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KAICHO TADASHI NAKAMURA
Kaicho (Grandmaster) Tadashi Nakamura is the founder and chairman of the World Seido Karate Organization. A world-renowned karateka, Nakamura is a ninth dan (degree) black belt with over fifty years of experience in practicing and teaching in the martial arts.

Born in Japan on February 22, 1942, Kaicho Nakamura began his martial arts training at the age of eleven. As a teenager and young adult, Kaicho won numerous championships in Japan, competing in both contact and non-contact matches.

The World Seido Karate Organization officially opened it's headquarters on October 15, 1976, in New York City. It is a worldwide organization with branches in such places as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, Japan and South America.

SEIDO PHILOSOPHY

"Karate is more popular now than ever before in its history. Because of movies, television and magazines, karate is widely perceived as a purely physical art with spinning kicks and "karate chops." Karate has also become competitive on the amateur and professional levels with individual promoters and organizations striving to control this fast-growing sport. Karate certainly develops strength, stamina, and physical well-being which are all desirable objectives. However, this is not the heart of karate-do.
Karate is a way of life, a way of being. I have committed over 35 years of my life to the study, practice, and teaching of the martial arts. I am convinced that karate has much to offer modern men, women, and children as we move forward into the twenty-first century. My purpose in founding Seido Karate was to show what I feel is the true essence, the kernel of true karate-do: the training of body, mind, and spirit together in order to realize the fullness of human potential.

Seido karate is a strict, traditional Japanese style of karate, into which Kaicho T. Nakamura has distilled the essence of what he has learned about the martial arts in over 35 years of study, practice, and teaching.

The World Seido Karate Organization officially opened its headquarters on October 15, 1976, in New York City. It is now a worldwide organization, with thriving branches in such diverse places as Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of South Africa, England, and South America. However, within Seido, growth of the branches is not being pursued for its own sake. Quality of instruction and of the students is paramount.

The physical training in Seido is strenuous, emphasizing progressive development of strength, flexibility, and aerobic capacity. One of the goals of Seido karate training is to develop strong bodies, which contributes to health and a general sense of self-confidence and well-being. In addition to developing students with the highest level of physical skills, Seido aims to develop individuals of the highest moral character, individuals who can then make significant contributions to a better life in the family, the work place, and in society at large.

This goal is achieved by the integration of Zen meditation into the practice of each and every student. Seido is unique because it stresses the unity and inseparability of karate and Zen. This is not a new idea. Rather, it is a return to the origins of the martial arts. By returning to the roots of karate, it can be made extremely valuable for men and women in this century and the next.

Zen is not taught as a religion in Seido. It is a practice, i.e., seated meditation, which has no religious overtones or content. However, it is an essential counterpart to hard physical training. The samurai, whose lives and values gave so much to karate, strived to develop 'bushido' spirit. Today, our lives are much different from the samurai's, but the bushido spirit can still be translated into our milieu. Seido seeks to develop in each student a 'nonquitting' spirit. No matter what the obstacle or difficulty -- emotional, physical, financial -- I want students to feel that, though they may be set back, they will never be overcome by any of these problems. The sincere practice of karate can impress this idea into the spirit. This is the modern interpretation of the bushido spirit of the samurai."

-- Kaicho [Grandmaster] Tadashi Nakamura

For more information on Kaicho and The World Seido Karate Organization visit www.seido.com