Early years In 1959, the original Japan Karate Federation, formally known as the Federation of All Japan Karatedo Organizations (FAJKO), was formed to be a unifying organization to bring karate schools together by the Karate world leaders. They were chairman Choko Sai, the head of the
Shudokan of
Kanken Tōyama, and vice chairmen Konishi from Shindō Jinen-ryū, Hiroshi Kinjo from Kanbukan, Otsuka Hinorori from
Wado-Ryu, Tatsuo Yamada from Japan Kenpo Karate, and Shinkin Gima from
Shotokan.
New Formation On October 1, 1964, the original Japan Karate Federation, which changed its own name to
Japan Karate Renbukai, handed over its organization name to the new united league, such as
Gōgen Yamaguchi of
Goju-ryu,
Ōtsuka Hironori of
Wadō-ryū,
Nakayama Masatoshi of
Shotokan,
Mabuni Kenei and Iwata Manzao of
Shitō-ryū, in addition to the
Japan Karate Rengokai, which was founded by
Ryōichi Sasakawa. This unified all the Karate organizations in Japan. Japan Karate Renbukai later changed its name to the
JKF Renbukai, and then became an official member of the new JKF as a group, encompassing
Bōgu uniformed Karate. Japan instilled "a uniform order in Karate", recognizing the four major schools,
Goju-kai,
Wado-Kai,
Shotokan and
Shito-kai. In 1967,
Ryoichi Sasakawa became its chairman. On January 13, 1969, the JKF was officially incorporated as a central umbrella body for the four partner organizations and recognized under the
Cabinet of Japan. In December in the same year, the All Japan Karate Championships were held at the
Nippon Budōkan in Tokyo. The JKF also works with organizations using the
traditional styles of karate. In October 1970, the JKF became a member of the
World Karate Federation (WKF). On March 29, 1972, JKF became a member of the
Japan Sports Association (JSA). In 1978, the JKF first participated in the
National Sports Festival in
Matsumoto, Nagano. In 1981, Karate became an official game event of the National Sports Festival. Traditionally, karate organizations followed disparate competition rules.
Japan Karate Association (JKA) attempted to standardize such rules. They addressed conflicts between the organizations that teach
Kyokushin, a full-contact karate style, and other non-member organizations such as
Seidokaikan. On December 11, 2009, the JKF started building a new headquarters named the Japan Karate Kaikan in
Koto-ku, Tokyo. The JKF became a member of the
Nippon Budokan (Japan Martial Arts Council). The JKF has been officially participating at the
Asian Games,
East Asian Games and the
IOC-sponsored
World Games as an official competition. The construction of the new Japan Karate Kaikan was completed and opened in November 2011. As a member of the
Japan Olympic Association (JOA), the JKF has been putting efforts to include Karate into the Olympics as an official game along with other affiliated Karate organizations. In May 2016, it was announced that
The Emperor’s Cup and
The Empress’s Cup will be given to the champions of Japan Cup Karatedo. The ceremony of notification was held at the
Imperial Household Agency and the Emperor’s Cup and the Empress’s Cup were commissioned in the presence of Mr. Michiyasu Takahashi, Deputy Commissioner of the Japan Sports Agency on May 17, 2016. On August 3, 2016, the IOC approved Karate as one of the five new sports for
Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. ==Ranking system==