Yoseikan Karate

Yoseikan Karate (養正館空手) or Yoseikan Ryu Karate (養正館流空手) is the name given to the variant of Shotokan Karate taught at the Yoseikan Dojo in Shizuoka, Japan, under the direction of Minoru Mochizuki (望月 稔 Mōchizuki Minoru, 1907–2003).

Minoru Mochizuki trained directly under Gichin Funakoshi, the man who formally introduced Karate to the Japanese mainland in 1921. In the 1970s, Minoru Mochizuki formally organised his arts into Yoseikan Budo, including Karate, aikido, judo, Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu, jujutsu, kobudo, iaido, kendo, jojutsu, and kempo. A small number of schools through the world still focus on the traditional Karate aspect of Yoseikan, and as such refer to it as Yoseikan Karate, or Yoseikan Ryu Karate.

In 1954 Minoru Mochizuki taught the first European students Yoseikan Karate, first in Switzerland and then in France, where he was invited to teach for the founder of the French Karate Federation, Henri Plee. From there Yoseikan Karate, as it became known, crept across Europe.

In 1957, Minoru Mochizuki sent his eldest son, Hiroo Mochizuki, to France to teach Karate in Europe. Hiroo Mochizuki returned to Japan in 1959 to finish his studies. In 1963 he returned to France in order to replace Jim Alcheik, the senior Yoseikan student in France, who had died in 1961. Hiroo Mochizuki participated in the creation of the French Karate Federation, and in 1964 he became the first technical advisor to the French Karate Federation and European Karate Union. In the 70's, under the supervision of Hiroo Mochizuki, the French Karate team became the first foreign team to defeat the Japanese team in the Karate world championships. After some time, Hiroo Mochizuki developed his own style; he initially called it Yoken, but later he changed the name to Yoseikan Budo to honour his father.

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