KARATE DO

KARATE DOUGH

We’ll start with the Genesis of Yoshukai. I was not at the very beginning of Yoshukai in Japan, but was very close in the beginning in America. Koda Sensei and many Yoshukai black belts made it real clear they were not teaching Yoshukai for financial gain. To back that up was the way Yoshukai was organized with the kyu test fees, monthly fees, annual associations fees and the testing requirements of the students. We only tested every 4 months for the 8 kyu ranks after white belt. There were 2 yellow belts, 3 green belts and 3 brown belt levels. Many other karate styles and martial art systems had more kyu belts and tested more often at much higher costs than Yoshukai. This was always pointed out to us by our higher ranks and we were told that Yoshukai was not that way.

Now, I am going to share with you the costs of this Yoshukai organization...remember Yoshukai was never concerned about ways to make money at teaching karate, but having good karate technique.

• Black belt tests - $100, $125, $150, & $200
• Black belt tie & suit patch - $50
• Shihan certificate (an honorary title) - $200
• Annual association fee - $35
• kyu belt tests - every 3 months, starting with 10th kyu (no charge for 10th kyu, but pay belt fee) all other 9 kyu tests are $35 plus belt fee

During my kyu ranks and early years, Yoshukai always slammed karate styles that were organized to have this many kyu rank and high costs to students. So what happened? Good question, maybe the lure and temptation of making money was more than the founders could endure. Maybe they became aware of the large amount of money that could be made very early. Maybe they just lost sight of who they were in the beginning…and who they were was one of the many reasons people chose Yoshukai. The truth to what happened can only be answered by our founders.

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