KAICHO T. NAKAMURA
KAICHO is the Founder and Chairman of the World Seido Karate Organization.
A world-renowned karateka, Nakamura is a ninth dan (degree) black belt with over 60 years of experience practicing and teaching martial arts.
Kaicho began his karate training in 1953 at age eleven. His first experiences were in the Goju style under the instruction of Kei Miyagi Sensei, the son of the founder of the style. In 1956, he began studying with Masutatsu Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin Karate, and in 1959 he earned his shodan rank. At the time, he was the youngest Kyokushin student in Japan to earn a black belt.
In 1961, at age nineteen, Kaicho debuted on the tournament scene with a first place triumph in the All-Japan Student Open Karate Championship. The following year, he became a Japanese national hero by knocking out a Thai kickboxing champion in a match to determine which nation had the superior martial art. Kaicho would win many more tournaments throughout his competition career.
Around this time, he also began teaching. He served as the chief instructor at Camp Zama, a U.S. military base near Tokyo, from 1961 to 1965, and coached the Toho Medical University karate team for three years.
While earning his seventh dan, Kaicho served as the Chief Instructor at the Kyokushin Karate Honbu in Tokyo.
In 1966, Nakamura was personally selected by Masutatsu Oyama to help bring the true spirit of karate to America. He moved to New York City and began teaching at a small dojo in Brooklyn. He served as the American head of Kyokushin Karate for a decade, before respectfully withdrawing in 1976. The same year, he established the World Seido Karate Organization, which reflected his own beliefs about the true meaning of karate. With the principles of love, respect, and obedience as a foundation, Nakamura created Seido (“sincere way”) to ensure that his students would develop spiritually and morally, as well as physically. Today, Seido Karate has thriving branches in 18 countries with more than 20,000 students worldwide, and the New York Honbu is one of the largest martial arts schools in the world.
While performing many duties as the chairman of the World Seido Karate Organization and the Seido Juku Benefit Foundation, Kaicho Nakamura is first and foremost an instructor of karate, teaching classes and meditation lectures at Seido Honbu and Seido’s Westchester branch, Johshin Honzan. He remains committed to helping students reach their full potential, as both karateka and individuals.
