The history of our style starts with the life of Choki Motobu , a student of Sokon Matsumura. MOTOBU Choki Choki Motobu was born on Okinawa in 1871 and was the son of an Okinawan noble family. Since Choki was the third son, there was not much time for him and for instruction in the family style. The tradition was for the first son to have the instruction of the family style. Choki would observe his father teaching his brother and incorporate what he saw into his later fights.   Eventually Choki Motobu moved to mainland Japan and with the permission of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai opened a dojo called the “Dai Do Kann” Dojo. This dojo, the "large road hall", was opened to accept and teach all students who wished to learn. This dojo was one of the first to teach women in the martial arts.   There are many interesting stories around Choki Motobu. He was an excellent fighter. He also studied with Kanryo Higashionna and Yasutsune „Anko“ Itosu and developed his unique style, one that made him virtually invincible.   Choki Motobu died 1944 at the age of 73 years.   Kosei Kokuba was born 1901 in the village Kokuba, today’s Naha City, on Okinawa. He was the youngest son or a royal Okinawan family, the Sho Shi family. At the age of 14 years he began with Karate under the guidance of Choki Motobu.   He left his home in 1924 and lived many years near Tokyo in a mountain village called Fuji-Yoshida-Shi, one of the little villages near the mountain Fuji. The Kanji for “Kosei Kokuba” (in Okinawa) were pronounced “Yukomori Kuniba” in Japan. In order to prevent any confusion he changed his family name to “ Kuniba ”.   Kuniba’s son Kosho was born on 5th February 1935 in the Yamanashi prefecture near the mountain Fuji in a village called Fuji Yoshida-Shi. His son began at the age of five with Karate training at his father’s Dojo. Born in a royal family and as Samurai, Sensei Kuniba believed in the old traditions of Samurai training. He taught his son Kosho the true Samurai tradition. At the age of eight he was sent to take lessons from Sensei Tomoyori Ryusei (Kenyu Ryu). Kuniba wanted his son to become a true Samurai like his ancestors and gather the knowledge of all martial arts. Kosho also started to train in Judo in a Dojo in Osaka. He trained in Judo for ten years and reached the 3rd Dan (Sandan).   Kuniba moved to Osaka in 1940 where he opened a shop and also started to teach the Okinawa Karate-Do of the founder Moto. On 6th June 1943 Sensei Kuniba founded the Seishin Kan Dojo. He took parts of this name from the Kanji of the temple “Shotennoji” at the end of the street where he lived. The symbol “Sho” can be either interpreted as “Sho” or “Sei” which means “pure”. Sensei Kuniba believed that the true Karate-Do comes from the heart. This is why he named this Dojo “Seishin”, which means “pure heart”.   Many Okinawan Karate-Ka left their homes during the difficult years of World War 2. Most of them (including Choki Motobu and Kenwa Mabuni) moved to Osaka and visited their old friend Sensei Kuniba. For food and lodging, they taught his young son Kosho private lessons in Seishin Kan Dojo. This Dojo became a famous meeting point in Osaka for Budo men. The training was lead by the men who are known as the founders of the Karate that we practice today.   Sensei Kuniba continued teaching the style of Sensei Motobu and when Sensei Motobu died 1944, Sensei Kuniba became the second Soke or patriarch of Ryu-Kyu Motobu-Ha Karate-Do. His son Kosho started training under the lead of Kenwa Mabuni (Shito-Ryu) and soon was promoted to 1st Dan (Shodan). In 1950, he was promoted to 2nd Dan (Nidan) and in 1952, to 3rd Dan (Sandan) by Mabuni and Tomoyori.   Kosho was elected president of the Karate club as a high school student. At the age of 17 he started to give Karate training lessons at the Osaka prefecture. Even today there is a Seishinkai Dojo at this place. After high school he practiced Karate at the Keio University and later at the Doshisha University during his time as a student.   In 1955 Kosho was promoted to 4th Dan (Yondan) by Sensei Tomoyori. In the same year he was also promoted to 3rd Dan (Sandan) in Iaido and 4th Dan (Yondan) in Kobudo. In 1956 he travelled to Okinawa, the home of his father where he practiced Shojin Shorin-Ryu at Sensei Nagamine. During his time on Okinawa, he studied Kobudo at Taira Shinken and Nakaima Kenko (Ryuei Ryu). At Yamaguchi Junko he practiced the usage of the Tonfa.   In 1957, Kosho published a book with the title KARATE-DO BIN RAN, a text with the basic techniques of his style. In 1958 he was promoted to 5th Dan (Godan) in Motobu-Ha Karate-Do and 6th Dan (Rokudan) in Kobudo.   His father, Sensei Kuniba, continued to give Kosho training until he became ill in 1956. After his father’s death in 1959, the young Kosho became the third Soke of Ryu-Kyu Motobu-Ha Shito-Ryu Karate-Do. At the age of 24 years he was the youngest Soke in Karate in Japan and took over the name “Shogo” which means “strong warrior”.   In 1962, Soke Kuniba was promoted to 6th Dan (Rokudan) in Karate-Do by Nippon Karate-Do Rengo Kai. During his career he received a lot of recognition. One of the highest honours he received was an entry in the Encyclopedia Japonica (a four page article about Karate and Kobudo). In 1966 he was promoted to 7th Dan (Nanadan).   In 1970 he was chosen by Zen Nippon Karate-Do Remnei (today’s Japan Karate Federation) to give a demonstration in the Budo-Kan at the first World Karate-Do Championship in Tokyo, and, in 1972, he was chosen to give a demonstration in the second World Karate-Do Championship in Paris, France.   In 1973 at the age of 38 years he was promoted to 8th Dan (Hachidan) by Rengo-Kai. At the same time, he baptised his system of self defence Goshin-Do, based on his knowledge of Judo, Jiu-Jitsu and Aikido and integrated this art into the structure of Seishinkai.   In addition to his Karate work, Soke Kuniba was one of the first men to participate in a Japanese martial arts movie. He acted in a total of 22 movies in Japan where he displayed his martial arts skills. The last movie was a documentary in 1978 with the title “EIEN NARU BUDO” (eternal martial arts). This movie won the Best Documentary of 1978 award at the Miami film festival. The movie was released in the USA under the title “MASTERS OF THE MARTIAL ARTS”.   Soke Kuniba was also featured in many magazines and newspaper articles in USA and Europe. He was also listed in the 1984 edition of “WHO’S WHO IN AMERICAN MARTIAL ARTS” and the 1985 edition of “MASTERS, FOUNDERS AND LEADERS OF AMERICAN MARTIAL ARTS”.   In 1984, he was promoted to 9th Dan (Kyudan) by Nippon Karate-Do Rengo Kai. And, in1985 he was promoted to 7th Dan (Nanadan) by the Japanese Karate-Do Federation (JFK).   In 1983, he opened a Honbu Dojo in Portsmouth, Virginia, USA where he lived until this death in 1992. After his death he was promoted to 10th Dan by JKF, an honour that has only been granted to four other Japanese sensei, all now deceased.   Kunio Tatsuno became the next Soke of the style Motobu-Ha Shito-Ryu. He was born in Osaka in September 1942 and started with Karate at the age of nine years at Shogo Kuniba. Sensei Tatsuno opened the Seishinkai gates for the whole world. His goal was that Karate would become an Olympic discipline (Olympia 2004). He was the driving force behind the “Karate Promotion Federation“ (WKPF) project, under condition of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that all Karate World Federations would merge. Unfortunately, the project failed due to differences between the federations. Soke Tatsuno died in 1999.   Soke Tatsuno’s successor was Sadatomo Harada . He was born in Osaka in 1936. In March 1954 he started with Shito Ryu Karate at the Kansai University, where Sensei Kenwa Mabuni opened the first Shito-Ryu Karate club. In March 1958 he founded the “All Kansai College Alumni Karate-Do Association” and was their first president. A month later he became vice president of the “Japan Student Karate Federation” and became deputy of the Shihan of Seishinkai Karate-Do. At the start of the Japan Karate Federation” (JKF) in April 1964 he was a material helper. In April 1974 he became President of “Shitoryu Kansai University Alumni Karate-Do Club”. In April 1997 he became Technical Adviser of “Seishinkai Karate-Do Union” and in October 1997, President. Later he became Soke of “Seishinkai Japan“ (9th Dan). In October 1999, he became President of “All Japan Jiu-Jitsu Federation”. In September 2003, he became Soke and honorary President of “International Seishinkai Karate”.   Seishinkai is exclusively chaired by our dojo, we are autonomous. Our organization is a member of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai International Division (DNBK). Since 1st January 2011 we are also members of “Verband asiatischer Kampfkünste e.V.” (VaK) in Germany. All Dan promotions will be additionally handled by VaK and / or DNBK.