Hanshi Arneil
Hanshi Steve Arneil 9TH Dan
Founder of International
Federation of Karate IFK
Hanshi Steve Arneil was born in South Africa in 1934. At the age of 10, his family moved to Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), and there he began training in Judo and boxing. His mother made him stop boxing, but he continued studying Judo. After completing his engineering education, Hanshi Arneil went back home to Northern Rhodesia. Still fascinated with the Orient, he decided to go there and experience it for himself, and his Chinese friend gave him the names of people to train with in China.
Fresh out of college and without any money, Arneil got a job as an engineer on a ship and worked his way from Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika (now Tanzania), to Kowloon, Hong Kong. From there, he went into China and traveled northward to the province of Manchuria, where he came to a monastery at which he studied Shorin (Shaolin) Kempo. The rigorous training, strict discipline, daily work in the monastery's fields and daily meditation was just what Arneil was looking for - he was in "seventh heaven." Around 1961 he heard of a karate master in Japan named Mas Oyama, and he was determined to go there and seek him out. He saved his money with great sacrifice and went to Japan.
At first, Hanshi Arneil studied Goju Ryu karate under Gogen Yamaguchi. Don Draeger took him to Oyama's dojo, where he had to watch for 8 weeks without being allowed to train. Oyama told him he would have to start at the beginning regardless of previous accomplishments. By the time he left Japan in 1965, he had gained the rank of 3rd dan and had been the first person to complete the 100 man kumite (which he completed in one day not two as has previously been reported) after Mas Oyama. Steve Arneil was "adopted" by Mas Oyama, in order to allow Steve to marry a Japanese woman. After his marriage, Steve Arneil travelled with his new wife to Great Britain. In that year, he and Shihan Bob Boulton founded the British Karate Kyokushinkai (BKK) orginazation.
In 1991 IFK - International Federation of Karate was founded .
Founder of International
Federation of Karate IFK
Hanshi Steve Arneil was born in South Africa in 1934. At the age of 10, his family moved to Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), and there he began training in Judo and boxing. His mother made him stop boxing, but he continued studying Judo. After completing his engineering education, Hanshi Arneil went back home to Northern Rhodesia. Still fascinated with the Orient, he decided to go there and experience it for himself, and his Chinese friend gave him the names of people to train with in China.
Fresh out of college and without any money, Arneil got a job as an engineer on a ship and worked his way from Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika (now Tanzania), to Kowloon, Hong Kong. From there, he went into China and traveled northward to the province of Manchuria, where he came to a monastery at which he studied Shorin (Shaolin) Kempo. The rigorous training, strict discipline, daily work in the monastery's fields and daily meditation was just what Arneil was looking for - he was in "seventh heaven." Around 1961 he heard of a karate master in Japan named Mas Oyama, and he was determined to go there and seek him out. He saved his money with great sacrifice and went to Japan.
At first, Hanshi Arneil studied Goju Ryu karate under Gogen Yamaguchi. Don Draeger took him to Oyama's dojo, where he had to watch for 8 weeks without being allowed to train. Oyama told him he would have to start at the beginning regardless of previous accomplishments. By the time he left Japan in 1965, he had gained the rank of 3rd dan and had been the first person to complete the 100 man kumite (which he completed in one day not two as has previously been reported) after Mas Oyama. Steve Arneil was "adopted" by Mas Oyama, in order to allow Steve to marry a Japanese woman. After his marriage, Steve Arneil travelled with his new wife to Great Britain. In that year, he and Shihan Bob Boulton founded the British Karate Kyokushinkai (BKK) orginazation.
In 1991 IFK - International Federation of Karate was founded .
On May 26th, 2001, Hanshi was awarded his 9th dan by the IFK Country Representatives at their meeting in Berlin.
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