The World Genseiryū Karate-dō Federation (WGKF) is a karate organization established on November 14th 2003 on the initiative of Nobuaki Konno, a Japanese residing in Holland. Konno invited a few instructors from Denmark, Holland, Spain, Finland and Japan to came to Oviedo, Spain for a meeting aiming toward the establishment of the World Genseiryu Karate-do Federation. In conclusion of this meeting the agreeing party all signed an agreement stating, among other things, that they will follow Seiken Shukumine's book Shin Karate-dō Kyōhan (published 1964) as a guideline for training what is considered by the WGKF to be the original Genseiryū. Especially the basic kata Ten-i, Chi-i and Jin-i are considered by the WGKF to be among the most essential kata of the organization's curriculum. Some instructors have chosen to also practice and teach other kata such as Heian (basic kata from Shotokan), but despite of practicing kata not included in the curriculum, none of these instructors have rejected any of the kata mentioned in the book Shin Karate-dō Kyōhan. In the WGKF its freely acceptable to practice any given kata from any style, but changing kata mentioned in the Shin Karate-dō Kyōhan is not.

Seiken Shukumine (1925-2001) founded Genseiryū (1953) and Taidō (1962). Since 1962 Shukumine involved himself only with matters related to Taidō thus no longer involving himself with Genseiryū, apart from keeping friendly relations and the rare appearance when especially invited to official celebrations. Seiken Shukumine did not initially appoint any successor of Genseiryū as it was always his wish for his former students to abandon Genseiryu as he himself had done and follow him in Taido. It was not until years later that the successor, Kunihiko Tosa of the Genseiryu Karate-do International Federation (established 1959) was officially announced as the successor. The announcement was done by Seiken Shukumine during the annual New Years celebration.

The Nippon Karate Budō Kyōkai, which takes part in the World Genseiryū Karate-dō Federation (WGKF), has Yasunori Kanai as the president of both. The Nippon Karate Budō Kyōkai took up the role as honbu (本部, headquarters) of the World Genseiryū Karate-dō Federation with the office located in Itō, Japan. This is also the city where Seiken Shukumine lived for many years and where he was eventually buried.

Reasons for the establishment of WGKF

The only documented reason for the establishment of the WGKF is the fact that all the people mentioned on the agreement of 14th November 2003, was never admitted as members of the Genseiryu Karate-do International Federation. The director (as written according to the above mentioned agreement) of WGKF, Nobuaki Konno, was caught in 1996 making fake certificates and selling them to students, followers, instructors and dojos in countries such as Finland, Denmark and Holland. When this information was brought to Kunihiko Tosa's attention on 6th May 1996, Nobuaki Konno was permanently rejected from any further relations to Kunihiko Tosa and the GKIF. Nobuaki Konno and the other people mentioned on the agreement was never admitted as members of the GKIF, and none of them were ever awarded any grading whatsoever by the GKIF.

Changing the stories to fit the new situation
Nobuaki Konno was now officially a man without any relations whatsoever to the world and organizations of Genseiryu. The exploitation of Kunihiko Tosa's name was no longer possible, as Nobuaki Konno was officially and permanently cut off publicly and face to face with everyone of Genseiryu in Europe witnessing these events. Nobuaki Konno instead turned to Seiken Shukumine for support. This was declined unless Nobuaki Konno would agree to follow Seiken Shukumine in Taido. Introduction seminars in Taido was held for Nobuaki Konno and some of his followers in order to consider the founder's proposal for joining Taido. Nobuaki Konno declined the offer and without support continued on his own in Holland. From time to time meetings were held, but Nobuaki Konno never succeeded in obtaining support from Seiken Shukumine in regard to Genseiryu. Despite of this, Nobuaki Konno, now proclaimed that he was a direct student of Shukumine, thus reversing his former story about relations and ranks. In the years before 1996, prior to the relations between Konno and Tosa/GKIF being cut off permanently, Konno falsely claimed to have been awarded the rank of 6th dan by Kunihiko Tosa (GKIF). After being cut off, Konno changed the story in the way that he in fact had been awarded 6th dan by Seiken Shukumine. Unfortunately many people, especially in Holland, took to this change of stories and Konno could continue exploiting the name of Seiken Shukumine in the exact same way he had done with the name of Kunihiko Tosa up until 1996. These stories were all fabricated by Konno to promote himself as something he was not.

Visiting Seiken Shukumine, taking pictures
In the following years (1997-2001), Nobuaki Konno, visited the founder of Genseiryu, Seiken Shukumine, a number of times as did a few of Nobuaki Konno's followers. The main goal of these visits was to gain support from Seiken Shukumine, but as Shukumine left the world of karate in 1962, he rejected the requests, unless the concerned parties could reach an agreement on joining Shukumine in Taido. During these visits, and during the introductory seminars on Taido, a lot of pictures was taken. These pictures have later been shown and claimed as "evidence" of Shukumine's involvement with Genseiryu even after 1962 and as "evidence" for Shukumine supporting Nobuaki Konno. Especially people in Holland, Denmark and Finland are using these pictures to promote Nobuaki Konno's story of Seiken Shukumine's "involvement" and "support" of Nobuaki Konno and later the WGKF. In this context it is important to consider, that Shukumine died in 2001, and that the WGKF was established two years later on November 14th, 2003.

Final request for membership
On November 26th 2001, the president of GKIF-Europe/Denmark, Peter Lee, was awaiting departure for Japan in Amsterdam Airport, while Nobuaki Konno approached him in order to request the delivery of a personal, sealed letter to the president of the Genseiryu Karate-do International Federation, Kunihiko Tosa. Peter Lee took the letter and agreed to hand it over to Kunihiko Tosa upon arrival in Japan. As Peter Lee arrived in Japan on November 27th (local Japanese time) the letter was handed over to Kunihiko Tosa, who later called a meeting informing Peter Lee about the contents of the letter. According to Kunihiko Tosa, the letter was written in Japanese and signed by Nobuaki Konno requesting once again to be allowed membership into the GKIF. Kunihiko Tosa informed Peter Lee, that there could be no accommodating this request in view of past events. As Nobuaki Konno's final request for membership of the GKIF was declined following the death of Seiken Shukumine, any and all possibilities to be part of Genseiryu was no longer available to Konno. In 2003 Nobuaki Konno thus took the initiative for establishing his own organization called the World Genseiryu Karate-do Federation.

Speculation on reason for final request
Many have speculated as to why Nobuaki Konno would write that final letter of request for membership at that time. In this regard it is important to notice, that even though Seiken Shukumine officially died on November 26th 2001 about 6 AM, that was still 8 hours ahead of the time in Europe. Thus the time of Seiken Shukumine's death happened on November 25th 2001 at around 10 PM Central European Time. When you consider this, it is not hard to imagine that Nobuaki Konno was already aware of Seiken Shukumine's death, then wrote a letter and sent it as quick as possible to Japan. The fastest way was to hand it personally to Peter Lee who at that time was in Holland to conduct a seminar. Also noticeable is it, that Nobuaki Konno was not the only one to send such a letter. Letters was sent to Kunihiko Tosa also from Spain, seeking out Kunihiko Tosa and the GKIF for future support and membership. None of these requests were accommodated due to the fact of the past events as mentioned above.

External links

• Genseiryu Karatedo Japan (玄制流空手道) (Official WGKF site)
• DGKF - Danish Genseiryu Karate Federation (This is the danish department of the WGKF)