Okinawa tournament held in 1977 ??

[Daniel Kogan]

I’m trying to find any details about an Okinawa tournament held in 1977. I came across a reference to a tournament which in English was referred to as “Okinawa Karate World Tournament”. As a school we tend not to participate in tournaments so I have little knowledge of what tournaments were taking place on Okinawa at the time. I am aware of the 1995 and 1997 tournaments that used a similar name, and I imagine that there must have been tournaments on some of the US bases in 1977 (perhaps Kinser, Kadena or Foster) but I doubt they would have claimed to be “World Tournament”. I also assume there were some Uechi-ryu tournaments as well 1977 as they have been much more active in competitive karate than other schools on Okinawa, but from what I gathered from the reference to this “Okinawa Karate World Tournament” it included Shorin schools in Kumite and Kobudo divisions.

Any leads would be helpful,
Thanks

[wsteigner]

Hi Kogan Sensei; Akamine Eisuki Sensei Ryukyu Kobudo was awarded a Living Legend award at this tournament and a member of your Shinjinbukan
Devorah Dometrich may have still been on Okinawan at that time maybe she can shed some light on this tournament since she was a long time student of his. I Know that Uechi ryu open their annual tournament to all Ryu-Ha but that was in 78, and Kise held a big tournament in Koza but it also was 78.
Please post what you find.
thank you
bill steigner
Jinbukai

[wsteigner]

Hi Kogan Sensei; Akamine Eisuki Sensei Ryukyu Kobudo was awarded a Living Legend award at this tournament and a member of your Shinjinbukan
Devorah Dometrich may have still been on Okinawan at that time maybe she can shed some light on this tournament since she was a long time student of his. I Know that Uechi ryu open their annual tournament to all Ryu-Ha but that was in 78, and Kise held a big tournament in Koza but it also was 78.
Please post what you find.
thank you
bill steigner
Jinbukai

Sorry i think the 77 tournament may have been a misprint on the web site that list Akamine sensei getting this award. His bio does not list this award
but does list a 97 award for that world tournament. I found a few site with
77 but they may be just copying each other. Sorry for the bad lead.
thank you
bill steigner
Jinbukai

[Daniel Kogan]

Hello Mr. Steigner,

Thank you very much for the lead, I did find the quote you mentioned,

“In 1977, Akamine received a Living Legend award at the Okinawan World Tournament and a Special Appreciation Award form the Zen Nihon Karate Renmei.”

I suspect that Akamine sensei would have been too young (by Okinawan standards) to get a living legend award in 1977, as he would only have been 52. (Although I might be completely wrong on this one)

The good news is we should be able to resolve whether it is a typo or not rather quickly as Doug Daulton (our forum moderator) happens to be the author of the article quoted.

Doug, any chance you might be able to shed some light on this. Is the date 1977 or was Akamine sensei’s award actually in 1997, in which case I’m still looking to find somebody that can help me either prove or disprove the existence of a 1977 “Okinawa Karate World Tournament”.

Thanks,
Dan

[Blackwood]

I'll see if I can find anything out from my Hanshi, but it will be a while. The one connection on the web that Google brings up to the tournament is Yoshihiko Shinzato, the Chief instructor of the Shinjinbukan Shorin Ryu Karate of Florida, who is a member of the Okinawa Shorin Ryu Karate Association. Miyahira is the president of this organization and my teacher's teacher's teacher.