West Coast Shotokan Karate Association was founded by “Shihan”
Edwin Hamile, who was involved in martial arts for over forty years. He passed
away June 22, 1999 at 75 years of age.
Hamile
was one of the founders of the famed Karate Association of Hawaii, where he
studied under highly-acclaimed instructors Hirakazu Kanazawa, Masataka Mori,
and Tetsuhiko "the Tornado" Asai.
Kanazawa
has been called the foremost martial artist of the 20th century. Asai has been
described: “His inimitable talent has its source in training since youth,
fostering powerful hips, a flexible body, deep technical skill, excellent
reflexes and nerveless courage. He probably has no equal.”
Under their tutelage, Hamile developed into a talented
instructor and became the first non- Japanese recipient of the Gichen Funakoshi
Award (Funakoshi was the founder of shotokan karate), presented personally by
another renowned instructor, Master Hidetaka Nishiyama.
Shihan
Hamile’s early teaching assignments were made directly by Master Masatoshi
Nakayama, who took great interest in his career and the development of karate
in Hawaii. As President of the Japan Karate Association in Hawaii, Hamile’s
team was the first to defeat the Japanese team in kumite competition. In 1965
Hamile was designated a JKA branch instructor by Nakayama.
In
1968, Shihan Hamile founded the West Coast Shotokan Karate Association in
Southern California. As President of the WCSKA, he was the chief instructor of
karate groups in several foreign countries, representing thousands of students.
As International Chief Instructor he traveled extensively
to Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, and the Middle East in support of his duties. Shihan
Hamile was involved for many years with the American Amateur Karate Federation
and International Karate Federation with Master Nishiyama. He was one of the
very few ITKF Class A Examiners. Additionally, Hamile was much sought after for
his skills as one of the world’s most respected tournament arbitrators.
With fellow Hawaiian Ed Parker and Caylor Adkins, he
authored the first rules for AAU Karate, and was subsequently appointed to head
the karate referee certification program of the AAU. Having served as chief
arbitrator of the now legendary Third World Karate Championships in 1975,
Shihan Hamile formed the Referees, Judges and Arbitrators’ Association (RAJA)
to train and assist individuals in obtaining WUKO-Standard judging certification.
In late 1994, as a result of meetings with a number of
American and European karate instructors who had approached him concerning the
need for a new kind of organizational structure in traditional karate, Hamile
formed the World Federation of Karate-Do Organizations. He was elected
President of that organization and asked to serve as its chairman. In 1996,
driven by the desire to further explore the relationship between karate and
other martial arts, to bring unity and coherence to the arts, and to help shape
a “budo” physically and spiritually appropriate to the 21st century, Shihan Hamile chartered WFKO’s
International Sogobudo Development Project, the federation’s central research
forum.
Shihan Edwin Hamile passed away Tuesday June 22, 1999 at 2
p.m. PDT from complications due to cancer. He lived in Temple City and Arcadia,
California and held the 9th degree Black
Belt.
His legacy continues through the instruction provided by
many of his top students at the founding dojo in Temple City, California and in
many other countries throughout the world.