The term ‚SHUKOKAI‘ refers to a philosophy of karate schools and practitioners ‚training together amicably‘ – collaboratively sharing knowledge, ideas and experience without compromising individual identity and undisturbed by politics.

“Shukokai” defines our association in two ways: 

• technically – we practice Shitoryu karate
• philosophically – we are guided by the ideal of training collaboratively together without the imposition of hierarchy or of unnecessary rules and restrictions.

This philosophy is fundamental to the SSWU and it means:

• we are a democratic, not-for-profit organisation run exclusively for the benefit of its members and their students;
• we have an international base of instructors providing training, grading and competition opportunities in Japan, Europe, Australia, Asia and the US;
• we are a collaborative network building strong relationships between like-minded practitioners, promoting the development and evolution of Shitoryu worldwide;
• we aim to deepen our knowledge and understanding of traditional budo while developing modern approaches to practice and training to enhance the learning experience for instructors and students alike.

We welcome new instructors, associations and clubs to join us (however big or small).   So if you want to broaden your practice and be part of a karate community which will offer training, grading and competition opportunities in Japan and the rest of the world – and which will allow you to teach in your own way, without imposing unnecessary rules, expenses, logos, merchandise etc, you might like to find out more about us…