Stan Schmidt 1936 –“The South African Tiger of Shotokan”Schmidt originally from South Africa began training in karate in the late 1950’s. Like many of that era, he was introduced to karate through ju …

Sogen Sakiyama Roshi 1921“Zen Monk - Karate Master”Sogen Sakiyama is now a Zen Priest and one of the highest in all of Japan. Roshi as he is affectionately called is one of the few still alive th …

Osamu Ozawa 1925 – 1998“A Leader Who Commanded not Dictated”He was brought up in accordance with the ancient traditions of the samurai as these were his forefathers. Osamu Ozawa was forced to endure …

Peter Urban 1934 – 2004“America’s First Tenth Dan”Peter George Urban was an American martial artist. He is considered the father of the Karate styles American Gōjū-ryū and U.S.A. Gōjū-ryū. Urban was …

Gichin Funakoshi founded Japanese ShotokanKarate-Do, perhaps the most widely known style of karate, and he is referred to as the "father of modern day Japanese karate". He also trained i …