Karate Union of Great Britain
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The Karate Union of Great Britain, or KUGB is an association of Shotokan Karate clubs and Karateka operating across Great Britain, with also some affiliations overseas. It was founded in 1966 to be a democratic, not-for-profit organisation. Other British organisations have since formed from splits with the KUGB, including SEKU.[1] The KUGB is currently affiliated to ESKA and WSKA
The organisation consists of over 400 clubs, all of which practice Shotokan Karate, the KUGB operated as the British arm of the JKA until the death from cancer of chief instructor Keinosuke Enoeda. Following the death of Enoeda, the KUGB elected Andy Sherry as chief instructor.[citation needed] Sherry now holds the rank of 8th Dan and continues to lead the KUGB.
Historically, the KUGB had enjoyed a well established affiliation to the JKA (Japan Karate Association), however after the death of Keinosuke Enoeda in 2003 a disagreement regarding his successor resulted in the KUGB withdrawing from the JKA. A new UK karate organisation, JKA England, headed by Yoshinobu Ohta was formed. The JKA claimed ownership of their "rising sun" or "inyo" logo which had been the logo of the KUGB for many years, and since 2003, the KUGB have adopted the new logo shown above.
The KUGB was amongst the karate organisations which joined Karate England, the national governing body set up by the British Sports Council to regulate competitive (WKF) karate (the style recognised by the International Olympic Committee as a candidate for Olympic status). The KUGB chief instructor, Andy Sherry was appointed as technical director and the KUGB national administrator, Bob Poynton was appointed secretary.
It is the largest single-style (i.e. governing only one form of karate) karate association in the UK. [2] The KUGB is organised on a regional basis, within England there are 3 regions, Southern, Central and Northern. Each region has its own committee and chairman, and organises its own annual regional championships, which attract many entries from all ages.
Each year the KUGB organise a number of regional and national competitions and regularly send squads to represent them at international events, recently winning the senior male team kumite event at the 2007 World Shotokan Karate Association Championships. Traditionally the KUGB has used the shobu-ippon scoring system within its competitions, however, in recent years it has sent squads to compete within the less traditional WKF scoring system as a result of its links with KARATE ENGLAND.
