Keigo Abe
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Keigo Abe (October 28, 1938) is one of the best known and most respected living Shotokan karate instructors.
Former JKA senior instructor Keigo Abe 8-dan formed the Japan Shotokan Karate Association [JSKA] in Japan on the 10 February 1999 by after retiring from the JKA. It is one of the fastest growing Shotokan associations in the world. Most recent estimates state that JSKA has a world wide membership of over 750,000 students in more than 70 countries internationally.
Abe was born in the town of Iyoshi in Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. When he was 15 years old (1953) he began his Karate training at his middle schools Karate club, it was then that he was taught by an Okinawan Sensei from Toyama Sensei’s lineage of Shito Ryu Karate-Do. At the age of 18 (1956) he was accepted into the famous engineering program at Nihon University in Tokyo. He moved from his small town to the big city and began his college education. In 1958 he began training at the JKA Honbu Dojo with a young and very powerful sensei named Masatoshi Nakayama who was to become his teacher and grandmaster. During his time as a student of Master Nakayama, Abe sensei was told by him that he (Master Nakayama) was taught not only by Master Gichin Funakoshi but also by Yoshitaka Funakoshi his son. A situation which is reflected in the JSKA teachings and represented by the use of the wide footed stance.
Abe Sensei is also accomplished in the tournament arena. He took 3rd place in the first JKA National Championships. He was the captain of the Japanese team at the second World Championships in Paris, France. Sensei Abe won 1st place at the JKA international Friendship Tournament in 1973, and took 1st place in the second and third JKF National Championships as a representative of Tokyo. A highly rated and dangerously competent JKA fighter in his younger days, he was also responsible for devising the original rules for Ippon Shobu competition in a manner which preserved Budo through the concept ‘killing with one perfect, decisive blow’. Abe Sensei is a karate-ka who appreciates and embraces Shotokan’s Okinawaan roots, which is reflected in his understanding and performance of kata
Abe sensei became an instructor at the JKA in 1965 after training in the hombu for 7 years and in 1985; he became director of Qualification and from 1990 Technical Director of the JKA (Matsuno section), a position he held for nine years until retiring from the JKA on 31 January 1999. Sensei Abe is quoted as saying “I feel that Karate nowadays is centered only on winning competitions and that everybody trains towards this end. This is far from the truth. I believe that the true purpose of Karate lies in daily training with a goal to develop a strong mind and body and furthermore to contribute to society in general”. He came to establish the JSKA to realise what he himself sees as the true Karate purpose. The JSKA Karate philosophy is: 1. Learn Self-defense as a martial art; 2. Improve technique as a sport; 3. Enjoy karate as a means for developing a healthy body and mind.
As head of a worldwide organisation, he is represented in the United Kingdom by the Japan Shotokan Karate Association-Great Britain[1] headed by Charles Gidley 7th Dan JSKA and George Carruthers 7th Dan JSKA.
Only three westerners currently hold 7th Dans directly from Abe Sensei and the JSKA. These are: JSKA European Technical Director; Dieter Flindt from Germany, JSKA-GB Technical Director; Charles Gidley and JSKA-GB Chairman; George Carruthers. The JSKA however is also further represented by such senior western karate notables as Hans Muller 6th Dan JSKA (Switzerland), Soon Pretorius 6th Dan JSKA (South Africa)and Richard Amos 6th Dan JSKA (USA)as well as a host of other instructors worldwide.
