hachi-O-Kai World Budo Federation







**SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT**   

From: Hanshi Nick Florian

Chairman, Hachi-O-Kai World Budo Federation


Congratulations to Kancho Takemasa Okuyama, who has been awarded the rank of 10th Dan

 by the following organizations, worldwide:

European Budo Association

President: Tomasz Piotrkowicz, 8th Dan                              

Headquarters: Warsaw, Poland

 

Global Martial Arts Association

President: Ziko G. Becanovic, 9th Dan

Headquarters: Vienna, Austria

 

Russian Academy of Karate-Do Shotokan

President: Dr. Nikolai Nemchinov, 8th Dan

Headquarters: Moscow, Russia

WUKKO World Uechi Ryu Karate-Do

President: Gustavo Gondra, 9th Dan

Headquarters: Buenos Aires, Argentina

International Kapap Association

Israeli Karate Association

President: Moshe H Galisko, 8th Dan

Headquarters: Be'er Sheva, Israel

 

This year, Kancho Okuyama delivered seminars in Russia (April), and Poland (May), after which he was presented a 10th Dan certificate. This elite rank comes to him after an illustrious karate career in which he has taught his art on 5 continents. His “Karate is Harmony of the Universe” approach has given countless Karate-ka the inspiration to pursue Karate-do as a lifetime activity. He has given seminars to military and police personnel, and taught all age groups at his dojo.


Emphasis on natural, everyday human movement as well as sources of power (e.g., gravity, weather elements) are key elements of Kancho’s teaching method. All these elements join in harmony when training Karate-do. Kancho deeply searches the meaning of each Kata’s name of which Shotokan Karate Founder, Gichin Funakoshi re-created like “Kankudai”, “Jion”, “Meikyo” and the many other Shotokan Katas. Kancho seeks the reason behind each name of the Kata to further develop the spirit of the Kata to teach for future generations.


Kancho pioneered a peacekeeping group of Israeli and Palestinian Karate-ka in Be’er Sheva, Israel, receiving a special award from that city’s mayor. Kancho Okuyama also received the Key from the City of Cali, Columbia.




ABOUT Master Kancho T. Okuyama 10th Dan

Master Okuyama received the Key to the City of Cali, Columbia from Mayor Ricardo Cobo, for his efforts in t
he movement for peace, and has received special awards from the City of Be'er Sheva, Israel from Mayor Kakuv for peace work between Israel and Palestine.

The martial art journey of a true karate master lasts for a lifetime. Takemasa Okuyama is an example of someone who has risen to the top of his discipline by a never-ending desire to train and expand his knowledge about his chosen art. It has taken him to five continents as a teacher and tournament official, and he is now recognized internationally for his karate instruction.

Kancho (director or Principal) started training in sumo and judo as a seven year old, with his father
Takemi and brother Takao, who was captain of the Nippon University Nojui Gakubu judo team. Young Takemasa Okuyama trained hard and was eventually made captain of the Hachijo High School judo team. His introduction to karate came when he was 13, through a karateka from Okinawa named Mr. Kinjo.

Okuyama entered Takushoku University in April, 1960 and studied political science and received a degree in foreign trading. At the same time, he studied Karate under Senseis (Teachers) Tabata, Hamanaka, Ozawa, and Tsuyama. This university has produced some of the finest karateka and instructors in the world, and Takemasa Okuyama took advantage of his opportunity to learn. Okuyama came to Canada in 1969 and organized the IKA Canadian chapter under Soke Kubota.
 


KARATE-DO TRAINING: The 8 Most Important Aspects of Karate-Do
by: Kancho T. Okuyama
  1. Kime (ultimate focus and movement) foresight, stillness, determination and manner
  2. Turning that which is incomprehensible into comprehensible and turning what is comprehensible into incomprehensible
  3. turning unconscious movement into conscious movement, and conscious movement into unconscious movement
  4. Turning the intangible into something tangible and something tangible into intangible. (Especially the universal power of gravity and the ability to both push aside one's pain  and feel other's pain.)
  5. Turning that which is invisible into what is visible and visible into something visible. (Invisible things can refer to the past and the future while visible things can refer to the present. Kata or any actions , are invisible until someone performs them)
  6. Turning silence into sound and sound into silence. (Especially being able to hear and be aware of the universal sound: true music.)
  7. True reality exists between unreality and reality. (Myo wa kyo jitsu no kan ni ari). It also exsts between your inner universe and your outer universe.
  8. As life is like the spirit of water, take everything that has happened to you or will happen and turn it into something positive. Believing in life is very important. Like water changing into rain, which makes rivers, lakes, oceans and many other things, yet it always returns to it's pure state.

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