What is Yoshukai Karate Alliance
Yoshukai Karate Alliance is a group of independent instructors and black belts who have joined together in order to provide quality instruction of traditional Yoshukai Karate at a reasonable cost. Yoshukai Alliance was started in November of 2002 by Sensei Daniel Dugan, Founder and Chief Instructor of Yoshukai Karate Alliance.
Yoshukai Karate is considered a traditional style of Japanese Karate, which requires patient and diligent training. The emphasis in the training is centered on character development. To advance and do well in Yoshukai, students are expected to have a positive attitude that is conducive to learning. The hearts of the students and instructor should merge and be as one to receive the full aspect of traditional Japanese karate training. To find out more about Yoshukai Karate please visit the Yoshukai History page.
Membership in the Yoshukai Karate Alliance entails certain obligations and responsibilities, which increase as higher ranks are attained. These obligations and responsibilities include loyalty to Yoshukai Karate, loyalty to the instructor, respect for fellow students, the setting of a good example for lower ranking students and preserving the honor and integrity of traditional Japanese Karate.
In the Yoshukai dojo, there is a discipline that is expected of the student to be patient, to persevere, to have self-control, to be courteous, to remain calm in danger (stress), to be both gentle and firm, and only in defense of self or beliefs, to use the skills that will be imparted to them. This discipline is demanded by an instructor, who will expect and settle for nothing less than excellence in the student’s training.
The Origin of Yoshukai Karate Alliance
Hiroyuki Koda (1944 – 1997), a Yoshukai instructor from Japan, came to Florida in 1969 to help teach Yoshukai Karate under the direction of Mike Foster. Mr. Koda started a school in Lincoln, Illinois in 1971. In 1972, Dan Dugan began his karate training at the Lincoln Yoshukai Karate Dojo under Hiroyuki Koda. Mr. Koda moved back to Florida later that year, but before he moved, he turned the Lincoln Dojo over to his top-ranking and best student, Bob Borowiak.
After receiving his first degree of Shodan in 1975, Dan Dugan became one of Mr. Borowiak’s assistant instructors. With Mr. Borowiak’s permission, Dan Dugan opened the second Yoshukai Dojo in Illinois on July 1st, 1976 in Atlanta, Illinois. Due to knee problems Mr. Borowiak retired in 1977, closing the Lincoln Dojo, and putting Dan Dugan under the direct supervision of Mr. Koda.
With Sensei Koda’s permission, Dan Dugan went on to spread Yoshukai Karate throughout Illinois, thus creating the position of Illinois Director. Mr. Dugan left the Atlanta Dojo to establish dojos in Bloomington and Springfield. Each dojo was left to a qualified black belt instructor. One of Mr. Dugan’s most loyal and better students from the Atlanta Dojo was Tim Daugherty, who established Yoshukai schools in Lincoln and in Galesburg. Another black belt, also from the Atlanta Dojo, had moved to and opened a dojo in Alto Pass.
Mr. Dugan and his schools left Mr. Koda’s Yoshukai organization in 1988 and joined Sensei Foster’s Yoshukai International Karate Association. Over time, the instructors closed the branch dojos, leaving only Mr. Dugan’s dojo open. After training with Sensei Foster for 14 years, Mr. Dugan left to train under Bill Dometrich of Chito-Ryu Karate.
In November 2002, Sensei Dugan branched out on his own to start the Yoshukai Karate Alliance, bringing his experience and the legacy of training under three of the most accomplished karate instructors in the United States. Those instructors were Sensei Hiroyuki Koda – Founder of the U.S. Yoshukai Karate Association; Sensei Mike Foster – Founder and Chief Instructor of Yoshukai International Karate Association; and Hanshi Bill Dometrich – Founder and Chief Instructor of U.S. Chito-Ryu Karate Federation.