Kancho Shokei Matsui
President, IKO Kyokushinkaikan, Tokyo, Japan.
Kancho Shokei (Akiyoshi) Matsui was born in 1963. In 1976, he joined the Kita Nagare-Yama Dojo in the Chiba prefecture of Japan and commenced his illustrious karate career at the age of 13. He quickly established a firm reputation for being a karate man of exceptional skill and ability, with a highly individual, technically superior style of fighting. He took the basics he learnt in the dojo, and through intense and dedicated training, he made these techniques work for him, managing to achieve Shodan (first degree) Black Belt in a little over a year.
In 1980, Matsui placed fourth in the 12th All Japan Open Karate Championships when he was just 17. Soon after, he became Chief Instructor of the International Kyokushin Headquarters "Honbu" Dojo in Tokyo, Japan. Both in 1981 and 1982, Matsui took 3rd Place in the All Japan Open Karate Championships and then 8th place at the same event in 1983. |
He earned worldwide recognition and admiration for his amazing spirit, strength, and determination when he took a remarkable Third place finish at the 3rd World Open Karate Tournament in 1984. He succeeded in winning the All Japan Championships in each of 1985 and 1986, and then successfully completed the ultimate Kyokushin challenge, the "100 Man Kumite" in record time. In Japan, students around the world continue to try and capture some of the essence of Kancho's style of fighting in their own training. Sosai Mas Oyama used to call him "a true champion"; he became known as the man of "unparalleled genius", one who comes along but once in an eon, and then in 1987 became the youngest ever Champion of the World at the age of 24. In May of 1992, Matsui opened his own Karate Dojo (School) in Asakusa, Tokyo and was later appointed Branch Chief by Sosai Mas Oyama. |
On April 26, 1994, founder Sosai Mas Oyama regrettably passed away, leaving the Directorship of the worldwide organization to Matsui, who became "Kancho" (Director). In the wake of the Sosai's untimely death, and despite the well-documented backlash concerning his appointment, Kancho Matsui forged ahead that year staging the 11th All Japan Weight Tournament and the 27th All Japan Championships, the latter with a record 16,000 spectators in attendance. The following year, he produced the hugely successful, 6th World Open Karate Tournament, to which 168 fighters from all over the world competed and more than 25,000 spectators witnessed.
Kancho Shokei Matsui has planned, produced and presented numerous groundbreaking martial arts events to the world, including inaugurating the "World Cup"-Team Karate Championships, the "Women's World Karate Championships", the "World Weight Category Karate Championships", the "International Senior Karate Championships", the "International Kata Championships" and the "International Youth Karate Championships", to which nearly 2,000 competitors aged 4-17 from around the world participated. These events are in addition to continuing the grand legacy Mas Oyama began by presenting the once-every-four-year, World Open Karate Tournament, an event that has grown to become the largest, most revered and renowned martial arts competition the world has ever seen. |
Ultimately, the stature of the man is confirmed in his designation as Sosai Oyama' successor in Sosai's last will, and he now heads arguably the largest karate organization in the world. Currently, the International Karate Organization has over 15 million members in 167 countries. While simultaneously managing the organization from its headquarters in Japan, Kancho Matsui travels to Branches around the globe to teach and spread the spirit of the Kyokushin Way to countries and cultures everywhere.