ISKF VICE CHIEF INSTRUCTOR

Born in 1932 in Hiroshima, Japan, Sensei Yaguchi began karate training in 1952. He studied under Masatoshi Nakayama, the late chief instructor of the JKA, Motokuni Sugiura, the present chief instructor of the JKA, and Teruyuki Okazaki, chief instructor of the ISKF, and received his shodan and nidan from Master Funakoshi himself. Among the first to graduate from the JKA Instructors Program, he trained with and competed against the likes of Hirokazu Kanazawa, Takayuki Mikami, Katsunori Tsuyama, Hiroshi Shoji, Keinosuke Enoeda, and Tetsuhiko Asai.

Master Yutaka Yaguchi is not only the chief instructor for the Mountain States region, including part of Canada, he is the technical director for the International Shotokan Karate Association. He is a 9th degree black belt who came from Japan to help start Shotokan Karate in the United States 35 years ago. Famous for his speed and power, he has developed more national champions than any other JKA instructor.