Lowfields Shukokai Karate Club

Chojiro Tani began teaching the Karate style Shukokai (meaning the way for all) at a dojo in Kobe, Japan in 1946. Shukokai was designed around the study of body mechanics, is very fast due to its relatively high stance aiding mobility, and is known for the double hip twist, which maximizes the force of its strikes; making it one of the hardest-hitting Karate styles.

Tani's most senior student, Sensei Shigeru Kimura, left Japan in 1965 to teach Shukokai in Africa. He developed Shukokai even further, emphasizing its power and strength; and was regarded as an expert on the style. He continued to teach after travelling to Europe, before settling in the United States in 1970 at the age of 29, where he taught at Yonezuka's Cranford dojo for two years; creating the first Shukokai World Tournament in 1981. When he was 37 years old, he was the youngest ever to have held the 7th Dan with an acknowledged style. Sensei Kimura died of a heart attack at the age of 54. Tani died on 11 January 1998.