About Us
Welcome to the UBC Shotokan Karate Club home page. We are one of the oldest martial arts groups on campus. We practice an orthodox form of martial arts called Shotokan Karate-Do. Kara means empty and te means hand. Karate developed as a weaponless form of self-defense. Shotokan karate stresses mental and physical development.
Do literally means the way, so karate-do translates to the way of karate. This means that if one practices seriously, karate can become not only an effective form of self-defense, but also a way of life.
Our dojo is part of Canada Shotokan Karate, which is in turn associated with Shotokan Karate of America, which was founded and is still led by our chief instructor, Tsutomu Ohshima. Ohshima Sensei is one of the last direct students of Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan karate and one of the masters who first brought karate from its native Okinawa to Japan.