Our Sensei and chief instructor is Mitsusuke Harada who in 1943 attended his first lesson at Master Gichin Funakoshi's dojo 'The Shotokan'. He has trained with many notable Masters including Master Motonobu (Genshin) Hironishi, Master Yoshitaka Funakoshi, Master Shigeru Egami, Master Wado Uemura, Master Yoshiaki Hayashi and Master Tadao Okuyami.
History
KDS comes to Gibraltar
Karate-Do Shotokai Gibraltar was formed in 1974 by Bob Pugh who had previously lived and trained in UK with KDS.
The Early Years
At first the club had no permanent location and the RAF gym at North Front was used for training. As this location was next to the beach many of the practice sessions started with the students running along the beach. This really got the legs working!
Later on the practice sessions took place at the Dockyard Sports Association. The membership at this time was about 20. As the club grew in popularity it was decided to look for a permanent location.
The First Dojo
Baker's Passage. This was the clubs first permanent location. The premises was previously a garage and thus had to be extensively renovated by the members before it could be used. This location was used by the club from 1976 to 1988.
Due to these premises being quite small the club was looking for an alternative location.
The Second (and present) Dojo
These premises were obtained in 1988 and due to the building being virtually derelict, the members had to extensively renovate the entire floor allocated to us. The building is constructed of stone and we believe that it was originally designed and used as an ammunition store and later as a bakery.
The club consists of the dojo, separate changing rooms with showers, for males and females, a small office and the all important bar which is used to host several functions during the year.
