INTERNATIONAL SHURIWAY KARATE & KOBUDO SOCIETY

 

TERRY WINGROVE - KARATE JUTSU INTERNATIONAL

TERRY, SPENT 21 YEARS IN JAPAN AND IS IN HIS 60TH YEAR IN KARATE. HE RECEIVED HIS 9TH DAN HANSHI, 7 YRS AGO IN TOKYO.

9th Dan Karate (FAJKO, WUKO), 9th Dan Jujitsu (EJJU, IJJF), 3rd Dan Aikido, 3rd Dan Judo.

Terry was born in London on 8th May 1941, his first contact with martial arts was practicing Judo as an 11 year old at the Budokwai in London. By the time he was 16 he came under the influence and teaching of the late Vernon Bell. By the time he was 17 he had enrolled in Vernon Bell's Jujitsu and Karate classes, the first classes in Karate anywhere in UK. Terry's drive to improve his knowledge meant he studied with all the instructors that Vernon Bell invited to the UK including Huang Nam, Tetsugi Murakami both of whom were teaching Yoseikan style Karate. Terry attended the first Aikido course ever held in the UK in 1960 under Tadashi Abe.

Terry Wingrove, Morio Higaonna & Alan Tattersall

By 1960 Terry was travelling to Paris to study with Murakami in Henry Plee's Dojo. Also Terry attended the infamous classes at Jim Alcheiks - the great French Karate teacher who studied martial arts in Japan in the 1950's and subsequently was killed in Algeria by anti-terrorist police in 1962. By 1963 Terry was an assistant instructor in Karate and Judo in UK. In December 1963 Terry captained the first ever British Karate team in Paris where he and Jimmy Neal were the highest grades in the UK team at 1st Kyu with Vernon Bell as the national coach. Other members of the team included B Hammond, A. Sherry, A Smith.

In 1965 Vernon Bell invited the JKA to UK and Sensei's Kase, Kanazawa, Enoeda and Shirai arrived in the summer of '65. Terry was now 24 and motivated to go to Japan to see for himself and train in Karate, Aikido and Jujitsu. He married in 1965 and went to Cape Town, South Africa following Shirai Sensei who was teaching at Hugh St John Thompson's Dojo. Eventually in 1967 he obtained the necessary work visas and arrived in Japan in August '67.

He was employed as a physical education teacher at the Marist International School in Kobe and joined the biggest Karate Dojo in the area which was the Shito-Ryu Dojo of Chojiro Tani and became secretary of the international Shukokai organisation training with Kimura and Tani. Tani Sensei was a school and university teacher and very articulate in English and greatly respected as an original student of Mabuni.

During the mid 60's there was a major and sincere effort to unite all the styles of Karate under the patronage and sponsorship of Japan's richest man Ryoichi Sasakawa. Tani Sensei introduced and recommended Terry to Sasakawa and Terry was appointed to the secretariat of Federation All Japan Karate Organisations (FAJKO) and the World Union of Karate Organisations (WUKO) as the only foreigner working in the organisation of FAJKO and WUKO where he ended up as manager of the Information Dept.

The late Hiroshi Kinjo 10th Dan presenting Terry with both his 9th Dan karate & Hanshi award. Tokyo 2011

Terry helped organise the first World Karate Championships in Japan in 1970 and subsequently travelled the world many times as a WUKO staff member. This was the so-called "golden years" of united Karate with the great Masters such as Nakayama, Yamaguchi, Ohtsuka, Iwata, Tani, Mabuni and many others teaching and grading in unison on instructor courses. Terry attended the first and famous all-styles course in 1972 in Chiba, near Tokyo where he was awarded his 5th Dan.

Terry was also studying Jujitsu and Aikido and he was invited as a Karate instructor to many countries. Terry's position in the secretariat of FAJKO and WUKO opened many doors for him to study with great Masters in martial arts during his 21 year stay in Japan. Terry was awarded his 7th Dan Kyoshi in 1989, by Masafumi Suzuki 10th Dan and founder of the Seibukan in Kyoto. Subsequently on the death of Masafumi Suzuki he was awarded his 8th Dan and 9th Dan Hanshi by the late Hiroshi Kinjo and attained his present grades in 2011

Terry's passion is Karate as a martial art not sporting Karate. His research and specialist study of Karate has taken him all over Japan, Okinawa and China. This again was possible as Terry combined his study of martial arts with his business as an Oriental art dealer.

Terry enjoys teaching and is in constant demand all over the world, where he has built up a following amongst serious students of martial arts. Terry is non-political regarding martial arts and truly enjoys imparting his extensive knowledge to students and teachers of all ages and grades. He REFUSES payment for his teaching saying he teaches because he "wants to", not "because he has to".

Courtesy Sensei Terry Wingrove

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