M. A. Gallardo | The Shotokai Karate Encyclopedia

Training in Concepción

I started training Shotokai karate-do at Universidad de Concepción, Chile, around 1992 or 1993, and kept training for about fifteen years.

I earned my black belt after about three years. At times that meant six hours of training a day, for months. Along the way came the traditional 100 km nonstop walk from Concepción to Laja, which takes about 24 hours, and two summer gasshuku (special training camps).

What a gasshuku looked like

If you've never been to one, here's roughly what each of those camps involved:

Three days of long sessions of basic techniques, kicks and punches.
Kumite sessions of one to two hours, done as attack-and-defense exchanges, not free sparring.
A 90-minute session in kiba-dachi.
Training on ground of dirt, rocks and spiny plants.
A session of techniques in pitch dark.

Guadalajara

Later I moved to Mexico as an instructor and founded the group Shotokai Karate Budo Guadalajara. Shotokai Karate Budo is the name Humberto Heyden established for his group's style.

Stepping back

In the end I couldn't give Shotokai more of my time than my family. Keeping both my finances and my family afloat took a lot of work, so I chose to step back from any official role. I'm still connected to the training in spirit, just not officially, and I don't represent any group or person.

That independence is part of what this site is for: unbiased information, open to everyone who trains in the traditional way.

This website

I started this site in 1995 for the karate academy at Universidad de Concepción, and it has been online ever since, first on udec.cl, then shotokai.cl and, from around 1999, shotokai.com. After years of gathering dust, I've revived it to support traditional karate. You can read the full story, and how the material is sourced and corrected, on the About page.

Found an error, or want to send historical material? Write to [email protected].