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continued ... |
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 Over
the next few years, Hanshi Arneil intensified his training
efforts and progressed rapidly. During this time, Mas Oyama
became like a father to him. In fact, Mas Oyama actually adopted
him so that he could marry a Japanese woman. With the financial
support of his wife, who worked in a bank, Arneil was able to
stay in Japan and train. To earn money, he also acted in some
movies under the name "Steve Mansion".
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One
day, Mas Oyama told Hanshi Arneil that he wanted him to perform
the 100-man kumite (fight). Others had tried to do it, but no
one (other than Mas Oyama) was able to complete all 100 fights.
At first, Arneil thought that Mas Oyama was crazy for asking
him, since he didn't think he could do it. Mas Oyama kept
pestering him until he finally agreed, and afterwards he trained
fanatically for the event – 18 hours a day, every day, doing
kata, makiwara (punching post) training and bag work. Arneil
asked when he would do the fights, and Mas Oyama said that he
would let him know when he was ready. Arneil kept on training,
thinking that Mas Oyama had only done this in order to get him
to train harder. One Sunday morning, he went to the dojo to
train. When he walked in, everyone was there waiting for him.
This was the day. At first, Arneil tried to keep track of how
many fights he had completed, but stopped doing so after the
first 20 in order to concentrate on fighting. He completed all
100 fights in about 2 hours and 45 minutes – "you can save time
if you knock them out." |
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Before
leaving Japan in 1965, Hanshi Arneil had achieved the rank of
Sandan (3rd Dan). He moved to Great Britain and began to teach
Kyokushin Karate there. That same year, he and Shihan Bob
Boulton founded the British Karate Kyokushinkai (BKK)
organization. Between 1968 and 1976, Hanshi Arneil was the team
manager and coach for the All Styles English and British Karate
team, which became the first non-Japanese team to win the World
Karate Championship in 1975-76. In 1975, the French Karate
Federation also awarded him the title of the "World's Best
Coach." |
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In
1991, Hanshi Arneil and the BKK resigned from the International
Karate Organization (IKO), and he founded the International
Federation of Karate (IFK). The IFK currently has a membership
of over 120,000 in 19 countries. After the death of Mas Oyama in
1994 and the subsequent splintering of the IKO, Hanshi Arneil
was asked by Mas Oyama's widow to lead the IKO(2). Not wishing
to become involved in the tangled politics of the various
Japanese organizations, he politely declined the offer, in order
to devote his time and efforts toward running the IFK and
teaching Kyokushin Karate.
One of Hanshi Arneil's goals in the IFK is consistency – every
Kyokushin karateka in any country at any dojo should perform the
techniques and katas the same. Toward that end, he has developed
a systematic grading syllabus for the IFK and has published a
book on Kyokushin kata. Mas Oyama had told him that the only way
you can unify an organization is by doing the same thing, and
the only way you can do the same thing is by kata. |
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Mas Oyama,
prior to his death, personally awarded Hanshi Arneil with the
rank of Shichidan (7th Dan). The entire British karate community
later awarded him with the rank of Hachidan (8th Dan) for his
dedication and services to karate in Great Britain. On May 26,
2001, the Board of Country Representatives of the IFK awarded
Hanshi Arneil with the rank of Kudan (9th Dan) in recognition of
his work in promoting Kyokushin Karate throughout the world
during the past 40 years, and in particular during the past 10
years under the banner of the IFK. |
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