GKR Karate
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Go-Kan-Ryu is a style of Karate that was founded by Robert Sullivan in 1984 in Adelaide, Australia. Since then, it has spread throughout Australia, to New Zealand, all around the United Kingdom and is currently starting up in the USA. Go-Kan-Ryu stands for "hard, complete school" in English.
GKR is a non-contact form of martial art. Children as young as 5 are allowed to train. GKR places emphasis on the basics of karate: kata, kihon and kumite, which are inspired by Robert Sullivan's belief in traditional methods of learning karate.
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[edit] Origins
Go Kan Ryu or GKR, is a style of karate mixing Shotokan and Goju together into one almost functional style. The motto behind the club is "Karate for Everyone".
The club was founded in Adelaide (Australia), in 1984 by Robert Sullivan; known to the members as 'Kancho' (Founder). He was later joined in 1991 by Stacy Karetsian, who previously attained Black Belt status in Shotokan. He was later given the title of Shihan by Sullivan in 2000.
GKR has become one of the biggest Martial Arts clubs in the world - with more than 40,000-50,000 members training every week, and with Dojos in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and more recently the USA. It also regularly releases its own quarterly magazine - 'Shimbun' (magazine).
[edit] Tournaments
GKR members regularly win the highest honours in the National All Styles competitions in Australia. The NAS is a non contact point based tournament using a karate style ruleset. GKR does not compete in the Australian Karate Federation championships as it is not a member of this organisation. The NAS launched in the UK in May 2006, where the first competition was primarily attended by GKR and Tae Kwondo practitioners.
GKR's second in command, Stacey Karetsian is on the World NAS board, and the UK NAS director is GKR regional manager James Boardman.
GKR has had a lot of success in the National All Styles Tournament Circuit, winning seven out of twelve of the circuit's "Champion of Champions" titles over the six years that the title has been running (Glenn Hutchison 2001, Vedran Lovric, Angela Uytingco 2002, Craig Lennox, Angela Uytingco 2003, Ben Cunningham 2004, Ben Cunningham 2005).
GKR also holds regular in-club tournaments throughout the year. These tournaments are run usually twice a year, one being a Regional tournament, the other a National. They also have a World Cup, which happens every 2 years.
[edit] Instruction
GKR has Instructors (Sensei's and Sempai's) who range from Yondan (4th Dan Black belt) to Green Belt (6th Kyu in the GKR system). GKR trains all prospective instructors for three months in an intensive training program before an exam is set, which they must pass to be accepted onto the instructor training program proper, as confirmed by the experiances of GKR Sempai's and Sensei's. From this point on, the new trainee will be a sempai training under an experianced Sensei for atleast one year, and once experianced enought may act as a temporary stand-in for other regular instructors.
The question sometimes raised is how can a student who has been training for six or seven teach others? The coloured belt instructor does not wear their coloured belt, instead they wear a black belt with a white stripe down the middle. A new Sempai is given the task of teaching new white belts, this gives the Sempai the chance to teach lower grades what they have learnt and gain teaching skills in the process.
[edit] Grading System
GKR Karate employs a coloured belt grading system. The minimum times are listed below: These times are Culmulative, ie you have to complete 12 classes for 8th kyu, and a further 24 for 7th kyu, therefore it takes (at least) 4 years to get to provisional black belt.
10th Kyu- White Belt
9th Kyu- White Belt (Yellow Tip) - three weeks, six classes
8th Kyu- Yellow Belt - three weeks, six classes
7th Kyu(Ho)- Yellow Belt (Orange Tip) - six weeks, 12 classes
7th Kyu - Orange Belt - six weeks, 12 classes
6th Kyu- Green Belt (Start of Intermediate Grades) - 4 months, 36 classes
5th Kyu- Blue Belt - 5 months, 40 classes
4th Kyu- Red Belt (Start of Advanced Grades) - 5 months, 40 classes
3rd Kyu- Brown Belt - 6 months, 50 classes
2nd Kyu- Brown Belt (Black Tip) - 6 months, 50 classes
1st Kyu- Brown Belt (Double Black Tip) - 6 months, 50 classes
Shodan Ho- Provisional Black Belt - one year, 100 classes
Shodan/1st Dan-1st Black Belt - two years, 200 classes
Nidan/2nd Dan- 2nd Black Belt - three years, 300 classes
The tips are given as encouragement grades. For instance, the Yellow Tip is given after 6 classes.
As of June 2006, Kancho Sullivan is ranked 7th Dan under the Go Kan Ryu syllabus, and Shihan is a 5th dan. Joe Estrada is the highest UK karateka at 4th dan. While some students may move more quickly through the ranks then others, GKR argues that karate is, above all else, a personal journey, with an individual's progress from their starting point being more important than specific markers of technical skill. GKR also point out that, unlike many organisations, a student who fails a grading is not asked to pay for subsequent attempts at the grading.
[edit] Kata
From the age of 13 or 6th Kyu (Green Belt) Kata (routines) must be performed to show a significant progress in technique and strength. Several of the Kata performed in GKR contain unique changes, Taigyoku Nidan for example. The belts shown below refer to the point students are graded on them, some sensei train their students higher kata than they require for competition purposes.
Yellow Belt (8th kyu) - Taigyoku Shodan
Orange Belt (7th kyu) - Taigyoku Nidan
Green Belt (6th kyu) and Blue Belt (5th kyu) - Saifa
Red Belt (4th kyu) and Brown Belt (3rd kyu) - Bassai Dai
Brown Belt with one Black Tip (2nd kyu) - Seiunchin
Brown Belt with two Black Tips (1st kyu) - Empi
Provisional Black Belt (Shodan Ho) - Sanseryu, Sepai
1st degree Black Belt (Shodan) - Sepai, Hangetsu
2nd degree Black Belt (Nidan) - Kururunfa, Kanku Dai
3rd degree Black Belt (Sandan) - Shishoshin, Kanku Sho
4th degree Black Belt (Yondan) - Seisan, Sochin
[edit] Kancho Robert Sullivan
Kancho Robert Sullivan is the Founder and Chief Instructor of Go Kan-Ryu Karate (GKR)
Born in 1947, Robert spent most of his early life growing up in Gosford, New South Wales. At the age of 17, his fascination for martial arts led him to begin training Karate where he received a blue belt in Goju, 1st Dan in Budokan (KL) and 2nd Dan in Keshinkan (Japan).
He returned home to Australia from America (where he had been teaching karate and had even had a short run on TV) in December 1971 to marry and begin his family. Over the next 13 years Robert gained experience working and starting a number of businesses, but he eventually found himself turning his focus back to his passion for teaching karate. In 1984 he started Go Kan Ryu karate from his "vast" experiences in Goju and Shotokan. His original aim was to build a small karate club, but in the 20 years since then, the club membership has grown condsiderably.
[edit] Controversies
- Kenshukai Karate - The former managing director of the organisation, Adrian Sclanders, unsuccessfully attempted to wrest the organisation from Sullivan's control. He was subsequently dismissed from the organisation, starting up his own schools called Kenshukai.
- Recruitment - Probably half of GKR's total member base is from its Door-to-Door Recruitment system. However, the members do not seem to mind. It is often children who are signed into this system by parents, although a lot of adults have come along too. The recruitment method of door to door selling is un-popular with sections of the martial arts community[citation needed]. Many other styles have slated GKR for its "commercial" approach to Martial Arts.
- Instructors - GKR sets a formal grade requirement in order to gain Sempai (Assistant) status. Any student above Green Belt (6th Kyu) can join the STP (Sempai Training Programme), although this is usually done via personal invite.
[edit] Other Info
- Children as young as 5 can begin training with GKR. They are often recommended to go to the earlier classes, as they are often 1 hour long.
- Countries where GKR reside are often split into Zones, then Regions.
- Most of the Senior Instructors, eg. Gavin Samin, Nabil Fanous etc have previously trained in other styles and arts, such as Shotokan, Kung Fu etc.
