NEWSLETTER FROM KENJI MIDORI
WKo Newsletter August 2008
Dear Branch Chiefs and
Contacts
As always, I would like to
start my greeting by thanking you all for your hard work for our organization.
It is always nice to hear from you and to see how active our organization is.
There are a lot of summer
camps held in different countries this month. I have already joined several
overseas summer camps. I always feel great to do some training under the sun,
wearing our white Dogi. During the training, you can feel such a joy over the
great treasure we have in common, “Karate”. It does not matter what nationality
or culture you have.
Speaking of the summer
camp, I visited Norway for the first time this year. The Norwegian organization
became a member of our organization last year and I was invited their camp in
June. The Norwegian Students were really fond of Karate, filled with energy and
tied together like a family. I would like to inform you that we made the
correct decision about welcoming them!
Here in Japan, we had the annual So-Honbu Summer camp in July. Many students attended the camp and we had a fantastic time together. It was especially nice to see many children listening carefully to their teachers. Though the communications between people are often done by computers, mobile phones and so on, lately, I believe that face-to-face exchange is still important. Karate gives us something more precious than a digital society. People of all ages can enjoy Karate and we build up communication among the different generations.
The Karate Dream Cup is
getting closer. As well as the Japanese competitors, there will be 30 overseas
competitors from 3 different countries in this tournament. As you all already
know, there will be 41 different categories from children to seniors and we will
have around 1000 participants altogether. It is a great Dream Festival for all
generations. I believe that everybody who is training Karate has their own
dream which they want to realize and I hope that this tournament will contribute
their dream come true.
If we look at the world, we
are facing different kinds of trouble; raise in oil price, the environmental
problems such as global warming, earthquakes and so on. Not only natural
disasters but also various crimes are increased which is very worrying. I hope
that at least we keep on sticking to our Kyokushin way and try becoming a leader
for a better world.
Let’s continue
working hard for “our” organization.
Osu!
Kenji Midori,
WKO President
NEWSLETTER JULY
Dear Branch Chiefs,
I¡Çd like to start my greeting by thanking you all for your hard work with our
organization. It is already July, and half of this year has passed. Here in
Japan, the rainy season is about to end, and then we¡Çll have the summer coming.
For us the summer means camps and seminars, and also this year, the So-Honbu
Summer camp will of course be held in July, and we look forward to have a lot of
students attending this camp.
As we informed you in last month¡Çs Newsletter, this coming August, the Karate
Dream Cup will be held in Tokyo. This tournament is a tournament for all
generations, and there will be 40 divisions with 976 competitors. This year,
there will be 31 overseas competitors from four different countries
participating. I think it is great that these people have decided to come all
the way to Japan to participate in this tournament. Thank you very much for your
participation. Our intention is to make this Karate Dream Cup to an
international tournament, and to have children from all over the world
participating in this event. I hope that we will have more competitors coming
from your dojos next year!
Not only in Japan, but there are summer camps coming up in many countries
throughout the world. I myself will attend camps in Norway and Greece. I
apologize so much for not being able to attend all camps which I¡Çve received
invitations to. But I will for sure enjoy the camps that I will attend, I will
enjoy to train with you all. Once again, I strongly feel the greatness of the
treasure that Oyama Sosai left with us. Thanks to Kyokushin Karate, we are given
the opportunity to meet with people from all over the world, and I am very proud
of this.
There will also be many students coming to Japan this summer to train Karate. I
admire the enthusiasm of those people and we are proud to receive them here in
Japan. We will do our best to give these students the chance to a good training
and hope that they will return to their countries with many good memories of
Japan.
Unfortunately, these days we are facing many natural disasters throughout the
world, and we can also see an increase of criminal acts, especially horrible
crimes such as indiscriminate killing. When looking at the world today, I
strongly feel that more than ever, there is a strong need for Budo. And we who
are practicing Budo today, should continue our Way, training our body and spirit
to become stronger. In order to help those who are in need of help, you must be
strong yourself. At the same time, we should do our best to show people the
greatness of Karate and Budo, I¡Çm sure that by our efforts, we will make a
great contribution to Society.
Once again, I thank you for your continuously hard work!
OSU
Kenji Midori
President
WKO
NEWSLETTER JUNE
First, I’d like to send my prayers to all the many
victims of the big earthquake in Chine, this May.
I also wish from my heart that those who are still waiting to be rescued will be
found and taken care of. The pictures we can see through media here are so
tragic, and especially to watch small children cry is so hard. Please keep on
sending your prayers to the victims and the area, with the kiai from your daily
training.
I also would like to thank you all for you constant hard work for the WKO. Here
in Japan we will soon enter the Rainy Season. Due to the rain, we spend quite a
lot of time inside, but that gives you a chance to stop a while and think about
one thing and another, so maybe this is quite a good season.
Here in Japan, the first selection to the 4th Karate World Cup was made at the
All Japan Weight Division Tournament, which was held a couple of weeks ago. At
this tournament, we could see many young fighters coming up, showing their skill
and power, I look forward to see them in battle with the World’s top fighters at
the World Cup next year.
Further, I’ve just come back from Europe, watching the European Championship.
The level of the fighters was very high, which is of course not strange, top
fighters like Donatas , Valery, and Veronica are all brought up in this area. We
could also see interesting fights from the Juniors, which makes the future of
the WKO look bright and full with hope.
The coming summer, I will visit several countries, and I’m looking forward very
much forward to it, to meet with everyone, and see the training, activities, and
the level of Karate.
Last year, I felt like although we are working for the growth of Karate-Do in
the World, something were missing, something very important. And I know that I
need to confirm with each one of you that Karate is not a Sport, Karate is Budo.
Karate-Do starts and ends with a good etiquette. The place where you practice
this is the Dojo. A Dojo is a place of respect and gratefulness. A Karate-Ka
should always respect his/hers Sensei, he/she should be grateful to his/hers
Karate friends, and he/she must never forget modesty, and when necessary he/she
should be brave and strong and act like a Samurai.
If we place this in a tournament, it means that competitors must always obey the
referees and judges. Both fighters will use all their skill and power on the
fighting mat. Since it is a competition, the referees will decide the winner,
and whatever happens, you must never forget to show respect for your opponent.
If any of you have students that would raise both his hands, and jump up and
down to show his/hers happiness for the victory, then I really want you to teach
these students about what true Budo is. This is the same for the audience
watching the tournament. It makes me very angry to hear bad manners and loud
shouting from the audience. Of course they are not Karate-Ka always, they are
normal people, and maybe it is difficult to control it, but if you have students
that behave badly as a part of the audience, this is not acceptable. I hope that
all Branch Chief will work on these things, it is our responsibility, so that
there will be no such misbehavior from your students.
If the Students acts with a heart of a true Budo-Ka, the other people in the
audience, the fans, will automatically behave respectfully, and the bad manners
will disappear from the WKO Tournaments.
Lastly, as always, the WKO is OUR organization, so it is up to US to make this
organization grow!
OSU
Kenji Midori
President
WKO
Dear
Branch Chiefs and Contacts
Finally, the spring is here, and in Japan the season of Cherry Blossom has
started together with a warm and nice weather. I hope you are enjoying the
spring in your country as well.
As you know, in the beginning of March, the WKO Dan Grading Examination was held
here in Japan. There were altogether 20 persons who took part in this test, and
they all showed good techniques and strong spirit. I was especially moved to see
overseas Branch Chiefs, who have come to Japan from far away in order to take
part in this severe examination. You can read more about the Examination on page
4. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to
Shihan Brian Fitkin and Shihan Kalman Furko, both members of the Grading
Committee, for coming all the way to Japan in order to be on the grading panel
for this Examination. In connection to the grading, there was also a Grading
Committee Meeting, which both of them attended. In this meeting, there was a
final discussion about the Grading Regulations as well as discussions about the
Special Recommended Dan Grading Promotion. As you all know, our organization,
the WKO, has very severe and strict rules for Dan Promotion. And at last year’s
General Assembly, a slight adjustment of the Dan Regulations was basically
approved of, but the final discussions was made at this time, and although still
keeping the strict rules, due to this adjustments they are now more efficient
and up to date. I am very happy that this could be done, and I would like to
thank those who have been involved in this work.
Further, we have also carried out a Special Recommended Dan Grading Promotion,
and I am glad for those who have been promoted this time, and I hope for your
continuous cooperation for our organization
We have also received some information about selection tournaments for the 4th
World Cup scheduled in the different Regions. The actual preparations for this
big event has finally started. I expect the fighters who will participate in
the selection tournaments to train hard, and please believe in yourself. Anyone
has the chance to be selected and to become the Champion of the World. But it
is only you yourself who can make anything out of this chance. The opportunity
is given to you, but the rest is up to you, so do not give up!
As I always tell you, the WKO is OUR organization, and only by OUR efforts the
organization will develop into an even greater organization. I personally will
try even harder to make this organization grow.
Osu!
Kenji Midori,
WKO President
Dear
Branch Chiefs and Contacts,
Here in Japan, the cold winter season is getting to its end, and we are looking
forward to have the season of spring here soon. In Japan, spring is the season
of graduation from school, and new enrollment of school, work and so on, thus we
could also call it ¡È the season when everything starts¡É . The school and
working year starts in April, ends in March. and people therefore tend to
connect spring with new fresh energy. This is how it is in Japan, and I assume
that it is different in your country.
As for the WKO the annual Dan Promotion Test is scheduled to March 9th, and
there will be 19 persons from overseas to take part in this Promotion Test. As I
mentioned in last month¡Çs Newsletter, we must never forget that our
organization is practicing Budo, therefore, the training must always be our
first priority, and the WKO has a strict standard for Dan Promotion. This
because we are working with the motto to be ¡Èstrict towards ourselves¡É. It is
important to remember that the WKO is OUR organization, not somebody else¡Çs
organization. We all have to support the organization, in order to make a
change, and this should be done primarily by hard and severe training. I hope to
see the result of a hard training and strong efforts from these 19 persons who
will take part in the Dan Promotion Test.
In connection to the Promotion Test, the WKO Grading Committee, and the
Technical Committee, will meet, and I¡Çm very grateful to especially the
overseas members of the committees who will come all the way to Japan. Thank you
very much.
Lately, several new Branches have been established within the WKO, in Japan,
Norichika Tsukamoto, Shuichiro Tada, Seiji Sakamoto have become Branch Chiefs,
and in the Russian Region, Victor Karaschuk has become a Branch Chief. They are
all top fighters who have done very well in the World Championship and World
Cup. I am very glad to see a new generation of Branch Chiefs , and I believe
that this will give our organization a fresh, new and strong energy.
The most important task for our organization now, is the upcoming 4th World Cup.
There have been some new changes in this tournament, in order to increase the
competition, we have increased the number of fighters in each category for the
men. Please look at the World Cup information.
I understand that the selection tournaments for the World Cup already has
started throughout the world, and here in Japan, the 25th All Japan Weight
Division Tournament (to be held in May) will be the first selection. I strongly
believe that the World Cup will be a great tournament, with strong and good
fighters, severely selected from each Region.
I feel that this Spring; ¡Èthe season when everything starts¡É , will give our
organization hope and exceptions for the coming year.
Kenji Midori
President
WKO
First
I’d like to express my thanks to all of you for the hard work you do for our
organization. 2008 has just started, and I believe this year will be filled with
hope and dreams, and I feel a great joy when thinking of that our organization
has members all over the world who, although different countries, are wearing
the same white Karate Uniform(dogi), practicing the same Karate. For us, the
Karate training is the most important, that is our source of energy, we should
never forget that.. As Branch Chiefs and leaders, in our work for the
development of the WKO , it is important that we continue to actual practice
Karate together with our students.
In Japan, the fist training of the year, the traditional Kagami Biraki, was held
on January 13th. This year however, the training was not held at So-Honbu Dojo
as usual, but instead it was held at the Gokuji Temple, where Sosai’s grave is.
January 13th, was a beautiful winter day, with a blue sky and a bright sunshine,
and all Japanese Branch Chiefs was gathered to this event. I believe that
everybody who attended this event could feel the presence of Sosai, and I also
believe that Sosai could hear our Kiai. I almost felt that I could hear Sosai’s
word [You all have to practice your Karate more,,,you do not train enough]. The
start of this year was the best we’ve had. After the training, we all said our
prayers in front of Sosai’s grave, and we told him about what a great success
last year’s World Championship was, and what hard work all our members
throughout the world had done. It felt as though Sosai was smiling nicely at us
when he heard our words.
This year, the selection tournaments for the 4th World Cup will be held all over
the world. I’m looking forward to see the names of the selected fighters. Of
course, we also would like to cooperate with the promotion of these selection
events, so please inform the WKO Office of dates and other details, as soon as
they are fixed. To the Russian branch Chiefs; we hope that you are working hard
together with the preparations for this event.
Lastly, I am happy to receive information from all of you about various events
that you have scheduled in your region for this year (Tournaments, camps,
seminars and so on) .I also would like to take this opportunity to thank all of
you who have sent me invitations to your events. I would really like to accept
all invitations and visit your country and observe the different events,
however, depending on my own schedule, I may not be able to accept all
invitations. Please accept my apologies for not being able to accept some of the
invitations. I hope though that all events that are carried out throughout the
world will be the greatest success.
Lastly, again, I’d like to remind all of you that we are all Budo-Ka, Karate-ka,
which means that we should mainly focus on the Karate training.Through hard and
severe training, we will develop a strong mind and body, and only then, we will
be able to build up a strong and healthy organization, so let’s continue the
Path of Budo together!
OSU
Kenji Midori
President
From
Newsletter (December, January)
Greeting
First, I would like to wish you all, Branch Chiefs, and Contacts, a Happy New
Year!
I also would like to thank you all for your strong support and hard work this
past year.
A new year filled with dreams and expectations is just about to start. In Japan
there is a saying; “the first day of the year, is the most important day of the
new year”. This means that you should make your plans of the new year right in
the beginning of the year. What about you all? Have you already made up your
plans for this coming year?
In Japan, we will organize a new tournament called “Karate Dream Cup” this year.
As you can read from the name, our hope is that this tournament will become an
event filled with hope and dreams. This tournament will contain, the All Japan
Junior Championship, and the Masters Championship, two tournaments that have
been held on separate occasions every year. Except for these two tournaments we
have also added a few divisions, thus we believe that this will become an event
that everybody from the youngest to the oldest members will enjoy. Our
intentions is to make this an event that will fulfill everybody’s dream. The
tournament is scheduled to August 9th,10th at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium,
the same venue as where the World Championship was held. Our plan is to in the
future make this tournament to an International event, and that this will become
the bridge to a new future for the WKO.
Otherwise, our organization is already working towards the World Cup in Russia ,
2009, and I assume that most Regions will be busy with the selections of the
competitors for this tournament. I hope that all Branch Chiefs in the Russian
Region will work hard together in order to make the World Cup successful. Only
by looking at the level of the competitors in last year’s World Championship, we
know that the World Cup will become the most exciting event, and I hope that all
of you will support the Russian Region in their work.
If we take a look throughout the world, we will see an increase of crimes, and
tragedy, and I believe that we all should once again think about the deeper
meaning of Karate and Budo. Oyama Sosai left many good words behind him, one is
the Kyokushin Spirit, which tell us to: “keep your head low, eyes high, do not
speak too much, be loyal to your kinship, and respect and serve others”. A truly
strong person has also a strong spirit and will be kind to other people. If all
people in the world could keep this kind of thinking, we would for sure see more
laughing children fulfilling their dreams, and we would not have to experience
any disasters. As I always says, the WKO is OUR organization, so let’s continue
our work for world peace together, by building up a strong Budo organization,
with a strong and kind spirit.
Lastly, I would like to wish you all a prosperous year and I hope that you will
be able to fulfill your dreams!
OSU.
Kenji Midori
WKO PRESIDENT
(WKO OFFICE)