A PAGE FROM MARTIAL ARTS HISTORY OF PAKISTAN Soshi Tanaka Koshiro visit to Pakistan
By;ASGHAR ALI MUBARAK
The captioned photo graphs are very rare, historical and memorable of all time ‘’the
Best Japanese Martial Artist Soshi Tanaka Koshiro at inaugural ceremony at Wah by Pakistan’s
Renowned most experienced martial artist Sir Shihan Raja Khalid’s first ever Karate Dojo in the mid summer 1980 by Soshi Tanaka Koshiro Hiko-ryu Taijutsu and his team. Shihan Raja Khalid
President and Branch Chief So-Kyokushin Pakistan founded, establish his First ever Karate Dojo at Wah Cantt’s Municipal Buildings situated near ‘’Busti ‘’Wah Cantt when Raja Khalid was associated with a public sector organization at Taxila. More over Mr.Tanaka Koshiro was born in Tagawa-shi, Fukuoka Prefecture on 20th August, 1940. Koshiro started his career as martial artist when he was aged 4 and he graduated to 7th grade in Karate (Wado-ryu, Kyokusin). Since then he continued to search for his own martial art and currently he presides over his culmination “Hiko-ryu Taijutsu”. His extraordinary strength was admired by Oyama Masutatsu who is a founder of Kyokushin-Karate in world. In the 1980s, he participated in War in Afghanistan and had many awards and reputations and he was called “Samurai in Afghanistan”.In addition, He left many legendary anecdotes in various fields and still continues giving us an inspiration to various people in the world. Even now close to 80 years old, he is travelling around the world to respond to the needs of instruction from all over the world including the Philippines, Pakistan, USA, and France. Tanaka Koshiro is very famous and popular in Pakistan among the youth. He is very kind cooperated instructor, teacher demonstrator and a very famous sports personality. Like Sir Shihan Raja Khalid may others those associated with Tanaka Koshiro feels proud and honored in world over. Sir Shihan Raja Khalid President and Branch Chief So-Kyokushin Pakistan has established his international level dojo Raja Martial Arts and Fitness Centre at Lodhi Icon Plaza NO – 162 D Block Lower Level Civic Center Phase4 Bahria Town Islamabad, Pakistan.
Debut appearance of Karate at Olympics 2020
Karate will make its debut appearance at the Summer Olympics in 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. Olympic karate will feature two events, Kumite and Kata. Sixty competitors from around the world will compete in the Kumite competition and twenty will compete in the Kata competition. Karate is generally described as originating in Okinawa, Japan, influenced by the various practitioners who migrated to Japan from China during the early 20th century. As a martial art, karate evolved from a mixture of indigenous Okinawan Japanese fighting arts and Chinese martial arts. Originally there were no particular styles, only a network of practitioners, each with their own individual fighting methods and eclectic traditions. Like most martial arts practiced in Japan, modern karate made its transition as a sport from the jujitsu schools around the beginning of the 20th century. Karate was introduced into high schools before World War II; many universities initiated their own karate club programmes. Karate was introduced to other countries around 1950 by Japanese masters of the art, many of whom came from the JKA (Japan Karate Association). However, no national and international organizations were formed. The first world championships were held in 1970. Like taekwondo and judo, karate has been adapted for practice as a competitive sport; presently there are a multitude of styles and schools. Karate became an Asian Games sport during the 11th Asian Games in 1990 in Beijing, China. Karate, literally meaning “way of the empty hand” in Japanese, is a martial art that emphasizes striking techniques such as punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes using open hand techniques. It originated as a method of self-defence which relied on the effective use of the unarmed body, and was made up of elaborate techniques of blocking or thwarting an attack and counter-attacking. As a physical art, karate is almost without equal. This highly dynamic sport provides excellent all-round exercise and develops co-ordination and agility, making balanced use of a large number of body muscles. Modern karate is a combat sport that employs a formal method of physical and mental training. All punches, kicks, blows and strikes must be controlled and pulled back before contact to avoid injuries to either contestant. Different karate styles have varying belt orders, but white almost always means beginner and black is the highest belt attainable. Dress for competitive karate consists of the karate suit, the karategi, or gi, with the belt, bare feet and mitts. Kata is the name of a very popular form of karate. It is a set sequence of basic defence and attacking routines which is performed alone, usually on a mat. At competition level, a technically good routine is essential for success.