The club was initiated in 1995 at the request of some keen students looking for an instructor who contacted Shihan Ken Tucker. The club began operation under the mantle of the Adult Education system in St Martins School, Caerphilly under the name of Caerphilly ADK. The club flourished and was able to open its doors to children as well as adults, however with Council cutbacks and falling numbers for the other courses offered, the Adult Education Centre was forced to close. The club then found other premises to continue training in both Caerphilly (a local gym) and Cardiff University, which had a purposely designed dojo available at the time. Again circumstances dictated a move. After many years of happily training in Cardiff University the University decided to re-purpose the dojo for general fitness and weight training, although alternative facilities were offered they were not really suitable for karate training. Fortuitously, we were invited by Bedwas Gymnastics Club to view their newly furbished facilities in Caerphilly and offered the chance to move our training there. We happily consolidated the Cardiff and Caerphilly venues into this new venue on 1st March 2016 (St David’s Day, so an auspicious start date!) and took the opportunity to rename the club Okuden Shotokan in line with our teaching philosophy.
Why Okuden?
In some Japanese arts the word Okuden (奥伝) means a certain level of advanced training. Generally it means the communication (den) of the inner arts (oku).
Okuden addresses the principles which enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of techniques. Since these principles differ in their presence and order of importance from system to system, it is often the case that what is taught in one martial art to advanced students may be a basic principle in another.
We aim to explore and pass on the principles of why and how techniques work for maximum efficiency.