Doshinkan

Doshinkan (KD): KD is led by its founder, Hanshi 10. dan Isao Ichikawa (whom we all call simply 'Hanshi').

The 'Hombu Dojo' is in Vienna, Austria. Hanshi studied in Tokyo in the Shudokan style, led by Hanshi Kanken Toyama, who promoted him to his current rank and title when the former was in (I believe) his early 30's. Some time after Toyama died (early 1960's I think) Hanshi Ichikawa set out to found his own style of traditional karatedo incorporating his own ideas and some elements of Judo, which he also studied for many years.

Many members of Shudokan in both Japan and in California decided to follow him.The formal founding of Doshinkan was in the mid- to late-60's. He had spent some time in Vienna and apparently liked it enough to decide to settle there. One of his reasons for leaving Japan can be that he found some of the restrictions imposed by traditional Japanese culture to be too limiting. It would have been unheard of, for example, for someone of the rank Hanshi, or even Shihan, to train with the lower ranks (especially beginners). Hanshi likes to teach everyone. So, for example, the trainings he conducts on a day-to-day basis in Vienna and when he travels around to visit groups elsewhere are open to every member from the very beginner on up.

The opportunity to train with Hanshi on a fairly regular basis is probably one of the things most appealing about Doshinkan. One of the features that distinguishes Doshinkan from most of the more popular styles is that there is no well- defined 'testing' for belts. Hanshi makes all the promotions himself when people train with him.

There are Doshinkan groups spread across the USA, Mexico, Europe (including Eastern Europe), and Japan.