Richard Kim (November 17, 1917 – November 8, 2001) was an American martial artist. He was an instructor of various disciplines, including

Okinawan Kobudo Okinawan may refer to: * Something of or relating to: ** Okinawa Island ** Okinawa Islands ** Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawan language, an endangered language spoken by the people of Okinawa Island * Okinawan people, a subgroup of the Ryukyuan people ...

and

Shōrinji-ryū (also known as Sakugawa Koshiki Shōrinji-ryū Karatedō) is a form of karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; '' ...

Karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

Early life and career

Kim was born in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

and began studying

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

as a child in the early 1920s, under Kaneko. Around the same time, he also began studying

karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

under Arakaki Ankichi. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, his service in the

United States Merchant Marine United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...

took him to east Asia. He cited many martial artists as his teachers, including Tachibana, Chen Chen Yuan, and Choa Hsu Lai. While in Japan, Kim studied Daito-ryu under Kotaro Yoshida and lived with him for seven years. Kim stated that he had in his possession the Daito-ryu scrolls and had been granted the Daito-ryu menkyo kaiden. Kim also studied and taught Japanese and

Okinawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...

weapon A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...

ry.

Teaching career

In 1959, Kim began teaching

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preser ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. He traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

teaching wherever he went. As well as teaching the physical aspects of the

, Kim taught the

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " ...

, and spiritual aspects. He died on November 8, 2001. Kim wrote a monthly column for ''Karate Illustrated'' magazine, and wrote a number of books including: ''The Weaponless Warriors'', ''The Classical Man'', and an instructional series on weaponry ( Kobudo). There has been some controversy surrounding ''The Weaponless Warriors'', published in 1974, as the bulk of the work appears taken, without acknowledgement, directly from Eizo Shimabukuro's 1963 work ''Old Grandmaster Stories'',Similar controversy and claims of exaggerated or false achievements followed Kim throughout his career. Eizo Shimabukuro (1964) ''Okinawa Karatedo Old Grandmaster Stories'' which was translated into English for the first time in 2003. Kim was named ''Black Belt Magazines "Karate Sensei of the Year", in 1967, and was later inducted into the ''Black Belt Magazine'' Hall of Fame. Kim was the Director of the American Amateur Karate Federation and Vice-President for the International Traditional Karate Federation (ITKF). At his memorial service,

Hidetaka Nishiyama was a prominent Japanese master of Shotokan karate.International T ...

of the ITKF presented Kim with the rank of Judan (10th degree black belt) posthumously. Kim's students continue through a number of organizations: the Kokusai Butokukai is the international organization that Richard Kim started as the Busen Butoku Kai. It is made up of Zen Bei Butoku Kai (founded by Richard Kim in 1959), Butoku Kai Canada, Butoku Kai France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Finland, and Scotland. The Bu Toku Do was founded by Don Warrener, a senior student of Richard Kim. The Zen Bei Butokukai International was also founded by two of Richard Kim's senior students, Brian Ricci and Frank Gaviola.

References

External links

KOKUSAI BUTOKUKAI – Official Homepage

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Richard American male karateka American people of Korean descent 1917 births 2001 deaths