Shotokan Karate of America

Martial Arts Magazine

Shotokan Karate of America - Headquarters Grand Opening

In August, over 1000 practitioners of Shotokan Karate of America will travel from over 12 countries to Carpenteria, California to celebrate the grand opening of the SKA headquarters.

The multimillion dollar facility, which evolved over 40 years of vision, will include the Ohshima Shotokan Dojo, which was designed as a contemporary modern Japanese dojo. The facility also includes the home of Mr. Ohshima, the SKA Shihan.

International Shotokan stylists, under Tsutomu Ohshima. from France, Switzerland, Spain, Israel, Curacao, Canada, Morocco, Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong, and the USA will converge on California for the headquarter grand opening.

Godan Testing - In conjunction with this even, numerous selected International SKA participants will test for Godan (5th degree) rank.

Tournament - Additionally, there will be an international SKA tournament held in the temple at 815 E.First Street in LA.on Saturday, August 19 at 4 PM. Selected fighters from the different countries will be represented in the 32-fighter tournament.

Mr. Ono, an internationally recognized Japanese karate masater will travel from Japan to be the head referee for the tournament fights.

Tsutomu Ohshima is the founder and Shihan of Shotokan Karate of America (SKA). Mr. Ohshima trained directly under the the Shotokan style founder, from whom he received his godan (fifth degree blackbelt) rank.

Mr. Ohshima innovated the modern day tournaments judging system He left Japan in 1955 to continue his studies at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where, in January 1956, he led his first U.S. practice. The first university karate club in the United States was founded by Mr. Ohshima, at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA, in 1957.