Yuji Funakoshi Sensei
7th Dan
Baisho-ryu

Baisho-ryu was started in Kyoto in 1933. The founder, Kuge Baisho Sensei, was a Jiu-Jitsu artist of the Yoshin-ryu. With deep exchanges with Chojun Miyagi Sensei, Kenwa Mabuni Sensei, and Ueshiba Sensei of Aikido, the advantages of Okinawa Karate and Aikido were incorporated into Jiu-Jitsu, and the technique system of the 1933 style was established.
Yuji Funakoshi (Kenshi 7th Dan) was born in 1967 in Aichi Prefecture. In 1982, Funakoshi Sensei entered the Nihonden Karatedo Baisho-ryu Gikyokan. He studied under the director of the Gikyokan, Nakamura, and later studied under Yasuto Nakamura. Funakoshi Sensei acquired the 7th dan of the Baisho-ryu. After that, in 2005, he learned Shuri-te from Shoichi Teruya Sensei, the director of Shorin-ryu Hawaii Seibukan, and later was granted the title of Okinawa Karate Renshi. In 2016, he received an introduction from Teruya Sensei and met Tsuneo Kinjo Sensei, a Hanshi of the Okinawa Goju-ryu Jundokan, where Funakoshi Sensei learned Goju-ryu Karate. Currently, he is working to popularize traditional karate under the leadership of the Okinawa International Traditional Karate Federation, Chairman Shoichi Teruya, and the advisors of Naha Te Goju-ryu Jundokan Kinjo Tsuneo and Tomari-te Kobukaikan Tanoue Shinya Sensei. The kumite is full contact, and kata of Baisho-ryu, Goju-ryu, Shorin-ryu, Shotokan are what is focussed on.