Karate - my way

Start

I started to practice karate at the beginning of my second school-year in gymnasium in autumn 1971. I was 15 years old. About that time Takashi Tokuhisa, master of karate 3rd Dan, came to Ljubljana and his fame about his performance spread widely around. So I affiliated myself to the Karate Section of Heavy Athletics Club Olimpija in Ljubljana. A year or so later the Section became so strong that we left Olimpija and we established a new independent Karate Club called Shotokan expressing the style we have been practicing. We have rented a small hall in Rimska 9 in Ljubljana and adapted it into a dojo. After more than a quarter of a century it is still our main centre.

Later with time we have changed the name of our club to Emona (which was the name of our town in Roman times) and occasionally added the names of our principal sponsors to it.
Takashi Tokuhisa

At the novice course we met sensei Takashi at the first training only and then within few months only two, three times surveying the work of his assistants and our progress. Among my first teachers were Zare Kokotovic, Bojan Pecnik, Rado Mandic. Later Zare and I were together in the club prime fighting squad. His fighting spirit is unforgetable. Bojan's speciality in fighting was getting oponent to the ground and finish him. Rado's superiority were excellent bullet-speed techniques.

After several novice and advanced courses in spring 1973 I joined the group trained by sensei Tokuhisa. I had been training with him for more than 15 years. Since 1988 sensei Tokuhisa is not involved in active teaching of karate but he still holds master grades exams and he is reported to be still practicing alone or with the rare chosen ones.

Comeback of Sensei Takashi Tokuhisa

After a decade of limited involvement in karate master T. Tokuhisa has decided to re-start active teaching of karate. He has been teaching karate in karate club Meikyo kan for several years.
Nowadays master Tokuhisa holds his own karate school, Tokuhisa Takashi karate dojo.



There are also other activities and functions related to karate that I am involved in:
President and Chief Instructor of Karate Club Emona, Ljubljana
Secretary of the Referee Committee of the Karate Federation of Slovenia
Head of Karate Council of the Karate Federation of Slovenia


Karate mastery: placidity, spirit, experience, concentration, gentleness, humility
Courtesy of BNP Paribas                                                            Photo by Janez Vlachy, Ljubljana


Me in the club (in 1996)


Cheerful students after the grading exam in January 2000.
Examiners: Matic Kragelj, 4th Dan, and Rajko Sabo, 3rd Dan

Coloured belt exams - kyu grades

9th kyu: white belt - one gets it when he starts
8th kyu: white belt one strip - in winter 1971
7th kyu: white belt two strips - 10.2.1972
6th kyu: white belt three strips - 31.5.1972
5th kyu: yellow belt - 2.11.1972
4th kyu: orange belt - 15.3.1973
3rd kyu: green belt - 27.6.1973
2nd kyu: blue belt - 12.4.1974
1st kyu: brown belt - 27.2.1975

Black belt exams - master grades

1st dan - 1.11.1975, Zagreb - T. Kase
2nd dan - 25.3.1979, Ljubljana - T. Tokuhisa
3rd dan - 23.12.1988, Ljubljana - T. Tokuhisa

Karate competitions

I started to compete when I was 3rd kyu. I competed in kumite (fights) and in kata (forms) as well, but I prefered kumite. I had been participating at competitions as a competitor in the period from 1973 to 1980.

Medals
bronze, kumite - lightweight, national championship, 27.6.1976
bronze, kumite - lightweight, national championship, 16.10.1977
bronze, kumite, club competition, 8.11.1978
bronze, kata, club competition, 8.11.1978
gold, kumite - lightmiddleweight, national championship, 3.12.1978

Seminars
During those almost three decades I participated at seminars led by famous Japanese karate masters, among them:
T. Kase, H. Shirai, H. Kanasava, Tomiyama, H. Ochi.

Diplomas, acknowledments
I have participated in many competitions, here I am mentioning only a few for which I have found acknowledments for participation in the drawer:
Karstic cup, Logatec, 17.4.1977
Quarnero beach cup, Rijeka, 25.10.1977
Slobodan Jocic Memorial, Belgrade, 29.10.1977
Golden belt of Cacak, Cacak, 30.10.1977
3rd masters Velenje cup tournament, Velenje, 24.6.1978
5th masters Velenje cup tournament, Velenje, 23.6.1979
Nippon tournament, Bremenhaven, D, 26.1.1979

Refereeing
Besides having been a competitor I am involved in karate also as a referee. Enclosed is a list of some referee courses attended and grades achieved.
national judge probationer, Ljubljana, 15.5.1977
national referee, Ljubljana, 28.10.1979
Referee of I.K.U.M.A. (International Karate and Martial Art Union) and UKIDA (Unione Karate Italia e Discipline Associate), Sarnano, 31.10.1992
EKU kumite judge, Birmingham, GB, 6.5.1994

Director of Slovenian Team at World Cup for Children and Youth, Miskolc, 1992

In 1989 I have began to attend EKU (European Karate Union) and WKF (World Karate Federation) events:
European Senior Championships (ESC) in Titograd, YU, Senior World Cup in Budapest, HU (1990), European Senior Championships in Vienna, AT (1991), firstly as a spectator, later I participated at EKU Referee and Judges (R&J) Courses and at Kata Master Seminars:
R&J kumite course, ESC Den Bosch, NL, 10.5.1992
Kata Master Seminar, European Junior Championships (EJC) Cardiff, GB, 11.-12.2.1993
R&J kata course, European Junior Championships Cardiff, GB, 14.2.1993
R&J kumite course, ESC Prague, CZ, 9.5.1993
R&J kumite course, ESC Birmingham, GB, 7.5.1994
R&J kata course, EJC Bratislava, CZ, 10.2.1995
R&J kumite course, ESC Helsinki, FIN, 4.5.1995
R&J kata course, EJC Istanbul, TR, 9.2.1996
R&J kumite course, ESC Paris, F, 2.5.1996
R&J kumite course, ESC Tenerife, E, 1.5.1997
R&J kumite course, ESC Belgrade, YU, 5.5.1998
R&J kata course, ESC Halkis, GR, 17.5.1999
R&J kumite course, ESC Halkis, GR, 18.-20.5.1999
R&J kumite course, Bremen, DE, 5.5.2003

Kata Master seminar of the European Karate Union, European Championsips, Cardiff, 1993

As a karate referee I participated in many national and international competitions, including 9 European Championships and 5 World Cups.
Here are some of them listed below:
Turnament Krsko, YU, 27.6.1987
Grand Prix Siska, Ljubljana, YU, 1989
Senior Regional Championship, Idrija, YU, 4.3.1990
19th tournament Trbovlje, Trbovlje, SI, 21.12.1991
Ljutomer Cup, Ljutomer, SI, 16.4.1994


6th Budo Meeting, Zurich, CH, 28.5.1988
European International UKIDA Cup, Crema, Montegranaro, Sarnano, IT, 26.5.1990
International IKUMA Team Championships, Muenchengladbach, DE, 20.11.1993
World Cup for Children, Miskolc, HU, 5.12.1993
European Senior Championships Birmingham, GB, 7.5.1994
European Club Championships, Karslruhe, D, 11.6.1994
World Cup for Children, Miskolc, HU, 9.10.1994
9th International Karate Open, Banska Bystrica, SK, 15.10.1994
20th Bohemia Cup, Prague, CZ, 5.11.1994
European Junior Championships, Bratislava, CZ, 10.2.1995
European Senior Championships, Helsinki, FI, 4.5.1995
12th International Tournament Bondy, Paris, FR, 14.5.1995
4th Rimini International Tournament, Rimini, IT, 11.6.1995
Norvegian Open, Lillestrom, NO, 23.9.1995
1st Bavarian Open for Youth & Cadets, Nuernberg, DE, 26.11.1995
International University Tournament, Saint Nazaire, FR, 3.12.1995
23rd tournament Trbovlje, Trbovlje, SI, 16 .12.1995
European Junior Championships, Istanbul, TR, 9.2.1996
"The super champion 97", Tournament, Udine, I, 9.3.1997
World Cup for Children, Miskolc, HU, 6.12.1997
25th tournament Trbovlje, Trbovlje, SI, 13.12.1997
International Christmas Tournament, Murska Sobota, SI, 20.12.1997
International Tournament - Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, Germany, Slovenia, Yugoslavia; Zalec, SI, 4.4.1998
"The super champion 98" Tournament, Udine, IT, 5.4.1998
Croatia Open, Zagreb, HR, 23.5.1998
Slovenia Open, Sevnica, SI 6.6.1998
European Club Championships, Zlin, CZ, 12.6.1998
Austrian Karate Open, Goetzis, AT, 19.9.1998
1st European Open Samoerai Tournament '98, Leuven, BE, 26.9.1998
7th Junior World Cup, Miskolc, HU, 4.-6.12.1998
26th tournament Trbovlje, Trbovlje, SI, 12.12.1998
12th Trofeo Internazionale �Superchampion '98�, Udine, IT, 13.12.1998
3rd International Christmas Cup, Murska Sobota, SI, 19.12.1998
Matulji Cup '99, Rijeka, HR, 11.4.1999
Six Nations Cup, Fuerstenfeld; AT, 24.4.1999
34th European Senior Championships, Halkis, GR, 22.-24.5.1999
Ljutomer '99, Ljutomer, SI, 29.5.1999
1o Trofeo Internazzionale Citta di Cormons, Cormons, IT, 30.5.1999
European Club Championships, Paris, FR, 19.-20.6.1999
International tournament Velenje '99, Velenje, SI, 11.9.1999
International tournament Slovenia Open "Stilles Cup '99", Sevnica, SI, 18.9.1999
20th Grand Prix Slovakia, Bratislava, SK, 10.11.1999
8th Junior World Cup, Miskolc, HU, 3.-5.12.1999
27th tournament Trbovlje, Trbovlje, SI, 11.12.1999
5th Trofeo Internazionale "Superchampion Christmas Cup", Martignacco, IT, 12.12.1999
27th European Junior Championships, Celje, SI, 11.-13.2.2000

Referee at the Norvegian Open, Lillestrom, 1995

Referee at the European Karate Championships for Clubs in Paris, FR, in the match between French team SIK Paris, European Champion of the year 1999, and Dutch team Kiai Do. Paris, FR, 19.6.1999

Some links

World Karate Federation

European Karate Federation

Karate Federation of Slovenia

Karate Club EMONA, Ljubljana, SI

HOME BACK SPORTS MUSIC CARS
Hosting by WebRing.