The lineage that sustains USKTV
Four generations of masters connect the Venezuelan practitioner to the very origin of modern karate.
Every time a student bows on entering the dojo, they are bowing to a human chain that is more than a century long: a direct transmission from master to student that began in Okinawa and reaches Venezuela today.
Funakoshi (1868–1957)
Gichin Funakoshi brought karate from Okinawa to mainland Japan, changed the written name — from "Chinese hand" to "empty hand" — and founded the Shotokan style. His twenty precepts remain the karateka's compass.
Nishiyama (1928–2008)
Hidetaka Nishiyama, a direct student of Funakoshi, brought traditional karate to the United States and founded the ITKF, dedicated to preserving karate as a budō martial art, not merely a sport.
Cruz
Hanshi Vincent Cruz, a student of Nishiyama, founded ISKA in 1979 and consolidated traditional methodology across the Americas.
Zambrano
Hanshi Ramón Zambrano, 9th Dan, a student of Cruz, leads USKTV today from Dojo Ishiyama in San Cristóbal, Táchira.
When we train, we are not alone. Osu.