THE BLACK SAMURAI

The Second Chief Instructor

               

Master Sugiura Motokuni

Date of Birth : October 4th 1924

Current Rank 10th Dan JKA/WF HQ JAPAN

Born in Aichi prefecture. Oct. 4th 1924  After fininshing School he entered the Koa Junior College now renamed the Asia University  in . Apr. 1942 and joined the Karate club under the tutelage of  Yosiaki Hayashi Sensei  of  the Shotokan In 1943 he became a student of  Shotokan training under Gichin Funakoshi Sensei and his second son  Yoshitaka Funakoshi Sensei. He received the 1st Dan in the month of  March, 1944. After graduating  from Koa Junior College in  Sept. 1944 he entered Tuchiura Navy Flying Corps as a  Preliminary Student in the 15th Naval Flying Corps  in the month of October He was freed from service  in the month of  August . 1945 and in November the next year, he got a job at  the Nihon Keizai vocational school. Eager to continue his training in Karate-do . he studied Karate from 1949 through 1954 under Mr. Masatoshi Nakayama, an alumnus of Takushoku University., Mr.Isao Kohata and Mr. Shuntaro Ito, alumni of Keio University.

 

In June 1951 he received the 2nd Dan and  the 3rd Dan in Nov. 1953 In the year 1955 he became a Director of Japan Karate Association and was given the responsibility of  managing the instructors. The heavy work schedule of the JKA led to his retirement  from Nihon Keizai Junior College.in  December .1955. The next year in  April 1956, he entered the  Japan Karate Association Guidance Department and until 1971, coached at various dojos including the headquarters  Dojo of the JKA. the Kogakuin University Karate club, the Nihon University .Agriculture and Veterinary Department Karate club, the Taisho University Karate club, the Tokyo Keizai University Karate club, the Hitotubashi University .

Karate club, the Chuo Tetsudou Karate club etc. In November . 1957 he received 4th Dan and on the 10th of April 1958, he was appointed the Director of the Corporation. Japan Karate Association with the responsibilty of making rules of matches and referee. May 14th 1958, he received a qualification of the degree of Physical .Education. instructor of Karatedo from the Ministry of Education. From 1959 through 1963 he wa occupied as a part-time Physical .Education. Karate instructor and lectured at General Education Dept. Of Asia Univ. In the meanwhile in March 1961 he meritted the 5th Dan.

From Dec. 1961 he was involved in editing a text book titled "Karate-do no Kihon", or "Basics of Karate-do". This text book points out the common errors of the JKA members. In the month of April. 1963, he received 6th Dan and from the very next month was involved in making 8mm film for overseas.and was given in charge of  2 videos of 6 volumes of the English edition. He resigned as the Director of the JKA on Jul. 10th 1963 and from April 1964 took to full-time Physical .Education. Karate instructor and was promoted as assistant professor at General Education Dept. of Asia Univ. In Apr. 1968 he received 7th Dan and was Engaged in writing a textbook from Apr. 1969.

Got invitation of China Japan Friendship Karatedo Cup Visited Taipei, Taichu, Tainan and Takao from Mar. 26th to Apr. 7th, 1970 for this purpose From August 1970 he was engaged in making videos of Karate Kata for overseas.

He served as the president of Koganei city Karatedo Federation and Koganei P.E.. Association officer From 1973 to 1978. In the month of April in the year 1975 he became the head of the Japan Martial Arts Society and in August visited visited Los Angeles and Hawaii to attend the meeting of IAKF and the 7th Cup. From December of the same year Master Sugiura started publishing a column in the magazine "Monthly Karatedo".

In April 1976 he was promoted to professor of General Education Dept. of Asia University and on June 21st of the same year he received the 8th Dan. of the JKA which entitled him to the board of the Technical Committee. Later in the year in July.he visited the branches in Jakarta, Surabaya and Yogyakarta. on the way to Indonesia. with Asia Univ. Alumni Association After this vist in the same year from Sep.15th to Oct.5th, he travelled to the U.S.A visiting varous universities in the US to study instruction of Karate. like the US.UCR;PIERCE College;UCLA;Arisona State Univ;Scottsdale Community College;J・KA of Colorado;Temple Univ.College of PE; NewYork State University.

May.1977 his thesis"A system of Karate-do" was accepted by Asia University In April 1983 he was retained as teaching staff for Karate-do as Physical .Education. In the month of March 1989 he authored the Guidelines for Karate-do..The next year in March 1990, Sugiura Sensei retired from Professorship of General Education Department of Asia University after which in 1991 he was appointed as the Shuseki Shihan of the JKA in 1991. The JKA conferred the 9th Dan on him in April 1992. In 2008, the JKA conferred the 10th Dan on the Master. He retired from the post of Chief Instructor in October 2009 due to ill health and old age at the age of 85. He is succeeded by Ueki sensei.