SKIF

Shotokan Karate International Federation of Great Britain was formed in 1974 by Hanshi Shiro Asano (9th Dan), aided by the then SKIF-GB secretary Albert Hampson.

As an associate instructor of the then JKA, Asano along with several other resident Japanese instructors in other European countries (Nagai - Germany; Miura - Italy) decided to break away forming SKI-GB, SKID (Germany), SKII (Italy), etc.

In 1977, Hirokazu Kanazawa was invited to head up a global international body of these associations and so in 1978 the SKIF was founded.

Today, SKIF has over 100 member countries and is represented on each continent, with an estimated 2.5 million members worldwide making it one of the largest karate associations in the world.

As an international organisation it holds the SKIF World Championships every four years.  This, for Europe, is interspaced with the SKIEF European Championships. In turn, the SKIF-GB holds an annual National Championships every year.