Kaicho T. Nakamura

Grandmaster Tadashi Nakamura was born on February 22, 1942 in Karafuto, one of Japan's northern islands now claimed by Russia. Like many other students from upper middle class families, he went to the University and received degrees in architecture and psychology with the intention of entering business. However destiny willed otherwise.

Influenced by his elder brothers who were black belt holders in Wado-ryu and Goju-ryu, Tadashi began learning Karate in 1953 at the age of eleven, under "Big Bull" Master Masutatsu Oyama. A few years later he became the youngest person in Japan to receive a Black Belt in Kyokushinkai-kan Karate. In 1961, at nineteen, he debuted on the tournament scene with a first place triumph at the All-Japan Student Open Karate Championship. He began instructing at Camp Zama, a U.S. military base near Tokyo, and coached the highly prestigious Toho Medical University karate team. In 1962, he became a national hero after knocking out the Thai kickboxing champion in a match to determine which nation had the superior martial art. He went on to earn his Seventh Dan and assume duties as chief instructor at the Kyokushinkai Honbu (Headquarters) in Tokyo.

In 1966, Master Oyama entrusted upon him the challenging task of bringing the true spirit of karate to New York. Thus Tadashi Nakamura began the slow, arduous journey towards building a karate school in a strange new world. In the ensuing years, the Kyokushinkai Organization grew steadily. In 1971 he was named chairman of the North American Kyokushinkai Organization and traveled extensively, holding demonstrations, seminars and clinics.

After over a decade of dedicated work for the growth of Kyokushinkai-kan in America, Tadashi Nakamura formally resigned from the organization for personal reasons in 1976. It was a time of true challenge. He was thirty four years old. He had been devoted to karate for over twenty years under the same teacher. The task fell upon him now to uphold the spirit of karate that he had learned to respect and obey.

Thus was born the art and philosophy of Seido Karate, and Kaicho Nakamura set up the World Seido Karate Organization with its headquarters at New York City, on October 15 1979. It is now a worldwide martial arts organization with thriving branches in such diverse places as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, South America, India and, of course, Japan, all closely monitored by the Grandmaster. Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura currently lives in New York with his wife and three children.