Before teaching strength, we want to nurture the ability to think.
At Seikukai, we value nurturing “the ability to think for oneself” just as much as acquiring karate technique.
It is not practice that merely repeats the movements you are taught. “How can I strike harder?” “How can I block better?” — holding such questions within, students think for themselves, experiment, and find their own answers.
In Seikukai’s training we actively use an active-learning style of practice, in which partners apply techniques on one another to discover the knack together. We believe that very process is the surest shortcut to developing the ability to think.
Once you can think for yourself, you are no longer passive. You become able to think, devise and act on your own. That becomes a great strength not only in budo but in school, work and your future.
Seikukai aspires to be a dojo that, through karate, develops “the strength to live” alongside physical strength. With that conviction, we will continue to engage sincerely with each individual.
Representative of Seikukai
KOSHO TANAKA
Kosho Tanaka
PROFILE
Inspired by Son Goku from Dragon Ball, he began studying Shito-ryu traditional karate at age 4. At 16 he joined Seikukai and, building on Combat Karate (Jaket MMA), took on a wide range of combat sports — boxing, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu and wrestling. Establishing his own style, he won repeatedly at Combat Karate and kickboxing tournaments and competed in the K-1 Tryout League. Alongside teaching karate, he spent five valuable years as a businessman traveling overseas. He later gained varied experience as a bartender, DJ and designer, and currently also performs as the backing DJ (selector) for the reggae artist NANJAMAN. Overcoming a leadership change and the crisis of the headquarters’ closure, he rebuilt the dojo within a year, and after the COVID-19 pandemic reopened it at a new location. He remains energetically active today.
Titles
- Former K-1 Tryout competitor
- Combat Karate All-Japan Championship — Lightweight Champion
- Combat Karate Open-weight Tournament — 3rd place
Background
- Graduated Kobe Municipal Koyo Elementary School
- Graduated Kawanishi Municipal Midoridai Elementary School
- Graduated Riseisha Junior High School
- Graduated Hyogo Prefectural Kawanishi-Midoridai High School
- Graduated Osaka Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electronics, Information & Communication Engineering
- TOA Engineering
2012: Appointed branch head of the Nissei-Chuo dojo.
2016: Concurrently appointed branch head of the Takarazuka dojo.
2018: Became the third-generation representative of Seikukai.