Steve Arneil
Encyclopedia
Steve Arneil is a prominent South African-British master
of Kyokushin karate
. He learned directly from Masutatsu Oyama and was a senior instructor in Oyama's International Karate Organization
(IKO) until 1991, when he resigned from the IKO. Arneil is the founder and President of the International Federation of Karate (IFK), holds the rank of 10th dan
, and holds the title Hanshi. He and his wife settled in the United Kingdom in 1965.
, Transvaal
, South Africa. When he was 10 years old, his family moved to Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), and he began training in judo
there. At age 16, he was selected to represent Northern Rhodesia in rugby. By the age of 17, Arneil had earned black belt
status in judo, and he had also practised kenpo
and karate. He moved to Durban
, South Africa, for tertiary studies in mechanical engineering.
In Durban, Arneil trained at a judo dojo
(training hall) that also offered karate training. He made a practice of going down to the harbour and asking arriving Japanese people if they practised karate; if they did, he would invite them to training at the dojo. In 1959, Arneil left South Africa, bound for Southeast Asia.
, Wado-ryu, and Goju-ryu (under Gogen Yamaguchi
). In the course of these studies, the name "Oyama" was mentioned to him by several people, including Yamaguchi, and this aroused his curiosity. In January 1961, through Donn Draeger
, Arneil began to study Kyokushin karate under Masutatsu Oyama. He recalled that, unlike the other karate schools he had visited in Japan (who had welcomed him with minimal reservation), Oyama's Kyokushin school was selective; on their first meeting, Oyama told Arneil, "Remember, you asked me to train, I didn’t ask you. You don’t follow the rules, you out. Understand?"
Arneil was promoted to the rank of 1st dan in Kyokushin karate on 15 May 1962, and attained 2nd dan on 16 April 1963. He was later 'adopted' by Oyama, in order to allow him to marry a Japanese woman in 1964. Of his wife, Tsuyuko Arneil, he has said, "She worked in a bank, and she supported both of us when I was training. I didn’t have time for work." Arneil estimated that he trained an average of six hours each day during his time in Japan, with training normally commencing at 10:00 AM and concluding between 10:30 PM to 1:00 AM the next morning.
On 22 May 1965, Arneil became the first person to complete the 100-man kumite
after Oyama himself. The 100-man kumite took him around 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete, with each round scheduled to take 1 minute and 30 seconds (but a round ended if he managed to knock down his opponent). In an interview in 2005, Arneil said, "I did not have to beat everyone I fought, that would have been ridiculous! I just had to keep going, I had to have the spirit not to give up, no matter what they threw at me." On 10 July 1965, Arneil was promoted to 3rd dan.
In late 1965, Arneil and Bob Boulton founded the British Karate Kyokushinkai (BKK) organisation. The BKK's first full-time dojo was opened in Stratford
, east London. In May 1966, Arneil received promotion to the rank of 4th dan. From 1968 to 1976, he was the Team Manager and Coach for the All Styles English and British Karate team which, in 1975/76, became the first non-Japanese team to win the karate World Championship. Arneil was promoted to 5th dan on 15 January 1968, and to 6th dan on 7 October 1974. In 1975, the French Karate Federation awarded him the title of "World's Best Coach." On 6 August 1977, Arneil was promoted to the rank of 7th dan in Kyokushin karate.
Arneil is currently the President of the IFK and the BKK. On 30 May 1992, the British karate community awarded Arneil the rank of 8th dan for his services to karate in the UK. On 26 May 2001, IFK country representatives awarded him the rank of 9th dan at their meeting in Berlin
. Arneil has written several books on karate, including Karate: A guide to unarmed combat (1975, co-authored), Modern Karate (1975, co-authored), Better Karate (1976, co-authored), and Teach yourself: Karate (1993, co-authored). On 23rd July 2011, Arneil was awarded 10th Dan at the 3rd IFK U-18 World Tournament by the IFK as recognition for his commitment to Kyokushin Karate.
Grandmaster (martial arts)
Grandmaster and Master are titles used to describe or address some senior or experienced martial artists. Such titles may be, to some extent, aligned to the elderly martial arts master stock character in fiction...
of Kyokushin karate
Karate
is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
. He learned directly from Masutatsu Oyama and was a senior instructor in Oyama's International Karate Organization
International Karate Organization
The International Karate Organization was founded by Mas Oyama in Japan. Its purpose is to promote and teach the Kyokushin Way around the globe...
(IKO) until 1991, when he resigned from the IKO. Arneil is the founder and President of the International Federation of Karate (IFK), holds the rank of 10th dan
Dan (rank)
The ranking system is a Japanese mark of level, which is used in modern fine arts and martial arts. Originally invented in a Go school in the Edo period, this system was applied to martial arts by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo and later introduced to other East Asia countries.In the modern...
, and holds the title Hanshi. He and his wife settled in the United Kingdom in 1965.
Early life
Arneil was born on 29 August 1934 in KrugersdorpKrugersdorp, Gauteng
Krugersdorp is a mining city with between 378,821 and 408,065 inhabitants in the West Rand of the Gauteng province of South Africa. Krugersdorp was founded in 1887 by Marthinus Pretorius and named after Paul Kruger....
, Transvaal
Transvaal Province
Transvaal Province was a province of the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1961, and of its successor, the Republic of South Africa, from 1961 until the end of apartheid in 1994 when a new constitution subdivided it.-History:...
, South Africa. When he was 10 years old, his family moved to Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), and he began training in judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
there. At age 16, he was selected to represent Northern Rhodesia in rugby. By the age of 17, Arneil had earned black belt
Black belt (martial arts)
In martial arts, the black belt is a way to describe a graduate of a field where a practitioner's level is often marked by the color of the belt. The black belt is commonly the highest belt color used and denotes a degree of competence. It is often associated with a teaching grade though...
status in judo, and he had also practised kenpo
Kenpo
is the name of several Japanese martial arts. The word kenpō is a Japanese translation of the Chinese word "quánfǎ. This term is often informally transliterated as "kempo", as a result of applying Traditional Hepburn romanization, but failing to use a macron to indicate the long vowel...
and karate. He moved to Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
, South Africa, for tertiary studies in mechanical engineering.
In Durban, Arneil trained at a judo dojo
Dojo
A is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way". Initially, dōjōs were adjunct to temples. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts but typically it is considered the formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style to...
(training hall) that also offered karate training. He made a practice of going down to the harbour and asking arriving Japanese people if they practised karate; if they did, he would invite them to training at the dojo. In 1959, Arneil left South Africa, bound for Southeast Asia.
Japan
Arneil travelled to China, South Korea, and Hong Kong before arriving in Japan. He trained in a few karate styles, including ShotokanShotokan
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...
, Wado-ryu, and Goju-ryu (under Gogen Yamaguchi
Gogen Yamaguchi
Jitsumi Gōgen Yamaguchi Jitsumi Gōgen Yamaguchi Jitsumi Gōgen Yamaguchi (山口剛玄, Yamaguchi Gōgen; b.20 January 1909 d.20 May 1989. was a world renown Grandmaster of Japanese Karate-dō and founder of the International Karate-dō Gōjū-kai Association; he was one of the most well known of all...
). In the course of these studies, the name "Oyama" was mentioned to him by several people, including Yamaguchi, and this aroused his curiosity. In January 1961, through Donn Draeger
Donn F. Draeger
Donald 'Donn' Frederick Draeger was an expert practitioner of Asian martial arts, an author of several martial arts books, and a United States Marine...
, Arneil began to study Kyokushin karate under Masutatsu Oyama. He recalled that, unlike the other karate schools he had visited in Japan (who had welcomed him with minimal reservation), Oyama's Kyokushin school was selective; on their first meeting, Oyama told Arneil, "Remember, you asked me to train, I didn’t ask you. You don’t follow the rules, you out. Understand?"
Arneil was promoted to the rank of 1st dan in Kyokushin karate on 15 May 1962, and attained 2nd dan on 16 April 1963. He was later 'adopted' by Oyama, in order to allow him to marry a Japanese woman in 1964. Of his wife, Tsuyuko Arneil, he has said, "She worked in a bank, and she supported both of us when I was training. I didn’t have time for work." Arneil estimated that he trained an average of six hours each day during his time in Japan, with training normally commencing at 10:00 AM and concluding between 10:30 PM to 1:00 AM the next morning.
On 22 May 1965, Arneil became the first person to complete the 100-man kumite
100-man kumite
100-man kumite is an extreme test of physical and mental endurance in Kyokushin karate. Kumite , one of the three main sections of karate training, involves simulated combat against an opponent. The 100-man kumite consists of 100 rounds of kumite, each between one-and-a-half and two minutes in...
after Oyama himself. The 100-man kumite took him around 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete, with each round scheduled to take 1 minute and 30 seconds (but a round ended if he managed to knock down his opponent). In an interview in 2005, Arneil said, "I did not have to beat everyone I fought, that would have been ridiculous! I just had to keep going, I had to have the spirit not to give up, no matter what they threw at me." On 10 July 1965, Arneil was promoted to 3rd dan.
United Kingdom
Originally, Arneil had planned to return to South Africa, but Oyama asked him to go to the United Kingdom to help establish Kyokushin karate there; accordingly, he and his wife travelled to London in 1965. The move was not an easy one. Arneil recalled: "We were greeted by stares, the same stares we had faced in Japan, only this time they were directed at my wife. The war was still on, you see, and the Japanese were seen as the enemy. We had travelled half way round the world and we still faced the same prejudice that we had faced in Japan. That was very hard for both of us." The couple tried to move to Australia, but this failed; Arneil said that "it is purely by chance that we ended up staying in England."In late 1965, Arneil and Bob Boulton founded the British Karate Kyokushinkai (BKK) organisation. The BKK's first full-time dojo was opened in Stratford
Stratford, London
Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...
, east London. In May 1966, Arneil received promotion to the rank of 4th dan. From 1968 to 1976, he was the Team Manager and Coach for the All Styles English and British Karate team which, in 1975/76, became the first non-Japanese team to win the karate World Championship. Arneil was promoted to 5th dan on 15 January 1968, and to 6th dan on 7 October 1974. In 1975, the French Karate Federation awarded him the title of "World's Best Coach." On 6 August 1977, Arneil was promoted to the rank of 7th dan in Kyokushin karate.
Later life
Kyokushin's 5th World Tournament, in 1991, was a significant point in the history of the IKO. Arneil stated simply, "It was a fixed tournament." He claimed that political and financial pressures contributed to the situation, but that "the decider was when Sosai [Oyama] was supposed to meet me in Switzerland, and he didn’t come. I didn’t want to be involved in the politics anymore. I left the IKO, not Kyokushin." That same year, Arneil and the BKK resigned from the IKO, and Arneil then founded his own karate organisation, the IFK.Arneil is currently the President of the IFK and the BKK. On 30 May 1992, the British karate community awarded Arneil the rank of 8th dan for his services to karate in the UK. On 26 May 2001, IFK country representatives awarded him the rank of 9th dan at their meeting in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Arneil has written several books on karate, including Karate: A guide to unarmed combat (1975, co-authored), Modern Karate (1975, co-authored), Better Karate (1976, co-authored), and Teach yourself: Karate (1993, co-authored). On 23rd July 2011, Arneil was awarded 10th Dan at the 3rd IFK U-18 World Tournament by the IFK as recognition for his commitment to Kyokushin Karate.