Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Peter Lee (talk | contribs) at 20:21, 27 July 2005 (rv to last version by Peter Lee. Mario Roering is using false IP to cover for his slander and edits. Edits now re-corrected.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

(Continued from the main article about Genseiryu)

World Genseiryu Karatedo Federation

Until his death, Seiken Shukumine, as the founder of Genseiryu Karate and Taido, is by the W.G.K.F. (founded in 2003) considered the head of his own styles. However, since 1962 he was mainly occupied with Taido and was no longer involved with Genseiryu, apart from some occasional lessons in Taido to convince the participants into switching to Taido. Sensei Shukumine held a friendly relationship with his former students of Genseiryu - some considered to be masters of Genseiryu - who continued the lineage. The W.G.K.F. claim, that Seiken Shukumine appointed a Head Instructor for the World Genseiryu Karatedo Federation, even though this federation was established in 2003 nearly 2 years after Seiken Shukumine's passing in November 2001. The first one being sensei Yamada, later followed by sensei Saito. Today the Head Instructor of the W.G.K.F. is sensei Yasunori Kanai. Nowadays all the W.G.K.F. clubs in the world honour sensei Shukumine in their own way by following his first book 'Shin Karate-do Kyohan'. Sensei Yasunori Kanai is the President of the World Genseiryu Karatedo Federation (W.G.K.F.). The Japan Karate-do and Martial Arts Association, of which sensei Kanai is President as well, also takes a part in this federation.

The World Genseiryu Karatedo Federation has its office in Ito, Japan, the place where sensei Shukumine lived for many years and where he is now buried. The Japanese branch of the W.G.K.F., the Japanese Karate-do and Martial Arts Association is also situated in that office in Ito. Sensei Kanai is also President of the Japanese Karate-do and Martial Arts Association that has its headquarter also in Ito. The Japanese Karate-do and Martial Arts Association is a member of Nippon Karatedo Rengoukai, and since Nippon Karatedo Rengoukai is a member of the Japan Karatedo Federation (JKF) (), I, Mario Roering consider the Japanese Karate-do and Martial Arts Association to be a member as well.

In 2003, many Karate instructors from all over the world came to Spain for a meeting held by the World Genseiryu Karatedo Federation. At this meeting they all signed an agreement where they state a.o. that they will follow Sensei Shukumine's book "Shin Karate-do Kyohan" as a guideline to train what is considered by the W.G.K.F. to be the original Genseiryu. Especially the basic kata Ten-i, Chi-i and Jin-i no kata are considered by the W.G.K.F. to be important kata because they prepare the karateka for the kata Sansai. Some instructors choose to train Heians (basic kata from Shotokan) as well, but they did not reject any of the kata in the book. So they still train Ten-Chi-Jin as it is sometimes abbreviated. It is free to mention and free to train kata from other styles in our Genseiryu organisation, but we, will never change things as mentioned in this book. In the book "Taido Gairon" sensei Shukumine wrote a note about his first book, saying that people studying Genseiryu would find important information in that book. According to public policy of the W.G.K.F., any school that rejects techniques or kata from this book (Shin Karatedo Kyohan) is not doing Genseiryu. The agreement of accepted branches can be read here.

History of Genseiryu (additional to the article Genseiryu)

In 1962 Sensei Seiken Shukumine introduced a new martial art which he called Taido. It is a further development of Genseiryu and is not to be regarded as Karate, but as a new martial art. From that point on, Sensei Shukumine was mainly involved with Taido and most of his pupils started to train Taido as well. However, Taido people have always kept a friendly relationship with Genseiryu people and sensei Shukumine was occasionally involved with introducing Taido to his former students of Genseiryu. However, since October 1961 he never appointed nor held any examinations in Genseiryu, neither Japanese nor otherwise.

In 1964 he published his book "Shin Karatedo Kyohan", which is considered by the W.G.K.F. to be the first book ever on Genseiryu Karate. In this book he describes the techniques, which are being taught in the W.G.K.F. In the book he also describes some of the kata very thoroughly, together with pictures. The most important kata of Genseiryu according to the W.G.K.F. are the basic kata Ten-I, Chi-I and Jin-i-no Kata and the kata Sansai and Tai-i. Sensei Shukumine pointed out the importance of these kata in an open letter he wrote not long before he died (letter in Japanese). However, this is among many considered to be a false document not written by Shukumine sensei himself. The original document in Japanese has never been produced.

In the mid 1970s Sensei Shukumine wrote another book about Karate: "The Karate training by complete drawing", which is a much lesser known book. It contains over 200 pages, where he describes some karate techniques but he also describes the differences between Karate and Judo, Karate and Aikido, Karate and Taido, etc.

External links

• W.G.K.F. Japan (玄制流空手道) (Original W.G.K.F. site, only in Japanese but worth a visit for the nice pictures: click links below left and middle!)
• World Genseiryu Karate-do Federation Netherlands
• Private site of Mario Roering (World Genseiryu Karate-do Federation, Netherland)