Kancho Bio

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• President and Chief Instructor of Hachi-O-Kai, International Karate Association in Canada, Argentina, Bosnia, China, Columbia, Croatia, Ecuador, Hungary, Israel, Macedonia, Palestine, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, and India.
• President of the Universal Peacekeeping Martial Arts Organization
• General Director of the International Karate Association
• Received "Key to the City" of Cali, Columbia
• Special medal and recognition from the Moscow Police Department in Moscow, Russia
• Hall of Fame: Builder Division of Karate Ontario
• Honourary Member of the Official International Association of Private Security Manpower, and in the North American Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
• Hachi-O-Kai World Budo Federation

This year, Kancho Okuyama delivered seminars in Russia (April), and Poland (May), after which he was presented with a 10th Dan certificate. This elite rank comes to him after an illustrious karate career in which he has taught his art on 5 continents. His “Karate is Harmony of the Universe” approach has given countless Karate-ka the inspiration to pursue Karate-do as a lifetime activity. He has given seminars to military and police personnel and taught all age groups at his dojo.

Emphasis on natural, everyday human movement as well as sources of power (e.g., gravity, weather elements) are key elements of Kancho’s teaching method. All these elements join in harmony when training in Karate-do. Kancho deeply searches the meaning of each Kata’s name which Shotokan Karate Founder, Gichin Funakoshi re-created like “Kankudai”, “Jion”, “Meikyo” and many other Shotokan Katas. Kancho seeks the reason behind each name of the Kata to further develop the spirit of the Kata to teach to future generations.

Kancho pioneered a peacekeeping group of Israeli and Palestinian Karate-ka in Be’er Sheva, Israel, receiving a special award from that city’s mayor. Kancho Okuyama also received the Key from the City of Cali, Columbia.

When a person trains two or three times a week, one's body and spirit benefit.

Training in the form of karate reflects the union with those who trained long ago. Subsequently, the person benefits from the previous karateka training and meditation.

In essence, those in the past help the person who trains in karate now. In the same fashion, the current karateka help prepare those in the future who will start karate training.

Thus, the study of karate-do becomes eternal. In the refinement of karate-do no, the student intensifies the link between the past, present, and future of this ancient martial art.

A person helps someone in the twenty-second century by training now in karate-do.

Karate will intensify in importance to many people. Its spirit and scientific principles will be a great asset in the approaching centuries. I, as a Kancho, will teach those who are not born yet So, in a sense, I subtly teach the unborn. 

by: Kancho T. Okuyama

1. Kime (ultimate focus and movement) foresight, stillness, determination, and manner
2. Turning that which is incomprehensible into comprehensible and turning what is comprehensible into incomprehensible
3. turning unconscious movement into conscious movement, and conscious movement into unconscious movement
4. Turning the intangible into something tangible, and something tangible into the intangible. (Especially the universal power of gravity and the ability to both push aside one's pain and feel another's pain.)
5. Turning that which is invisible into what is visible, and visible into something visible. (Invisible things can refer to the past and the future, while visible things can refer to the present. Kata or any actions are invisible until someone performs them)
6. Turning silence into sound and sound into silence. (Especially being able to hear and be aware of the universal sound: true music.)
7. True reality exists between unreality and reality. (Myo wa kyo jitsu no kan ni ari). It also exists between your inner universe and your outer universe.
8. As life is like the spirit of water, take everything that has happened to you or will happen and turn it into something positive. Believing in life is very important. Like water changing into rain, which makes rivers, lakes, oceans, and many other things, yet it always returns to its pure state.