Announcement

The World Kumite Organization is growing at a rapid pace. Due to this, at the last AGM meeting in March 2010 attended by some 40 Shihans from all over the world, it was agreed that the only way to proceed was to introduce a selection tournament system for those countries with large numbers of Shihans such as Japan, Iran, and Australia. This however, does not affect Executive Members Shihans who have the privilege of bringing 1 fighter in each division (Open Weight and Middle Weight) to represent them at the Kumite Championships. It was agreed that Kancho Shugihara would arrange the Selection tournaments for the Japan Regions.  The inauguration of the WKO Japan will be held at 7:00 p.m. on July 17^th (Sat) in Hotel ILCuore Namba, Osaka.  http://www.ilcuore-namba.com/en/index.html

Japan is divided with 10 regions as listed below:

1. Okinawa Block (the southern edge region of Japan)
2. Kyushu Block (the southern region of Japan)
3. Shikoku Block(the southwest region of Japan)
4. Chugoku Block(the northwest region of Japan)
5. Kinki Block ( the west region of Japan, including Osaka)
6. Toukai Block( the mid-south region of Japan)
7. Hokushinetsu Block(the mid-north region of Japan)
8. Kanto Block( the east region of Japan, Tokyo area)
9. Tohoku Block(the northeast of Japan)
10. Hokkaido Block( the northern region of Japan)

A chief of block is selected in each block and many karate sects in each region are handled by a block chief.

Over 100 sect groups belong to the WKO Japan currently.