US Yoshukai Karate of Georgia
US Yoshukai Karate
Our Founder-Grandmaster Yuki Koda
Grand Master Yuki Koda was born in Japan during World War II. His family lived dangerously close to Nagasaki when the bomb was dropped. He began studying karate while in high school and it soon became his main focus.
In 1969, he came to the United States as a guest of Sensei Mike Foster. While Sensei Foster was a great fighter, his students needed more intensive instruction in kata and weapons training. Grand Master Koda, a 4th degree Black Belt at that time, came here to provide that instruction.
While visiting, he met his future wife, Gwen. They were married in 1970 and Master Koda decided to stay in the United States. He opened the first US Yoshukai dojo in Lincoln, Illinois in 1971. He also worked as an iron worker and was obliged to move from job to job over the next few years. He next moved to Birmingham, Alabama, leaving the Lincoln dojo in the hands of his top Black Belt. As his students attained Black Belt status, many of them started their own schools and soon there were US Yoshukai schools throughout the United States.
Master Koda was nationally famous for his spectacular breaking demonstrations. These included breaking baseball bats across his shin, breaking piles of concrete with forearm smash, and concrete, roofing tiles, and ice with his head. He once broke 650 pounds of ice with his head.
The home base or hombu dojo was established in Montgomery, Alabama. His two sons, David and Hiro, followed in his footsteps and became Yoshukai Black Belts. Several students from Japan came to visit for lengthy periods in order to study under Master Koda’s tutelage. Three elected to stay in the United States and continue their training. Those included Shihan Shinji Matsuda, Junichiro Ogawa, and Makoto Hashiguchi, all of whom attained Black Belt status while training here.
In 1996, Master Koda was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He continued teaching and running the organization up until the last few weeks of his life. He passed away in March of 1997, leaving his legacy in the capable hands of his sons and “adopted son”, Shihan Matsuda.
.png)
Director – Soshu David Koda
.png)
Soshu David Koda is the eldest son of Grand Master Yuki Koda. Although he didn’t officially begin training in karate until the age of five, he spent so much time watching his father train in the dojo and trying to imitate what he saw, that he already knew several katas, self-defense techniques, and was adept at nunchaku and samurai sword by age five.
Through the years, Soshu Koda continued training and competing in tournaments under his father’s tutelage and reached the rank of Shihan and 7th degree Black Belt. He competes in all categories of karate, kata, weapons, sparring, self-defense, musical kata, and full-contact fighting. He has competed in tournaments all over the United States and Japan, winning numerous first place medals and trophies and always winning one of the top three spots in every division. He and his younger brother, Hiro, have swept the first place spots in almost all tournaments when they competed as a team in self-defense and musical demonstrations.
Soshu Koda has a Master’s degree in education and has taught middle school and high school for many years. He is now in higher education, working at the Auburn University in Montgomery. He married Adrienne Bond in 1998 and has three children, one son, Blaise, and two daughters, Alexandra and Harmony, all of whom are Yoshukai Black Belts All are very active in tournament competition and have many trophies.
Prior to his death in 1997, Grand Master Koda turned over responsibility for the US Yoshukai Karate Organization to his oldest son, Soshu David Koda.
