Personal tools
|
History of Ottawa Chito KaiA Brief history of Ottawa Chito Kai
In 1960 André Langelier started a Karate school in the Ottawa-Hull region. Mr. Langelier was a 1 kyu (Brown belt), in the Shotokan Style of karate when he opened his first dojo. He received this level of proficiency from Mr. Harry Anatasias of Montreal.
He obtained his Shodan under Masami Tsuroka who was then the Chito Ryu representative in Canada. Mr. Langelier taught the style of Karate in which he obtained his shodan, Chito Ryu, and eventually he developed and managed five dojos, with the main dojo situated on Rideau Street, the others in the West and the South of Ottawa, the city of Vanier, Ontario and Hull, Quebec. 
In 1971, the "Canadian Yudansha Karate Association", was formed, to promote and regulate the practise of karate. Amongst the founding directors, were André Langelier, Fernand Cléroux, George Sylvain, Mike Litwinczuk and Orville Frenette. Letters Patent were issued on February 15, 1972, incorporating the above association of which André Langelier became president. The name of the association was changed in the early 1970's unofficially, to the Canadian Karate Association, CKA, and included clubs throughout Quebec and Ontario. The creation of the CKA caused the Ottawa-Hull region to be separated from Mr.Tsuroka's organization which was the National Karate Association (NKA), founded in 1964. Contact, however, was not severed with the Honbu (Head office for an Organization) dojo in Japan. Dr. Chitose and his then principal student, Yamamoto Sensei, visited the Ottawa area in 1972 and 1974. Many of Mr. Langelier's students went on to eventually operate their own dojos such as Mr. George Sylvain, Mr. Fernand Cléroux, Mr. Harry Villeneuve, Mr. Pierre Myre, Mr. Mike Litwinczuk, Mr. Gilbert Kingsbury, Mr. Claude Villeneuve, Mr. Wib Corcoran, and Mr. Harvey Brown. Mr. Langelier abandoned his active participation in karate in 1975 and died in 1990. Langelier's karate schools were taken over and operated by others, mostly Yudansha (black belt) he had trained and promoted. The main dojo was first operated after Mr. Langelier's retirement from karate, by Mr. Wib Corcoran. Mr. Corcoran ran the school until 1980, when Harvey Brown the Head Instructor, at the time, took over the responsibilities for the management of the club. The club was given a new name, The Ottawa Chito-Kai, and it remained in the downtown core until its most recent move in June of 2003 to its current location. The club became affiliated with Kyoshi, Shane Higashi, the Chief Instructor for Canadian Chito Ryu, in 1981. In 1982, Mr. Brown went for his Nidan when Dr. Chitose visited Canada. Since then the club has been an active member both in the National Karate Association (NKA), Canadian Chito-Ryu Karate Association, Karate Ontario Association and Ontario Chito-Ryu Association. |
|
Home
Grading
