Santa Barbara Shotokan Karate Club

Central Coast Tournament

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Welcome to the homepage of Santa Barbara Shotokan Karate Club, an affiliate of Shotokan Karate of America (SKA), a non-profit organization teaching traditional Karate in the United States since 1955.

As a part of SKA and its more than 30 Southern California dojos, we participate in regional special events such as Special Trainings, exchange practices, and classes with well-known instructors around Southern California.

More broadly, we are affiliated with more than 120 dojos (schools) around North America in regions such as the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, New York, Chicago and many other places, as well as in thirteen countries including Canada, France, Israel, Switzerland, Japan, and Hong Kong. Students relocating to one of these places can be assured of the opportunity to continue their training.

The Santa Barbara Shotokan Karate Club was founded by Tom Heyman (Yodan, or 4th degree black belt), who has trained in karate since 1975 and is a direct pupil of Tsutomu Ohshima, widely regarded as one of the top Karate masters in the world. Ohshima Sensei is also the chief instructor for all the above-mentioned affiliate dojos.

We strictly adhere to the instructional system created by Master Gichin Funakoshi, founder of Shotokan Karate. Therefore we do not, for example, award non-traditional colors of belts, award black belts higher than Godan (5th degree), invent new kata (forms), or place emphasis on flashy techniques at the expense of effectiveness.

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