Master Teruyuki Okazaki on Friday declared that he was impressed with the standard of karate in Guyana as the karatekas prepare for next year’s Pan-American championships to be held here.
Okazaki, a direct student of Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of modern karate, made the disclosure after a grading session at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Friday.
Okazaki said that he was impressed with the standard that he has seen of the students of the Young Men’s Christian’s Association (YMCA)-based dojo.
He feels that the future of karate in Guyana is in capable hands with the “juniors” displaying their knowledge of the traditional art form with relative efficiency.
“They (students) have been wonderful and I was very pleased especially our junior people; the future will be very good”, Okazaki explained. The 78-year-old Okazaki, who has been practicing karate since he was 16 years old and is a 10th Dan black belt, noted that he was looking for the execution of technique. He stated that while in many cases karate is used in the movies to make a profit, it was refreshing to see that it was still being practiced in the traditional form in Guyana. He explained that most of the traditional martial artists are different and therefore the governing bodies for martial arts have been maintaining the traditional standards. He added that the dojo Kun was a testament for one standard around the world for all karatekas.
When Stabroek Sport enquired about the split of the Japan Karate Association to form the International Shoto Khan Federation (ISKF) Okazaki elaborated that despite the split both organizations are still guided by the same principles. However, he noted that the organizational structure that initially caused the rift needs to be more democratic; Master Frank Woon-A-Tai had earlier stated that the rift was more of a political nature.
“Organisation wise it must be democratic not a dictatorship and we (ISKF) do not want that way,” he reported.
He said affiliate countries still believe in the traditional teachings of Funakoshi, the founding member of karate, which means clean hands.
Meanwhile, when Woon-A-Tai was asked about the grading exercise of the YMCA students, he said the standard was good but he had a problem with the discipline of the students. He, however said that the chief instructors of the dojos, including Fifth Dan black belt Jeffrey Wong of the Guyana Karate College will be working to improve this area by the next grading session.
Questioned whether the discipline could be attributed to the attitude of the instructors at the dojos he diplomatically said that he needs to see the discipline from everyone- instructors and students alike.
Woon-A-Tai, who is the highest ranked sensei in Guyana, said that he will be meeting with instructors before he departs Guyana tomorrow and he will be stressing on improving of discipline at the dojos.
