Master Ohtsuka Tadahiko is the founder and chief instructor of the Tokyo based Goju Kensha (House of the hard - soft fist).

Born in Tokyo on the 10th June 1940, he graduated as a lawyer from Meiji university in 1965 and achieved his 5th Dan black belt the same year under the guidance of Goju Ryu master Ichikawa Sosui (see lineage below).

He immediately embarked on broadening his martial knowledge and experience studying Tai Chi with master Yang Ming Shi, Ba Gua Zhang and Hsing Yi with master Wang Shu Chin, Chinese gong fu, particularly southern styles, in China and eventually Shorin Ryu karate with the late master Higa Yuchoku who trained under a number of the great pioneers including Miyagi Chojun, founder of Goju Ryu.

In 1970 he founded the Goju Kensha which, while being based squarely on the Goju Ryu karate in which he had been raised, absorbed many extra methods from his outside studies. This also greatly enriched his understanding of his own tradition and gave his karate a dimension totally missing from most other Japanese and much of Okinawan karate.

Although he has never looked to establish himself in other countries, many have sought him out and over time he has chosen to develop associations in a select number of countries, one of these being Australia. In 1973 Con Athanassiou from Melbourne Australia was in Japan to train at Kyokushin karate headquarters and became extremely disillusioned by what he found there.

He set about investigating other dojos and was amazed and inspired by what he found at the Goju Kensha dojo. This soon resulted in him representing master Ohtsuka Tadahiko in Australia where George Ciechanowicz was just a relative beginner. It was obvious to all from the start that they had become involved in something really special. Years later the inspiration and knowledge imparted by this remarkable man and martial artist have directly resulted in the formation of Kin Shin Kai in Australia.

Finally it is important to mention master Ohtsuka Tadahiko's work as a martial arts researcher and historian. The publisher of dozens of technical and research works, perhaps his most important contributions in this regard are his works detailing the contents of the bubishi or "bible" of karate. In this respect he has done in the Japanese language what fellow researcher and martial artist Patrick McCarthy has done in English. Not coincidentally they are colleagues and friends. •

GOJU RYU LINEAGE of MASTER OHTSUKA TADAHIKO

Miyagi Chojun (founder of Goju Ryu)
Higa Seiko
Izumigawa Kanki
Ichikawa Sosui
Ohtsuka Tadahiko