Kansas City Shotokan Karate Club

As Mr. Ohshima’s student from the late 1960’s, Jeff was a karate prodigy who first won the Nisei Week karate tournament at age 16, fighting adults. As a kid, he faced Caylor Adkins, Don DePree, Lee Muhl, George Gamble and many others who were among SKA’s strongest fighters. In 1970, Jeff was one of the […]

On Wednesday, May 20th, 2026, 27 karateka from the Midwest and beyond gathered on the beautiful campus of Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri for Summer Special Training. Our leader, sandan Takamasa Morita from the Kansas City dojo, set the tone of the training at the very first meeting. We were here to […]

Kansas City black belts Mike Lyon, Carl Johnson, Takamasa Morita and Mike Kostroske were thrilled that five of their juniors participated in this kyu test and that they pushed themselves very hard throughout. A sixth member was unable to practice on Saturday and was tested the following Monday. UNL Dojo leader David Altman led the […]

Gichin Funakoshi is known as the “father of modern karate.” He was the founder of the Shotokan style of karate. Master Funakoshi was born November 10, 1868 in Shuri, Naha, Okinawa, Japan and died April 26, 1957, in Tokyo, Japan. We conduct kyu tests (rank testing for white and brown belts) twice each year on […]

Mark Kohagura is one of the finest karate men in the world. He is a renowned fighter, superb kata man, in my opinion the best overall karate technician in SKA.” – Jon Beltram, godan, founder of KC Dojo Mark Kohagura (godan) led exchange practices at Kansas City Shotokan Karate Club Saturday and Sunday September 27 […]

Chapel Hill Dojo has hosted the East Coast exchange practice “Spring in the South” almost every spring since 1980. Mr. Ohshima led the first Spring in the South and nine other times until 2009. Many other SKA senior instructors have led the event as well. This year, sixty-six year old godan Mark Kohagura led two […]

We made an intense practice prior to the start of the kyu test. David Altman led a long warmup and stretch followed by 20 (or 30) of each basic block, punch and kick, then 35 kata – five repetitions of each of the Heian kata plus Tekki Shodan and Tekki Nidan. Kyu test this spring […]

SKA and BBC Emeritus President Ron Thom led three practices at the Kansas City dojo March 22-23, 2025. Ron Thom is emeritus president of both SKA and the BBC. Born in 1948, Ron began karate practice with Ohshima Sensei in 1966. He and Jon Beltram were among the five SKA members to compete at the […]

Jason Jones, the leader of an Ava, Missouri martial arts school contacted us to ask if he and a group of his students could visit our dojo and train with is on a Sunday and Monday while they were in Kansas City. Jason wanted to expose his students to Krav Maga, Ju Jitsu, Tae Kwon […]

What a great practice this Saturday led by Carl Johnson. We welcomed Charlotte Lavallee for her first karate practice in ten years. Charlotte began practice under Carl Johnson at Longview Community College where she was a student and Carl led the Longview Dojo, also teaching college students like Charlotte as part of the PE program […]