THE HISTORY
The founder who started it all.
Shihan Kiyoshi Arakaki
Shihan Kiyoshi Arakaki, the founder of Okinawan Muso Kai, was born in 1954 and was the first son of Dr. Selei Arakaki and Yoshiko Arakaki. His passion for karate began at a young age, as he founded the first karate club at Kamihara Junior High School. Inspired to master karate by Sensei Shin’ei Kyan, a 9th-degree black belt, Shihan Kiyoshi Arakaki went on to open a dojo in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he taught the ancient form of Okinawan Karate.
Shihan Kiyoshi Arakaki's early life
Okinawa Karate Do Muso Kai was founded by Shihan Kiyoshi Arakaki in the early 1980s; however, his passion and journey started back in his teen years. Born in Naha, Okinawa, to Dr. Seiei Arakaki and Yoshiko Arakaki, Shihan Arakaki was determined at a young age to master karate, beginning his journey at Kamihara Junior High School, where, in his teenage years, he helped found the first Karate Club and became a key member. There were many people who influenced Shihan Arakaki’s life and karate, such as Sensei Kyuyu Kinjo, who became the head of the Tozan-Ryu karate style and Shihan Arakaki’s 5th and 6th grade teacher. One sensei in particular who influenced Shihan Arakaki’s life and karate was Sensei Shin’ei Kyan, who was a distant relative of his mother and a ninth-degree Black Belt from Grand Master Shoshin Nagamine, the founder of the Shorin-Ryu karate style. Being one of the highest-ranked karate-ka, he helped Master Nagamine establish Shorin-Ryu.
Sensei, Shin'ei Kyan
As a karate-ka, Sensei Kyan specialized in the Sai and Bo. His Sai and Bo techniques were legendary and he was considered by many to be the best Sai master in the world. His Sai kata, “Kyan no Sai”, is still practiced worldwide and Muso Kai’s Bo Kata, “Shirotaro No Kun” was also taught by him. Beyond just martial arts, Sensei Kyan was a renowned statesman, helping lead Okinawa out of US occupation. Sensei Kyan led successful island-wide movements and once Okinawa became a Japanese Prefecture, he was elected to be a member of the Japanese House of Councilors and the Senate. Shihan Arakaki wasn’t able to learn many karate techniques from Sensei Kyan due to his political duty keeping him busy, however, he was able to learn about Sensei Kyan’s work as a statesman. Sensei Kyan greatly influenced Shihan Arakaki’s life, shaping his views on martial arts as well as on society as a whole and leading him to make Muso Kai’s mission about making karate’s ideas valuable to people in society, a mission that was later reinforced during his time working with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India.
Sensei, Ten'ei Taba
In Kamihara Junior High School, the instructor of the Karate club was Sensei Ten’ei Taba, another early student of Grandmaster Shoshin Nagamine.
Shihan Arakaki was a key member of the club and trained in the old Okinawan karate kata such as Naifanchi, Pinan, and Gojushiho. Once Shihan entered Naha High School, he started training under Grandmaster Shoshin Nagamine.
The Kakurebushi
Along with training in the Karate Club, Shihan Arakaki also learned practical fighting techniques from the Kakurebushi, or “Hidden Warriors”. All instruction from a Kakurebushi was one on one, only after you had been introduced as a serious karate student by a close friend or family member. These “Hidden Warriors”, some of whom had vast knowledge and talent in various aspects of martial arts, were not instructors looking for students. They were everyday people who had trained for years, typically alone, and therefore did not gain popularity in society as martial artists. The Kakurebushi’s techniques were often different from what Shihan Arakaki learned in the Karate Club and dojo. These techniques were smaller, much more subtle, and simple and direct. At the time, Shihan Arakaki did not understand the meaning, differences, and importance between their techniques; this would be something that he would spend the rest of his life reconciling and trying to understand. After being introduced to the Kakurebushi, Shihan Arakaki would train under them and learn many of the old Karate techniques and their origins. In this era, with the Kakurebushi, Karate was still considered a secretive art, largely taught and passed down by one master to one pupil. Shihan Arakaki is one of the last generations of Okinawan Karate-Ka who knows of this era and trained under many of the Kakurebushi.
Mother Teresa
As a young man, Shihan Arakaki wondered about the cycle of life and death. He was the eldest son of a doctor whose job was to save lives, but as a Karate-Ka he was learning and teaching martial arts as a way to take lives. This paradox of life and death was something he could not reconcile and was determined to explore further. After the death of one of his close friends and much soul searching, he traveled to India and worked as a volunteer for Mother Teresa at “Missionaries of Charity” in “The Home of the Dying”. As a volunteer, he took care of people in the streets who were dying, and through these experiences, learned that in the end, everyone ends their life peacefully. In that peace, there is no difference between a poor man and a wealthy man, a famous or unknown, young or old. For a man’s life, there is no fear in the end. Knowing that everyone overcomes fear at the end of their life and finds peace gives us the knowledge and courage to overcome our own fear of dying. Using this idea, he was able to answer his own question and incorporate the idea of “using courage to help contribute to society”.
The Start of an organization
Once Shihan Arakaki traveled to the United States to start college, he began teaching Karate at his University’s Karate Club. After he left, he opened a Dojo in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the early 1980s. It was during this time that Full-Contact and other Karate tournaments gained popularity across the world. Shihan Arakaki had questions about ancient karate’s effectiveness in fighting, so like many instructors at the time, he modified the karate techniques and teaching methods to suit the rules of the tournaments. He learned many of these techniques from Grand Master Kancho Joko Ninomiya, the founder of Enshin Kaikan. This was right before Kancho Ninomiya became the All-Japan Karate champion. With hard training, many Muso Kai fighters were very successful in tournaments, winning local, national, and international fights. Each year, Shihan Arakaki would hold his own Full Contact and Koshiki Tournaments in the Spring and Fall. His tournaments would draw fighters from around the US, Canada, and Japan. His dedication and success were recognized internationally, leading him to be named as the President of the American Koshiki Karate Organization by Grand Master Sensei Masayuki (Kukan) Hisataka, the founder of Koshiki Karate and the president of the “All Japan Koshiki Karate-Do Organization, in 1987. It was this same year that the World Karate Organization (Sekai Karate Renmei) and Chairman, Tenth Degree Grand Master Sensei Eiichi Eriguichi, promoted him to sixth degree. Currently, Shihan Arakaki holds a seventh-degree black belt. However, in this era, the kata he taught was only used to win kata tournaments, requirements for promotion tests, and/ or demonstrations to appeal to general audiences. There was no connection between how to fight and the kata itself. So even though a vague application to fighting existed within the kata, it felt like a scene in a movie, something that was consistent with most Karate Styles.
PRESENT DAY
Through the hardships and struggles, Shihan Kiyoshi Arakaki managed to stand strong and still teach students the importance of Muso-kai all around the world: Connecticut, Utah, and Japan. While karate is what he teaches, Shihan Kiyoshi Arakaki hopes to create the best version of his students and make the world a better place.
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