6th Asia Pacific Goju-Kai Karate-do Championships and Seminar - 2016

Dear Asia and Oceana Bloc IKGA Members,

I hope you are all doing well. The 6th Asia Pacific Goju-Kai Karate-do Championships and Seminar 2015 held in Jakarta, Indonesia from November 26th to December 1st has completed and was a great success. The members from IKGA Indonesia worked very hard in organizing and preparing for this event and made tremendous efforts to resolve any issues quickly. There were 16 participating countries and while most were able to send both competitors and officials, there were some countries that could only send officials. The participating countries were as follows:

Name	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Australia	5	4	21
Bangladesh	0	0	3
Brunei Darussalam	0	0	0
Chinese Taipei	8	4	12
Hong Kong	2	4	4
India	0	0	0
Indonesia	29	34	56
Iran	15	20	24
Japan	15	8	6
Macau	0	0	0
Malaysia	0	0	0
Nepal	0	0	1
Philippines	6	6	7
Singapore	2	1	3
Sri Lanka	0	1	3
Thailand	9	4	5

I would like to thank the participating countries for attending and for helping to make this event a success. The level of the competitors was quite high and I was happy to see that by the end of the competition the participating countries had strengthened their bonds of friendship.

I would also like to thank those who participated in the seminar after the tournament. We had about 100 members in attendance and were able to have a good training session together. Next year in 2016, we will have the official Asian Bloc Seminar and Grading in Malaysia. I would like to ask all of you for your support at that event.

Before the Championship and Seminar, we also had a meeting of the IKGA Asia and Oceana Bloc Congress. At this meeting there were several new official appointments announced. Gohei Yamaguchi Shihan (Japan) was appointed as Asia Bloc Director, Hideki Wakasugi Shihan (Japan/Brunei) was appointed as Asia Bloc Vice Director, and Kazuhiko Nobukane Shihan (Cambodia/Thailand) was appointed as Asia Bloc Coordinator.

At this meeting we also presented the revised IKGA Rules and Regulations. For those who were not in attendance, a copy of this will be sent to you. I am very happy that there was a positive response to these new revisions and I eagerly await the agreement of the members of the Asia and Oceana Blocs. I would like to ask for all of your help in further developing the Asia and Oceana Blocs.

Finally, it has been decided that the 7th Asia Pacific Goju-Kai Karate-do Championships and Seminar 2019 will be held in the Philippines. I would like to once again ask for your help and support at that event.

Best Regards,

Goshi Yamaguchi
I.K.G.A. President

IKGA South America - 40th Anniversary Seminar

IKGA South American Bloc - 40th Anniversary Seminar in Cali, Colombia

In 2015 IKGA South America commemorates their 40th anniversary as a Bloc in IKGA. To celebrate, members from IKGA Colombia hosted a South American Bloc seminar in Cali, Colombia from September 7th - September 11th. Instruction was led by Saiko Shihan Goshi Yamaguchi, Hideki Wakasugi Shihan from Japan, and the senior instructors of the South American Bloc.

Delegates from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay participated, with Venezuela regretfully unable to attend due to problems in the country. Colombia was fortunate to welcome honoured guests from the North American Bloc as members from Canada were also able to attend.

The seminar for all members took place over the course of 4 days beginning with a welcome party. The general seminar ran from September 7 - 10, and was then followed by a special class in the Colombian Hombu on September 11th for all Shihans.

Some highlights of the time in Cali included celebrating IKGA Chile's Shibucho, Kyoshi Carlos Gonzalez's birthday one day after training, as well as a Congress of the South American Bloc, where Donna Gardecki Shihan of Canada presented information about the upcoming IKGA World Championships to be held in Canada in 2017.

Most notably, the President of the South American Bloc, Gonzalo Ramirez-Ortiz Shihan was promoted to Hachidan (8th Dan), Kyoshi. He was also appointed as a Vice-President of IKGA. Both advancements represent a fantastic achievement.

To wrap up the week, everything concluded with a farewell party.

Please enjoy some photos from this historical event.

Promotion Announcement - Gonzalo Ramirez Ortiz

IKGA and JKGA President Goshi Yamaguchi recently returned from Cali, Colombia where he attended the South American Seminar held between September 4th to 15th 2015. It was a great success and Saiko Shihan was happy to share training with all of the members who were able to attend.

Saiko Shihan is happy to announce that at the seminar, Gonzalo Ramirez Ortiz Shihan was promoted to the rank of Hachidan - Kyoshi (8th Dan). Ramirez Kyoshi has served as the Director of the South American Bloc since 2001, and as the Shibucho for Uruguay for many years. He has worked tirelessly to promote Gojukai Karatedo with the help and cooperation of the other South American country directors.

Further, Saiko Shihan has discussed with the Vice-Presidents of IKGA, and they have all agreed that Gonzalo Ramirez Ortiz Shihan will become a Vice-President for IKGA. Over the coming days this website will be updated to reflect Ramirez Shihan's promotion and appointment.

Congratulations on your promotion and appointment as Vice-President Ramirez Shihan! It is certainly well deserved, and a testament to all your work as a leader in IKGA. We look forward to working with you to promote IKGA Karatedo. 

8th IKGA Europe Championships and 30th European Seminar

On 14th July, 2015 the 8th IKGA European Championships were held in England at Potters Resort on the beautiful English Norfolk coast. This was followed by the 30th IKGA European Training Seminar forthe rest of the week.

The event was honoured by the presence of Saiko Shihan Goshi Yamaguchi and his son Gohei Yamaguchi Shihan and Ingo De Jong Hanshi.

At the opening of the Seminar ceremony a presentation of Europe's first two women Shihan, Nicole Van Den Dries (Netherlands) and Doris Berger (Switzerland) was made. Other Shihan awards went to Vlastislav Mika (Czech Rep) and Szabó János (Hungary).

The championships were organised by Shihan Mark Adams and were attended by 174 competitors from 11 countries: England, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland. There were 16 categories of kata competition, including team kata and bunkai and 19 categories of kumite competition, including team kumite.

Saiko Shihan Goshi Yamaguchi asked that the competitors demonstrate their high-level techniques and excellent sportsmanship and Hanshi Shihan Ingo de Jong asked all competitors to demonstrate the correctattitude to competition: winning and losing should not be as important as enjoying karate and using your experiences to improve. The competitors took these important messages and all enjoyed the competition.

The final results were as follows: There are two tables, the first on accumulated medals the second on Gold positions.

Club	Competitor Count	Golds	Silvers	Bronzes	Points
England	49	9	14	23	78
Hungary	22	11	5	7	50
Sweden	35	6	6	8	38
Italy	14	7	5	6	37
Switzerland	20	1	6	7	22
Netherlands	18	3	1	10	21
Belgium	2	0	0	3	3
Slovakia	1	0	0	1	1
Romania	4	0	0	1	1
Norway	7	0	0	1	1
Czech Rep.	2	0	0	0	0

Club	Golds	Silvers	Bronzes	Total Medals
Hungary	11	5	7	23
England	9	14	23	46
Italy	7	5	6	18
Sweden	6	6	8	20
Netherlands	3	1	10	14
Switzerland	1	6	7	14
Belgium	0	0	3	3
Slovakia	0	0	1	1
Romania	0	0	1	1
Norway	0	0	1	1
Czech Rep.	0	0	0	0

The competition was followed by the 30th European Training Seminar, organised by Shihan Tony Childs, with expert tuition provided by Saiko Shihan and the European Shihans. During the training seminar,students were graded to Dan grade levels. Of particular note were Shihan Ghulum Mughal who achieved his 7th Dan and Shihan Tony Childs, who achieved his 6th Dan and Mark Purcell who achieved his 5^th Dan.

Thanks go to Shihans Tony Childs and Mark Adams for their organisation, to IKGA Europe and the organising committee for their support, and to the staff of Potters for providing a world-class venue for the championships and training seminar.

Members from IKGA Nepal lend a hand

 In April 2015 a devastating earthquake struck Nepal. There were many casualties and many more injured. Hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless as entire villages were flattened. Members from IKGA Nepal were quick to respond, working alongside their fellow Nepalese to bring aid and assist with relief efforts in devastated areas. More photos can be seen in the media gallery.

IKGA Hombu and Saiko Shihan were very concerned for the safety and well-being of the people of Nepal. It was very encouraging and inspiring to see IKGA members move quickly to help where needed. Saiko Shihan wanted to make some effort to help bring some aid and stability to the people of Nepal. At the upcoming JKGA National Championships this summer donations will be collected to be sent to help with relief efforts.

Saiko Shihan would like to ask all IKGA member branches to consider ways that they might be able to help. Please think of ways that donations may be collected and forwarded to the various aid groups already at work in Nepal. Any contributions are most welcome and very much appreciated. 

The members of IKGA Nepal have inspired us in their contribution of time, energy and resources when it was most needed. It's important to build on their efforts and to add whatever we can to support the people of Nepal.

Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu!