Karate Sankukai East Midlands

Yoshinao Nanbu was born in 1942 and comes from a long line of Japanese warriors. Most of his ancestors were Samurai and his great grandfather was a Ninja. His father was a Master of Judo, In 1963 Mr Nanbu won the all Japan University Karate Renmei and that year he was also awarded the the gold medal for the best fighter in Japan by Mr Ohma. He went onto win two more times.

An Okinawan called Mr Kenwa Mabuni moved to Japan to teach his style which was called Shito-Ryu which was developed from the styles of Sanchin and Ni-Huan-chi. Mr Tani was one of his students. Mr Tani later developed Shukokai. Yoshinao Nanbu was a student of Mr Tani in and in 1964 was sent to Europe to introduce the style of Shukokai. By 1969/70 Mr Nanbu wanted more than just good fighters he wanted his students to be good knowledgeable all round Budo-ka. He developed a style that would be dynamic and fast, using the minimum of movement while escaping with a moving block and counter.