Official Representation in Brazil & South America
The first contact of Brazilians with the Gensei Ryu style was through Master Seiichi "Shikan" Akamine, who immigrated to Brazil in 1957.
Master Akamine taught the Goju Ryu style, mixing techniques from other styles of Karate.
He learned Goju-Ryu from masters Kanki Izumikawa and Seiko Higa, and was a personal friend of the founder of the Gensei Ryu style, master Seiken Shukumine, with whom he exchanged Karate techniques.
When master Akamine came to Brazil some of his students started training with master Shukumine, one of these students was Haruyasu (Seiko) Yamada who was one of the first teachers authorized by Seiken Shukumine to teach Gensei Ryu and founded his own organization "Nippon Karate-do Budo Kyokai".
Some Gensei Ryu style Kata that master Akamine taught his students in Brazil were the Ryufa which is a version of the Shukumine-No-Bassai Dai and the Koshokun Dai.
Officially Gensei-Ryu was implanted in Brazil in 1975 in Belém do Pará by professor Pedro Yamaguchi, who spent 4 years training in Japan. He is currently the president of the Karate Federation of the State of Pará, and no longer belongs to the Gensei Ryu Butokukai style affiliate board.
Today, the Gensei-Ryu Butokukai style is officially represented by professor Antonio de Souza Lima, 7th DAN, who lived in Japan for 17 years and trained in the Genseiryu style.
Professor Antonio de Souza Lima is the official representative of the style in Brazil and South America.
Professor Antonio de Souza Lima also holds the rank of 4th DAN from JKF, having participated in many courses and seminars, and acted as a Class "A" referee.
