Shogo Kuniba

Kosei Kokuba was born in Naha City, Okinawa in 1901 the youngest son of a samurai family descended from the Sho-Shi royal family of Okinawa. At the age of 14, he began karate training in the dojo of Masto Motobu Choki. In 1924 he moved to Tokyo, Japan and in 1940 he settled in Osaka where he began training students in the Okinawan style which he had studied. On June 6, 1943 Kokuba founded Seishin Kan Dojo.

Later, when his friends from Okinawa, Motobu and Kenwa Mabuni came to Osaka, he gave them room and board in exchange for their teaching at the Seishin Kan Dojo. Kokuba taught the Motobu style of Karate and upon Motobu's death in 1947, he became the Soke or family head of Motobu-Ha Karate-Do.

In Okinawa the Kanji characters for Kosei Kokuba are pronounced as Kosei Kokuba but in Japan, the same characters are pronounced as Yukimori Kuniba. To avoid confusion he changed the pronunciation of the family name to Kuniba.

On February 5, 1935 Master Kuniba's son Shogo was born in Yamanashi prefecture near Mt. Fuji in the city of Fuji-Yoshida-Shi. The son began his karate training at the age of 5 in his father's dojo. At the age of eight he was sent to study with Tomoyori Ryusei of Kenyu Ryu. Master Kuniba wanted his son to be a true samurai as were his ancestors and, as a true samurai, of 8, Shogo also began to study judo in an Osaka Dojo. He continued his training in Judo for ten years and earned a sandan rank.

In 1947 at the age of 12, he bagan training with Master Mabuni in Shito-Ryu and was soon promoted by Mabuni Sensei to Shodan in Karate. In 1950 he was promoted to Nidan by Master Mabuni and Master Tomoyori and in 1952 earned a Sandan rank.

As a high school student, Shogo was president of his karate club. At the age of seventeen, he began teaching karate at Osaka Prefecture University and there is still a branch dojo of Seishin Kai ther today. After high school, he trained in Karate at Keio University and later trained at Doshisha University while he was a student there.

In 1955 Shogo was promoted to Yondan by Tomoyori Sensei. During that year he was also promoted to Sandan in Iaiso and Yondan in Kobudo. In 1956 he traveled to his father's homeland of Okinawa where he trained with Master Nagamine Shojin in this style of Shorin-Ryu. While in Okinawa, he studied Kobudo with Taira Shinken and Nakaima Kenko of Ryuei Ryu. With Yamaguchi Junko, he studied the use of the tonfa.

In 1983 he opened a Hombu Dojo in the USA in Portsmouth, Va. He then concentrated his efforts on teaching his style of karate-do to the world. The Seishin Kai is growing in the USA and is now beginning to growing in the USA and is now beginning to grow in Europe, Mexico, Israel, Sweden, South America and the West Indies.

Kuniba Soke adhered to the teaching and the philosophies of the Okinawan masters from who he is descended. He believed and taught that the true goals of karate-do are the development of patience, self-discipline, humility and inner strength (ki).