Tomoji Miyamoto Sensei: Life and Technique
Master Tomoji (Tomotsugu) Miyamoto, 5th Dan Shotokai, lifelong disciple of Shigeru Egami.
Tomoji Miyamoto was born in 1946, graduated as a lawyer at Chuo University. He has a fifth dan (the highest level given by Gichin Funakoshi and in Shotokai), is a Shotokan instructor (ie Shotokan Dojo, Shotokai Hombu Dojo in Japan, reconstruction of the original) and physical education teacher at Chuo University. He also teaches at the University of Agriculture in Tokyo and at the University of Seijo.
He was the right hand of Shigeru Egami in the Shotokan. In Master Egami's book "Karate, Beyond technique", Miyamoto Sensei is the technical photo model.
Archival Insight: Master Miyamoto in the Egami Household
In Kimikagesō, Chiyoko Egami warmly recalls Tomoji Miyamoto as one of the most devoted young practitioners who supported Master Egami during the 1960s and 1970s. As a Chuo University student and later physical education educator, Miyamoto was the trusted technical model for Master Egami's definitive book The Way of Karate: Beyond Technique (1976), and filmed the foundational kata archive with an on-camera introduction by Master Egami. (Earlier in 1970, Hiroyuki Aoki and Rakutenkai had posed for Karate-do: For the Specialist). His effortless rootedness and gentle humility made him a central figure in preserving orthodox Shotokai for future generations.
Read more about Master Miyamoto and his contemporaries in the Kimikagesō Masters & Disciples Dossier.
In-Depth Historical Dossiers: Master Miyamoto and Shigeru Egami
Explore our comprehensive three-part historical investigation based on Master Tomoji Miyamoto's firsthand archival testimonies:
- Tomoji Miyamoto: The Ideal Adult and a Decade Dedicated to Master Egami: The complete chronicle of Miyamoto's university ordeal, the famous hot spring encounter, family losses, and his decade of total devotion at the Shotokan.
- The 1970s Egami Kata Film: Tomoji Miyamoto and the Concept of the 'Draft': The grueling one-day 16mm filming of all 16 Shotokan kata and Master Egami's pedagogical vision of a universal starting point (tatakidai).
- Shigeru Egami's Technical Revolution: Soft Karate, the Penetrating Strike, and Budo Sparring: Technical evolution from rigid clashes to penetrating soft power, Hoken Inoue's influence, and why Shotokai rejected tournament kumite.
