The Shotokan of England Karate Union (SEKU), founded in 1982 is a federation of Shotokan

Shotokan

is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi and his son Gigo Funakoshi . Gichin was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing karate through a series of public demonstrations, and by promoting the development of university karate clubs, including...

 karate clubs in southern England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, with about thirty clubs from Helston

Helston

Helston is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately 12 miles east of Penzance and nine miles southwest of Falmouth. Helston is the most southerly town in the UK and is around further south than...

 in Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 to Bromley

Bromley

Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...

 in Greater London

Greater London

Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...

. The federation is led by Mick Dewey, 7th dan, who was a student of the late Keinosuke Enoeda

Keinosuke Enoeda

was a Japanese master of Shotokan karate. He was a former Chief Instructor of the Karate Union of Great Britain. Enoeda was ranked 8th dan in Shotokan karate, and was widely renowned as a formidable karateka . Following his death, Enoeda was posthumously awarded the rank of 9th dan.-Early...

.

History

The Shotokan of England Karate Union was founded in 1982 by a group of clubs affiliated to the KUGB. Originally named the South of England Karate Union, a change to Shotokan of England Karate Union was necessary when northern English clubs joined. In 1984, due to the Unions growth, Mick Dewey invited his friend Dave Hazard

Dave Hazard

Dave Hazard born in Bow, east London, in 1952 is a well known British 7th Dan Karateka and instructor of Shotokan karate and was one of the few students present at the very beginning of British Karate. He is a former KUGB national champion and British team member...

 (Hazard was a regular visiting instructor at Brighton Shotokan) to join as technical director of the SEKU. Teaching at Brighton Shotokan was continued by four of the dan-ranked instructors. The instructors were keen to have Dave Hazard teaching in Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

 full time and offered the Club to Hazard. Dave Hazard moved to Brighton in 1985 and built the club into an elite training ground for adults, mainly black and brown belts. Dave Hazard worked within SEKU until 2003 when he left to found the Academy of Shotokan Karate.

Organisation

SEKU's Chief Instructor is Mick Dewey, who holds the rank of 7th dan. The General Secretary is Mervyn O'Donnell. Brian Smith is SEKU's senior Technical Committee Member. SEKU is a member of the Karate England (KE), the Governing Body for Karate in England.

Competitions

SEKU organises two competitions each year, held at the Mountbatten Sports Centre

Stamshaw

Stamshaw is a residential district of Portsmouth, located on the north western corner of Portsea Island in southern England.Much of it consists of dense rows of 'two up, two down' terraced housing built during the late 19th century and early 20th century for dockyard workers and their families...

. An open tournament for invited clubs is held in November and a SEKU competition in May. In 2009 Dave Galloway and his sister Karyn Powell won the mens' and women's sections respectively of the SEKU nationals.

At the 2009 Shobu-Ippon International Shotokan Open at Guildford

Guildford

Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...

 the SEKU mens'kumite team beat Hasha to win gold medals. Dave Galloway won the mens individual kumite and Hannah Day, performing Gojushio Dai, the ladies' black belt kata. At the 2010 Shobu-ippon event SEKU came joint third in the medals table.

Dave Galloway from Portsmouth Karate Club was winner of the open weight mens' kumite at the SKDUN World Championships at Lons-le-Saunier

Lons-le-Saunier

Lons-le-Saunier is a commune and capital of the Jura department in eastern France.-Geography:The town is in the heart of the Revermont region, at the foot of the "premier plateau" of the Jura massif...

, France, defeating Alexandre Clementis from Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

in the final.