Richard Kim (1917-2001) was a Hawaii-born karate teacher who trained in Japan and China, taught in San Francisco from 1959, and wrote The Weaponless Warriors.

Did Richard Kim teach Peter Urban?

Yes. Peter Urban trained under Kim as a live-in student in Yokohama in 1953, and Kim later promoted him to sixth degree.

What is The Weaponless Warriors?

Richard Kim's 1974 book of stories about the great masters of karate and the martial arts, drawn from his magazine columns.

Richard Kim, 1917–2001: The Classical Man

Richard Kim was a Hawaii-born martial artist who spent his young adulthood training in Japan and China, taught in Yokohama after the war, and settled in San Francisco in 1959. As a teacher, columnist and author of The Weaponless Warriors, he became the storyteller of karate’s history for a generation of Americans. He died on 8 November 2001, aged 83.

Full name: Richard Sun Sung Kim
Born: 17 November 1917, Hawaii (most sources say Honolulu)
Died: 8 November 2001, aged 83
Art: Karate (Shorinji-ryu), with judo, Daito-ryu and Chinese internal arts
Trained under: Including Kotaro Yoshida and Kenichi Sawai
Settled: San Francisco, 1959
Books: The Weaponless Warriors (1974); Kobudo, three volumes; The Classical Man (1999)
Notable students: Peter Urban, Patrick McCarthy, Don Warrener and others

Hawaii, Japan and China

Kim was born in Hawaii and began judo as a small boy and karate in his early teens. In the 1930s he went to Japan, and there and in China he studied under a series of teachers, among them Kotaro Yoshida, whom he regarded as his principal instructor, and Kenichi Sawai. Accounts of his war years differ: Wikipedia says he was taken prisoner at the start of the Pacific war and spent it in China working as a translator; another biography says he served in Shanghai and Hong Kong. We have not been able to settle which is right.

Yokohama and San Francisco

After the war Kim taught in Japan. In Yokohama in 1953 one of his live-in students was a young American sailor, Peter Urban, who went on to bring Goju-ryu to New York; Kim later promoted Urban to sixth degree. In 1959 Kim settled in San Francisco, where he taught for the rest of his life. Black Belt named him its Karate Sensei of the Year in 1967, and in 1980 he served on the coaching staff of the U.S. national karate team.

The storyteller

Kim’s widest influence came through writing. For years he wrote a monthly column about karate history and the old masters; sources place it in Karate Illustrated, and one places it in Black Belt. His 1974 book, The Weaponless Warriors, collected those stories and introduced many American readers to the names of Okinawa’s great teachers. Some of its stories are closer to legend than documented history, and should be read that way. But it made the history of karate something American students cared about.

Death

Kim died on 8 November 2001, aged 83. His rank of tenth degree was presented at his memorial by Hidetaka Nishiyama. We have not found a formal published obituary or a cause of death.

What a school owner should take from Richard Kim

Richard Kim shows that the teacher who tells the story shapes the art. His columns and book made him the authority on karate history for thousands of people who never trained with him.

For a school owner, the lesson is that stories retain students. The history of your art, told well, gives students a sense of belonging to something larger than a class schedule.

Quick answers

Who was Richard Kim?: Richard Kim (1917–2001) was a Hawaii-born karate teacher who trained in Japan and China, taught in San Francisco from 1959, and wrote The Weaponless Warriors.
Did Richard Kim teach Peter Urban?: Yes. Peter Urban trained under Kim as a live-in student in Yokohama in 1953, and Kim later promoted him to sixth degree.
What is The Weaponless Warriors?: Richard Kim’s 1974 book of stories about the great masters of karate and the martial arts, drawn from his magazine columns.
When did Richard Kim die?: He died on 8 November 2001, aged 83.

Sources, and what we could not confirm

Sources: the English Wikipedia biography of Richard Kim and the sources it cites; USAdojo‘s profile; a school biography published by one of his lineages (labelled promotional); and our own profile of Peter Urban.

Conflicts printed rather than smoothed over. His birth year is 1917 in most sources and 1919 in one, and one reference gives a birthplace other than Honolulu. His war years are described in two incompatible ways. His column is placed in Karate Illustrated by two sources and in Black Belt by one. One source says he founded the Zen Bei Butoku Kai in 1959; Wikipedia says students founded it after his death.

Not established. His place of death, which one school biography gives as San Diego; his cause of death; and his survivors.

Corrections. See our editorial policy. If you trained under Richard Kim, we want to hear from you.