Seigokan (正剛館) is the Goju-Ryu Karate-do organization founded in 1945 by Seigo Tada (1922-1997)

Hanshi The Japanese language makes use of a system of honorific speech, called , which includes honorific suffixes and prefixes when referring to others in a conversation. Suffixes are often gender-specific at the end of names, while prefixes are att ...

(8th Dan). With its Hombu Dojo (headquarters) in

Himeji 260px, Himeji City Hall is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 525,682 in 227,099 households and a population density of 980 persons per km². The total area of the city is ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, the ''Seigokan All Japan Karate-do Association'' (SAJKA) — its official name — has branches in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), India, Italy, the Philippines, Portugal, Sri Lanka, the United States, England, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia and Venezuela. Master Seigo Tada was a pupil of Chojun Miyagi and the head of the

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

Club at Ritsumeikan University. In the 1960s, Seigokan was considered the most important Goju-Ryu Association (Kai-Ha) in

, with more than 200,000 members. Seigokan includes two unique kata created by Seigo Tada — Kihon-Tsuki-no kata and Kihon-Uke-no kata — in addition to the traditional Goju-ryu kata Sanchin, Tensho, Gekisai Dai Ichi, Gekisai Dai Ni, Saifa, Seienchin, Seipai, Shisochin, Sanseru, Seisan, Kururunfa and Suparinpei. The Seigokan curriculum also includes Yakusoku

Kumite Kumite ( ja, 組手, literally "grappling hands") is one of the three main sections of karate training, along with kata and kihon. Kumite is the part of karate in which a person trains against an adversary. Kumite can be used to develop a partic ...

(set sparring techniques) in the variants 1 to 7 of Zenkutsu and 1 to 7 of Shikodachi, as well as seven Torite (grappling and striking techniques). Today, SAJKA is directed by Sandaime Kancho — or Soke Seigo Tada III — who succeeded Mrs. Okamoto Michiko (Seigo Tada II), the widow of Seigo Tada Hanshi. The most well-known Seigokan member is Ms.

Atsuko Wakai is a Japanese practitioner of karate who has won many international and Japanese national competitions in ''kata'' (patterns), including unprecedented numbers of consecutive titles in World Karate Federation (WKF) and All Japan Karatedo champio ...

, four-time WKF Women's Kata World Champion. Two senior members of Seigokan took important roles in continental and world karate affairs. The late Jose Martins Achiam 7th Dan (1944-2008) was an Executive Committee Member of

World Karate Federation The World Karate Federation (WKF) is the largest international governing body of sport karate with 198 member countries. It was formed in 1990, is the only karate organization recognised by the International Olympic Committee and has more than te ...

(WKF) and Secretary General of Asian Karatedo Federation (AKF). Bill K.S. Mok (7th Dan) was an Executive Committee Member of World Karate Federation 2004-2010 and Secretary General of Asian Karatedo Federation 2008-2010. The European Seigokan Chief Instructor is José Manuel Guerreiro Santana (7th Dan), twice World Seigokan Kumite Champion in 1998 and 2004, from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Seigokan. The Italian Seigokan Chief Instructor is Shihan Francesco Cuzzocrea (6th Dan), from

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popul ...

(

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

) The Indonesian Seigokan Chief Instructor is Shihan Dody Rochadi (6th Dan), from

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

(

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

References

- "'
Yoki´s Karate Errantry in America
''" by Yukiaki Yoki (2001); ''Betty D.Greenberg Edition'' - "'
História da Seigokan em Portugal
''" by Eduardo Cunha Lopes (2015); 340 pages (Portuguese) - "Seigokan Golden Book" by JKS; ''Limited Edition of Japan Karatedo Seigokan (Out of Print)'' - "Karate-Do Seigokan em Macau" by Regional Government of Macao (1991); ''(Reprint in press)''

External links

{{Portal, Japan
Japan Seigokan Honbu DojoEngland SeigokanAustralia SeigokanBrazil SeigokanBrazil SeigokaiHong Kong SeigokanIndia SeigokanPortugal SeigokanSri Lanka SeigokanUSA SF Chinatown SeigokanUSA Seigokan / Seigokan SF BayItalian Seigokan Dojo
1945 establishments in Japan Karate organizations Gōjū-ryū