2002 NPO
Nihon Karate Shotokai Gifu Prefecture New Years Party

At 6pm on Saturday, January 26, the Gifu Prefecture New Year’s Party was held at the Gifu Grand Hotel after the standing chairman committee met from 3pm and the district leaders meeting from 4pm. The room was filled with important guests, including Iwao Matsuda Sensei, Counselor and Special Advisor, and parents from each dojo. The place was full of energy to start the new year’s party. The wonderfulness of having 248 people together through Karate-do is a reflection of the figure of Chogo Tanaka Sensei who lives Karate-do and leads 31 districts. This year, in respect of Tanaka Sensei, the famous Chinese Calligrapher, Chin Haisenn, and Tadashi Nagahisa Sensei and Painter Miharu Ito, who are members of the French Artist Committee (Le Salon) joined us. The wonderful calligraphy by Chin Sensei, the Japanese paining of the Shokawa Sakura that lived through the hard wind and snow, and the history by Painter Ito, were enjoyed and greatly appreciated at the party.

　On February 8^th, Wheel Chair Karate started at the Heartfull Square Gymnasium which is on the 1^st floor of JR Gifu Station. The ceremony started with an introduction by Ono Taiku Kacho from Gifu City Education Committee. After speeches by Itsuro Matsui, President of Gifu City committee and Seiji Ando, Superintendent of Education of Gifu city, one wheelchair was donated to Gifu city by Gifu Prefecture Shotokai. In return, Superintendent Ando presented an appreciation letter to Tanaka Sensei. Five people with wheelchairs came to see this ceremony and were introduced by Mr. Matsui, President of Gifu City committee. To celebrate the start of the Wheelchair Karate, Kanichi Sonohara Shihan’s students from Karate club at Chukyou Gakuin University (Kouji Yano, Yusuke Takahashi, Hidemi Kido, all Juniors) and Kumiko Kato Shidoin (employee at the university) did a demonstration of Kata. From Gifu Prefecture, Shozo Oshima shiman and Yukio Ishii Sensei participated the ceremony.Wheelchair Karate was introduced by Tetsuhiko Asasi Shuseki Shihan on July 7^th 2000 in Yokohama for the first time in the world. The first World Wheelchair Karate championship was help on September 28^th and 29^th 2001 at Tokyo Yoyogi National Gymnasium with the sponsorship of the Cabinet、the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, the Japan ParaOlympic　Committee, and the Yokohama City Organization for Handicapped People. With Wheelchair Karate, it is possible for everyone, including men, women, children, elderly, handicapped, and not handicapped, to enjoy the sport in the same place with the same conditions. This was created as a new type of sport by Asai Shuseki Shihan based on his study and research on Karate-do - a martial arts to protect oneself. Now this is becoming a new trend.
(There was an article about this in Chunichi Newspaper on February 10^th.)