Tsutomu Ohshima

Tsutomu Ohshima
Ohshima teaching at the 50th anniversary of the Caltech Karate Club on September 2, 2007
Born	(1930-08-06) August 6, 1930 (age 86) Japan
Other names	Tsutomu Oshima
Residence	California, USA
Style	Shotokan Karate
Teacher(s)	Gichin Funakoshi, Isao Obata
Rank	5th dan karate (SKA)
Website	http://www.ska.org/

Tsutomu Ohshima (大島 劼^?, Ōshima Tsutomu, born August 6, 1930) is a prominent Japanese master of Shotokan karate who founded the Shotokan Karate of America (SKA) organization. He is the Shihan (Chief Instructor) of the SKA, and to this day holds the rank of 5th dan in karate, which was awarded to him by Gichin Funakoshi. In 1957, he established the Caltech Karate Club—the first university karate club in the United States of America.

Ohshima was born on August 6, 1930, in Japan. By the age of five, he had already begun learning martial arts. He studied sumo from the ages of 5–15, kendo from 8–15, and judo from 9–13. Recalling an episode from his youth, Ohshima said, "One day I was going to Tokyo. This group was beating one young student because he was a quiet boy, but something he pushed with his elbow. And this was a ridiculous reason. But these guys were beating this young boy—same age as me, fifteen or sixteen. I got so mad. Mad, because person next to me said, 'Don't go, you get beat up.' I was ashamed of myself. I knew this was injustice. Why couldn't I put myself out there? I could be beaten up, but I could stand it. But I just sit there and overlook. I say to myself, 'Alas, how I am a coward guy.' I knew somebody was getting beaten up, but I couldn't help him. Therefore, when I was practicing karate, every time I asked myself, 'Are you ready to put yourself into something that you believe is justice?'" (p. 34).

Ohshima began studying karate in 1948, while a student at Waseda University. There, he trained under Shotokan's founder, Gichin Funakoshi, and later became captain of the university's karate club, in 1952. That same year, Funakoshi personally awarded Ohshima the rank of 3rd dan black belt. Ohshima's seniors at the club also influenced his development in karate; they included Shigeru Egami, Toshio Kamata-Watanabe, Hiroshi Noguchi, Tadao Okuyama, and Matsuo Shibuya. It was also during this period that he befriended Mitsusuke Harada, who would go on to become a pioneer of karate in Brazil and the United Kingdom. Ohshima was a member of the Japan Karate Association in its earliest days.