Teruyuki Okazaki, 1931–2020: The Six-Month Posting That Lasted Sixty Years
Teruyuki Okazaki helped design the Japan Karate Association’s instructor course, then went to Philadelphia in 1961 on what was meant to be a six-month assignment. He stayed for the rest of his life, built one club into the International Shotokan Karate Federation, and in 2007 led it out of the JKA. He died in Philadelphia on 21 April 2020, aged 88.
- Full name
- Teruyuki Okazaki
- Born
- 22 June 1931, Fukuoka, Japan
- Died
- 21 April 2020, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, aged 88
- Art
- Shotokan karate
- Trained under
- Masatoshi Nakayama, and Gichin Funakoshi, at Takushoku University
- Founded
- International Shotokan Karate Federation (ISKF), Philadelphia, 1977
- Books
- The Textbook of Modern Karate (1984, with Milorad Stricevic); Perfection of Character (2006)
- Successor
- His nephew, Hiroyoshi Okazaki, now ISKF chairman
The instructor course
Okazaki began karate at Takushoku University in the late 1940s and graduated in 1953. When the JKA created its instructor training course in the mid-1950s, he was one of the people who built it and, by the ISKF’s account, its first coach, working with Masatoshi Nakayama to combine traditional training with modern physical education. Its graduates became the JKA’s instructors around the world.
Philadelphia, 1961
In 1961 the JKA sent Okazaki to Philadelphia. NPR reported that the assignment was meant to last six months. He stayed, and over the following decades built a network: university programs at Temple from 1970 and at Penn, Drexel and other schools; a dojo in West Philadelphia; an annual summer camp; and systems for certifying instructors, examiners and judges. In 1977 he founded the International Shotokan Karate Federation with his dojo as its headquarters. By its later years the ISKF reported member dojos in more than 40 countries.
The break with the JKA
In June 2007 the ISKF left the JKA after a dispute with the JKA’s new board over its rules. Okazaki, who had been one of the JKA’s most senior instructors for half a century, took his federation independent. He received a tenth-degree rank in October 2007 and stepped back from active leadership in later years; his nephew, Hiroyoshi Okazaki, succeeded him as head of the ISKF.
Death
Okazaki died in Philadelphia on 21 April 2020, aged 88, of complications of the coronavirus, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. He was survived by his wife, Linda, his nephew Hiroyoshi, a stepson, a brother and two step-grandchildren.
What a school owner should take from Teruyuki Okazaki
Okazaki built his organization the way durable businesses are built: by turning a teacher into a system. Certification for instructors, examiners and judges meant the ISKF’s standard did not depend on him being in the room.
He also used institutional partners to reach students. University programs gave him a steady flow of adult students and a credibility no storefront could buy.
And he settled his succession inside the family, naming a nephew who had trained under him for decades. The ISKF did not have to fight over who came next.
Quick answers
- Who was Teruyuki Okazaki?
- Teruyuki Okazaki (1931–2020) was a Japanese Shotokan karate master who helped create the JKA instructor course, moved to Philadelphia in 1961 and founded the International Shotokan Karate Federation in 1977.
- Why did the ISKF leave the JKA?
- In 2007 the ISKF left the JKA after a dispute with the JKA’s new board over its rules.
- Who succeeded Teruyuki Okazaki?
- His nephew, Hiroyoshi Okazaki, who leads the ISKF.
- When did Teruyuki Okazaki die?
- He died in Philadelphia on 21 April 2020, aged 88, of complications of the coronavirus.
Sources, and what we could not confirm
Sources: the Philadelphia Inquirer obituary (April 2020) for his death, cause, university teaching, the ISKF’s founding and his survivors; NPR (May 2020) for the six-month assignment; the English Wikipedia biographies of Okazaki and the ISKF for his career, books and the 2007 split; and the ISKF’s own history (labelled promotional) for the instructor course and his rank.
Conflicts printed rather than smoothed over. His birth year is 1931 in most sources and 1932 in one memorial. He began karate in 1947 by the ISKF’s account and 1948 by Wikipedia’s. NPR described the cause of death as suspected COVID-19; the Inquirer reported complications of the coronavirus, and we follow the Inquirer.
Not independently documented. The ISKF’s membership and country counts, which are its own.
Corrections. See our editorial policy. If you trained under Okazaki, we want to hear from you.