General American Taido History

This time­line rep­re­sents the ver­i­fi­able his­tory of Taido in the US to the best of my knowl­edge. I was a mem­ber of US Taido from 1984 until 2006. I now train and teach as a mem­ber of Japan Taido.

My per­sonal his­tory and that of the Georgia Tech Taido Club have been moved to sep­a­rate posts.

1925

• Seiken Shukumine is born in Okinawa.

1932

• Shukumine begins learn­ing Ko-Ryu under Anko Sadoyama.

1937

• Shukumine begins study­ing Shuri-Te under Sokko Kishimoto as well as Kendo.

1940 – 1944

• Shukumine enters the marine divi­sion of the kamikaze corps dur­ing World War Two. He begins to develop strate­gies for mov­ing in three dimen­sions and sets a Japanese mil­i­tary high jump record which reput­edly remains unchallenged.

1945

• After sur­viv­ing the war, Shukumine returns to Okinawa, find­ing his home destroyed. He retreats to and island to med­i­tate and train. Shukumine adapts the tech­niques he learned in his youth to be effec­tive in a 3-dimensional space.

1948

• Shukumine begins teach­ing his mar­tial art in Shizuoka.

1950

• Shukumine enters a nation­ally tele­vised Karate exhi­bi­tion. 135 pound Shukumine breaks 34 roof­ing tiles and demon­strates a fly­ing eight-kick combination.
• Mitsunobu Uchida is born in Shizuoka.

1953

• Shukumine cre­ates the Gensei Ryu school and begins teach­ing at uni­ver­si­ties and the Tachikawa mil­i­tary base.

1956

• Shukumine is awarded 8dan Kyoshi title by the Dai Nippon Butoku Karate Association.

1962

• Shukumine com­pletes the taigi (basic Taido tech­niques), con­sist­ing of un, sen, hen, nen, and ten move­ments inspired by nat­ural phenomena.

1963

• Shukumine the­o­rizes the basic prin­ci­ples of Taido as taiki (breath­ing), doko (move­ment), and seigyo (strategy).

1964

• Shukumine pub­lishes Shin Karate Do Kyohan which describes the tech­niques and tac­tics of karate, to which he refers as “koryu”.

1965

• Shukumine for­mal­izes the the­ory and tech­niques of Taido into a uni­fied sys­tem and founds the Japan Taido Association.
• Uchida begins his study of Shotokan karate.

1968

• Uchida enters Tokyo’s International College of Commerce and begins study­ing Taido.

1970

• Uchida receives a schol­ar­ship to Williamette University in Salem, Oregon.

1972

• Uchida moves to Dana College in Omaha, Nebraska where he teaches Taido as a cred­ited elective.

1973

• Uchida grad­u­ates from Dana College with a degree in soci­ol­ogy. He returns to Japan to earn a degree in eco­nom­ics and train under Shukumine.

1975

• Uchida opens the first US Taido honbu dojo on Buford Highway in Atlanta, Georgia and founds the US Taido Association. His first stu­dent is Jerry Johnson.

1977

• Shukumine vis­its Atlanta and pro­motes Uchida to fifth degree black belt.

1979

• US Taido sends its first team to com­pete in Japan.

1981

• The first annual Taido sum­mer camp is held in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

1982

• Shukumine vis­its Atlanta for the 4^th of July demon­stra­tion at Stone Mountain Park.

1983

• Shukumine founds the World Taido Federation.

1984

• US Taido sends its sec­ond team to Japan.

1986

• US Taido hosts an inter­na­tional championship.

1987

• US Taido moves to a new loca­tion in Norcross, Georgia.

1989

• US Taido sends its third team to Japan.

1991

• Tatsuyuki Negishi moves to Atlanta to teach Taido.

1993

• US Taido sends its fourth team to Japan for the first world cham­pi­onships, includ­ing its first children’s team.

1994

• Shukumine vis­its Atlanta to attend sum­mer camp and pro­motes Uchida to sev­enth degree black belt.

1995

• US Taido moves to a new loca­tion in Norcross.

1996

• Negishi returns to Japan.
• Masayuki Hiyoshi arrives to replace Negishi.
• US Taido hosts the Sun Data inter­na­tional Taido championship. .
• Andy Fossett and Bryan Sparks found the Georgia Tech Taido club.

1997

• US Taido sends a team to Finland for the 2^nd world championships.
• Tom DeVenny opens US Taido’s “first branch school” in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

1998

• US Taido sends its fifth team to Japan.

2000

• Hiyoshi returns to Japan.
• US Taido 25^th anniver­sary celebration.

2001

• US Taido sends its sixth team to Japan. They attend the third world Taido cham­pi­onship in Okinawa.
• Shukumine dies.

2002

• US Taido championship.

2005

• US Taido 30^th anniver­sary cel­e­bra­tion and tour­na­ment. About 75 Taido stu­dents and instruc­tors visit from Japan.
• The fourth world Taido cham­pi­onships are held in Sweden. US Taido does not send a team.

2006

• Taido per­forms a demon­stra­tion for Japan Fest at Stone Mountain Park.
• The Georgia Tech Taido club cel­e­brates its 10^th anniversary.