The Irish Karate Kyokushinkai

The IKK was founded in 1978. The first dojo was opened by Gerry O’Sullivan back in 1978. After a few years Gerry’s situation changed and he was no longer able to devote his time to travelling from County Cork where he lived to Dublin once a week to teach (this is a ten hour round trip). The decision was made for Kevin Callan to take over as a Brown belt as he had been with the IKK from the start. It is difficult enough to assist at teaching in an established dojo but to take over an entire organization at brown belt would be a daunting task. Undeterred Kevin persevered in the role of Chief Instructor and three decades later he is now Shihan Kevin with a successful organization behind him.

Back in the early 1980s several Dan grades from the BKK came to Ireland for a tournament. Amongst these was (then) Sensei Liam Keaveney who is originally from Ireland. He began to make regular trips over taking gradings and courses. At this stage there were no Dan grades training in Ireland so to have a Sandan coming over was a big deal for us. Over time Sensei Liam became Shihan Liam and he took on the role of Life President of the IKK.