An interviewed article by
JKFan Vol.15 2004 Tokyo Japan
Edited & translated by SSU-USA

Shukokai was founded by Soke Chojiro Tani in 1951. "Shukokai" means to master various things through interaction. Due to the death of Soke Tani in 1998, the reconstruction of Shukokai started. By a vote at the Shukokai general meeting in June 28th 1998, Shito-ryu Shukokai Karate Do Union was formed under the new president Mr. Haruyoshi Yamada, JKF Certified Hanshi 8th Dan, Shito-ryu Shukokai Karate Do Union world chief instructor 9th Dan. Mr. Yamada has clearly stated his mission that he would strive to promote a traditional karate do as budo and karate do in the world.
By adopting a self-government style for the organization, he hopes to build a strong structure in the organization in order to contribute to the future of karate do and spread Shukokai karate do worldwide. In 2003, European Championships were held in Vienna, Austria. Shukokai World Cup will be held every five years at Amagasaki. This event will be held on July 18th 2004.

"The secret therein lies in the basics," "There are no shortcuts for improvement." - Haruyoshi Yamada, the president of shito-ryu Shukokai Karate Do Union who discovered karate do when he was 16, uses these words as a motto and a lesson for himself. Just like a traveler who is constantly walking along a path called karate do, he is a gentleman who is respected and loved by everybody. We will focus on his personality and find the secret of his charisma.

It is not possible to be too humble.
President Yamada, you have always said how important the basics can be and everything starts from here. Most people describe you as humble, without regard to the importance of what you have done.

Do they? I haven't got anything to be too proud of besides this (laugh). People may think I am a willy-nilly person (laugh), but I always remind my students the importance of the basics. This is all there is to karate do. It may sound obsolete and old fashion; however, one could always find new things from here.
I put "The secret therein lies in the basics," "There are no shortcuts for improvement." as one of our dojo creeds. What this really means is that nothing can be made in a single day whether it is to improve your skills or to receive public recognition toward karate do.

I started karate intensively after I moved into Amagasaki from Akita. By hosting many karate tournaments, people gradually understood what we are doing. We supported and worked with public and the administration or community events as much as we possibly could. Even those small efforts would come back to you, like having many positive supporters, the successive Amagasaki mayors for example. One loses nothing by being very humble (laugh). A road seems to be formed, whether it is a mountain road or an unpaved gravel road, when people start walking back and forth to commute. This is exactly what we are doing.

Shukokai produces referees
I heard that there are many SSU instructors who are acquiring certified referee's licenses, such as official A-class referee's licenses when compared to other organizations.

I have suggested to all SSU instructors that they take the referee's licenses as much as they can, such as JKF supreme referee, which is top of the list. It has been an issue whether karate could be one of the official Olympics for a long time. Judging from the current trend, it is likely to be happened in the near future. When this happens, it would be difficult to produce many competitors who have met the international standard without having the referees who have a good knowledge of rules and their guidance. In this respect, I put the referee's training on the top of our priority list. Because the competitions rules are frequently changing, one has to be flexible to cope with new rules, even one who has received a referee's certification. Therefore, we are always having many seminars and referee's classes at the honbu dojo or the other dojos to maintain our skills.

Unlike other athletic pursuits, karate still seems to have some issues of concern such as its rules. Each ryu-ha (styles or sects) establishes its own rules and manners and those rules have not yet become uniform.

Yes, indeed. Baseball or soccer has no ryu-ha, and there are little differences between professional rules and high school ones, for example. This may be one of the reasons why they are widely spread; they have developed so much in terms of their technical side and are producing many potential players who are able to perform in the international arena. When it comes to karate, however, it seems that it has just started consideration of uniform rules. Since such problems still remain to be worked out, what we really need at the moment is to train referees who are familiar with JKF rules. This would provide a criteria or standard for karate and would also provide referees who are able to make definite and fair judgments.

As being one of the organizations' proponents, what is your stance for the Shitei-kata (appointed kata)?

One should not confine the players within the limit of certain guidance by following only our own style or theories. Rather, I would propose that we give the students the best opportunity to learn the basic skills to make them feel confident and willing to go for the games. Since we practice Shito-ryu, there are some differences from the JKF Shitei-katas. Even so, there is no point arguing those differences, we need to work with an understanding of the differences and should still give the best guidance to the students that we can. As long as one still has in mind the importance of going back to the basics, the students could always be reassured of the quality of those techniques and skills taught at our dojos, couldn't they?

Apply an Element of Budo to Karate do

What do you think about karate do as budo?
Karate do has two different aspects - a traditional sense of budo and an athletic aspect, which is likely to be the most recognized aspect to the world. Though I don't see any problems at all that karate has evolved to become an athletic sport, however when it comes to an element of budo, there is the issue of the method of training and the concept of courtesy. One should be very careful when one applies both elements to karate.

I regard courtesy as one of the important concept of budo, therefore, I expect that the instructors especially referees should understand this importance and act definitely and dauntlessly. At the JKF championships in 2003, I saw many younger players at the competitions who seemed to have not been taught even a minimal leve of courtesy; who couldn't even greet properly. I believe that may others besides me came away the impression that the referees should strictly educate and instruct those young people. This could be happening when those colleges' and high schools' karate programs emphasize competitiveness above all else so they haven't been taught manners and courtesy well enough at their dojos since they would regard them as less important. On the other hand, the people at the companies' clubs or masters' clubs show more respect and know how to behave appropriately.
The older one gets, the deeper one feels the physical difficulties both in strengths and speed, and this may be a time to think about one's skills. While one is young and full of energies, one tends to depend on their strengths and put the technical side after that. However, when one matures, then one starts thinking about going back to the basic elements learned in the beginning of training. In the respect, I am so attracted to karate-do as budo.
 

The basics for which would make one to be back to dojo again.

There is saying "A lifetime budo," which means how one would execute karate for one's whole life. The key word to success in this big theme sounds like the basics, doesn't it?
Yes, it does. From the athletic point of view, the instructors must stop and think whether the advanced techniques are necessary for younger children. I would like to teach them the basics that will bring them back to karate as they grow up. I would rather let them have experiences in various sports while they were young than restrict their physical training and not be so concerned with advanced techniques. I thinks it would be a good way to developing physically. For those children who have started karate in their early age, but want to play baseball or soccer at middle school that is acceptable.

When they grow up if they would like to come back to karate, I would like to know that since I have taught them the basics, this will make them want to come back again. By the time those children who received their black belt, I would let them graduate from karate at that point. It may sound extreme, though I think it would not be such a bad idea. After having seen the students at the colleges or high schools' karate clubs, I have an impression that if one has experienced other sports and if one has enough stamina to endured the various physical trainings, it may make one stand out among crowd even without karate experiences. I presume that many of competitors who compete in JKF championships would be this type of the students.

There are certainly many cases where students who were training in karate while they were in school, however they finished karate after they graduated from school.
There are only a few people who would go back to dojo and teach karate to ko-hai (junior students). Considering the number of karate students in the population in this country including small children, can you imagine what it would be like if those people continue to train through out their lifetime? We would have a huge athletic population, more than any other sports, wouldn't we? I am sure that it is not only me who have though about that. It seems that the number of members of JKF are growing every year, however, it is still a small number compare to other athletic sports. It is our responsibility to give the best environment so that the people who train will continue to practice throughout their lifetime.