The SKUHD teaches traditional Shotokan karate and attracts students from both West Auckland and the North Shore. Students range from children to teenagers and adults. There are also many families that attend this dojo. Beginners can attend a free trial lesson to find out if karate is right for them or, if preferred, to simply come along and watch a lesson. Experienced practioners are always welcome to come and train at the Shotokan Karate-do Upper Harbour Dojoj, which was established in May of 2006. Instruction is provided by a number of seasoned black-belts with international experience and guided by its Head, Sensei Frank.
Sensei Frank, currently holds the rank of 4th Dan and began studying karate in the UK in 1974 under Paul Masters—former Chief Instructor of the British Karate Federation (forerunner to the present day KUGB) and ranked 6th Dan with the European Ju-Jutsu Union. Currently, Paul Masters holds the status of Menkyo Kaiden in Tenjin Shinyo Ryu, the first Westerner ever to be given this rank.
Sensei Frank’s path to Shotokan has an interesting lineage which he feels compelled to extend through his teaching of others. It goes something like this: Sensei Frank, Paul Masters, Vernon Bell (widely considered to be the founding-father of karate in the UK and the first Briton to hold a black belt in karate, 1957), Henri Plee (based in France and one-time official European representative of the Yoseikan Japan), Hiroo Mochizuki (son of the famous Minorou Mochizuki who has Shihanke of the Yoseikan). Minorou Mochizuki trained under Jigoro Kano (the founder of judo), Morihei Ueyshiba (the founder of aikido) and Gichin Funakoshi (who, of course, was the founder of Shotokan karate) and, combining all three disciplines, went on to form the Yoseikan. Vernon Bell was responsible for bringing Hirokazu Kanazawa to the UK in the early sixties and through Paul Masters, Kancho Kanazawa’s teachings remain a strong influence on Sensei Frank’s karate.
Much of this information only came to light very recently though an exchange of emails and was a complete revelation to Sensei Frank; students did not think to question their instructors pedigree in those days. Sensei Frank considers himself very fortunate to have been taught the fundamentals of karate by Paul Masters.
Sensei Frank was graded to the rank of black belt in 1980 by the late Sensei Ray Fuller who was the 8th Dan Chief Instructor of Thames Karate International and another former student of Vernon Bell’s.
Sensei Frank has lived in New Zealand since 1983. Once again, he considers himself to be extremely fortunate to be mentored by the 6th Dan JKA Certified Chief Instructor of the Shotokan Karate Institute of New Zealand – Sensei Shahab, and also benefits greatly from the tutelage of Sensei Shahab’s fellow countryman Shihan Majid. Sensei Frank attributes the current standard of his techniques to the guidance of these experienced teachers.
Other major influences on Sensei Frank’s fighting spirit are his father who boxed in the early 1950′s at regimental level in the British army for the REME’s (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers); and also his father’s father, a battler of a merchant seaman originally hailing from the West Indies, who demonstrated undaunting courage as an Air Raid Warden during the Blitz on London in the second world war, pulling survivors from deep within bomb-damaged buildings and earning the respect of many as a result.
Two other major influencers that Sensei Frank returns to time and time again are Muhammad Ali, whom he considers, like many, to have been the greatest boxer of all-time, and Bruce Lee, whose screen presence in The Way of the Dragon and Enter the Dragon drove many a young man to martial arts classes all across the UK in the early 1970′s and whose philosophies and fighting tactics taught through Jeet Kune Do continue to inspire and illuminate to this very day.
Sensei Frank is the Chief Instructor of the Shotokan Karate-Dō Upper Harbour Dojo on Herald Island and attends the Shotokan Karate Institute of New Zealand for lessons with Sensei Shahab. Sensei Frank has been married for 25 years to his life’s partner and best friend Kim, and together they have four grown up children.
