Tetsuji Murakami Sensei

(1927- 1987)

Born in the Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, in 1927. At the age of nineteen he started training Karate-do under Master Masaji Yamagushi (a student of O-sensei), he did so for ten years at the same time he studied Kendo, Aikido and a bit of Iaido. In 1957 he was invited to France by Henri Plée. He trustfully signs a contract in an unknown language in favor of the French Martial Arts Academy, owned by H. Plée. This contract actually left him in very poor conditions, barely permitting him to survive in this foreign country. In 1959 he is able to leave the FMAA giving classes in Karate, Aikido and Kendo in another Dojo. From that moment on his influence progressively expands to the rest of Europe, Germany, England, Italy, Yugoslavia and Switzerland. In 1968 he travels to Japan where he meets Master Shigeru Egami. Very impressed by Master Egami and the technique he observes, he decides to make a profound and very difficult transformation in his technique and his practice. He returns to Europe as the representative of the Nihon Karate-do Shotokai. In the following years the expansion of Murakami’s Shotokai continues, including Portugal too. He dies in Paris in the year 1987.