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Name: John Gilliland Sensei

Grade: 7th Dan

John is Chief Instructor of Gakushuin Karate International, currently graded 7th Dan Shotokan, he holds additional qualifications in Ju Jitsu and Judo.

John started training at the Clurankwai Judo club in 1966 in Kilmarnock, Scotland (a club that is still going strong in today), under the supervision of Eddie Ainsworth, himself an olympic athlete, and Alec Macintosh at that time judo classes were followed by Karate classes under John Kerr, then a brown belt, who additionally trained in Judo at the Clurankwai, before opening his own dojo, named Kisan Karate Club and devoting his time solely to Karate.

Training was repetitive, with much of the lesson concentrating on simple basics, at that time all anyone thought of was doing karate, so instruction from the few Japanese masters who travelled to Scotland such as Kimura Sensei, Kanazawa Sensei and Suzuki Sensei in the late 60's, was usually not noted for their interpretation into English, this rarely allowed anyone to realise that there existed such things as styles.

Having initially trained in Japan in 1973, he then returned after a 20 year gap in 1993, continuing to spread karate wherever and whenever the opportunity arises, from his early days reaching brown belt in Shukokai, he then started to learn Shotokan and Goshin Ryu karate. This diversity being due to simply training anywhere he found himself before finally concentrating on Shotokan.

As with most instructors keeping an open mind and simply enjoying training he has had the privilege to train with many of the best instructors including:

  • Kanazawa Sensei

  • Kimura Sensei

  • Suzuki Sensei

  • Tanaka Sensei

  • Kono Sensei

  • Ochi Sensei

  • Shirai Sensei

  • Seto Sensei

  • Abe Sensei

  • Ichikawa Sensei

  • Sugimoto Sensei

  • Mitsuoka Sensei

  • Morris Sensei

  • O'Neill Sensei.

Since 1994, John was treasurer of the EKGB, until becoming the Finance Director following incorporation of the governing body as a Company Limited by Guarantee, fulfilling the demanding role of managing the governing bodies funds, following the success of the EKGB in securing lottery funding, his additional responsibilities included acting as the accountable officer for performance funding.

Following the decision of the members to disband EKGB Ltd, Karate in England has become fractionalised through the complete failure of Karate England, which was setup to unite all karateka in England, the members being disappointed at the complete failure of the board of Karate England 2005 Ltd to safeguard their interests have now formed the English Karate Federation, of which Gakushuin are founder members, indeed John was elected as Director, Treasurer and Company Secretary. John has now resigned from EKF to concentrate on furthering Gakushuin, and now provides more courses and instruction for Gakushuin members and friends, as always, wherever possible, Gakushuin courses are free to our members.

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WUKF World Champions 2016

A Hearty congratulations to Brian Hall and Hayley Just on becoming WUKF World Champions 2016

Clearly a force to be reckoned with.

Best wishes from all at Gakushuin

Oss

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