Shuseki Shihan Dr. Frank Woon-A-Tai, M.S, M.H, 10th Dan
Guyana’s most decorated karate icon, Frank Woon-A-Tai, created national and international karate history when on December 22, 2021, he was promoted to the highest rank in karate. The Tenth Dan was bestowed on him by the International Karate Daigaku (University) and the Shihan-kai Senate of nine founding masters with eighth and ninth dan during the IKD 2021 Tenth Anniversary announcements.
Under the IKD Constitution, Section 2 - Powers: “the Shihan-Kai Senate is hereby vested with full power and authority to make, alter and repeal all laws, rules and regulations for the government, management, discipline and control of the International Karate Daigaku, or any dojo or division thereof, and the members of the same in a state, district, territory or country where the International Karate Daigaku is now or may hereafter be established, and to enforce the laws, rules and regulations enacted by said Shihan-Kai Senate or any regulation or order made by the Shihan-Kai Senate.”
According to the long-established Japanese Martial Arts convention, ninth and tenth dan are reserved for karate masters sixty and seventy years and older. They must have over fifty years of karate training and teaching experience, A-class International Supreme Instructor Degree, A-class International Supreme Examiner Degree, and A-class International Supreme Judge Degree credentials. And more importantly, they must be the leaders of large International Karate Organizations (A-Class) like the International Karate Daigaku (IKD).
In 1964, Frank Woon-A-Tai began self-training in Guyana, eventually earning his black belt in 1971 at the Mecca of Karate the Japan Karate Association (JKA) HQ in Tokyo, Japan. He was the first and the only Guyanese to be awarded this rank from Japan.
Frank spent the next 41 years training with the best Japanese masters worldwide: Masatoshi Nakayama, Hidetaka Nishiyama, Teruyuki Okazaki, Yutaka Yaguchi, Takayuki Mikami, Shojiro Koyama, Masataka Mori, Keinosuke Enoeda, Sadashige Kato, and Hiroshi Shirai. And in Japan with Nakayama, Ito, Shoji, Kanazawa, Asai, Yoshimasa Takahashi, Ueki, Oishi, Iida, Mabuchi, Yano, Tabata, Isaka, Takashina, Osaka, Yahara, Shunsuke Takahashi and all other JKA legends of the 60s and 70s, making his “Lineage” direct to the founder of karate Gichin Funakoshi.
In 1989, he was the first Guyanese/Canadian graduate of the prestigious International Shotokan Karate Federation (ISKF) and the Japan Karate Association Instructor Training Institute, which led to ISKF Technical degrees of A-class Instructor, A - class Examiner and A-class Judge. Frank was the first in the ISKF to be awarded the highest rank granted to a non-Japanese – the JKA Seventh Dan. Moreover, he was the first of four instructors - Maynard Miner, Robin Rielly, and James Field to be promoted to ISKF Eighth Dan black belt.
Frank founded JKA Guyana in 1968 and was the Chief Instructor of JKA Jamaica from 1976 to 1980. After that, he moved to Toronto and served as ISKF and JKA WF Canada chairman for 26 years. In 1981 he founded the Toronto JKA. Frank served as co-vice chairman of the ISKF Technical Committee for several years. He is the first chairman of the Caribbean Karate College, and in 2006, he founded the Guyana Karate College (GKC), a non-profit association
In 2011 Frank received the official Land Title to an acre of prime land from His Excellency, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, President of Guyana, to build a state-of-the-art 12,000 square foot GKC International Budokan Dojo. Further, his five-year plan is to develop a massive four-storied complex that will house a Martial Arts Arena, 48 student dormitories, 24 apartments for coaches and officials, and a restaurant on the top floor overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
What was missing in Frank’s life was higher academic education due to his impoverished childhood. Frank returned to school at age 50 and, at age 54, graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Japanese Studies (language, culture, literature, politics, religion, and Japanese history). His Minor was History (Canadian, British, and Chinese).
President Ramotar
President Jagdeo
President Ali
In 2011, he was appointed to the Order of Service of Guyana, M.S. And in 1996, he was conferred with the French Guiana Medal of Honour, M.H., for 20 years of karate service to that country. In 1978 he won the Montreal Pan American Kata Championship.
In May 2022, Frank met with his Excellency Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of Guyana, at State House and presented him with an Honourary Eighth Degree Black Belt for his support of IKD karate. His Excellency awarded Frank grants of 3 million dollars, and a further 2 million dollars to assist with the GKC Building Project.
In October 2022, at the Guyana Karate College Gala and Awards, Frank bestowed the President with a medal and diploma, signifying his induction as an Honourary IKD Hall of Fame Member. He also presented the President with a personalized black belt with his name embroidered in Japanese Katakana. His Excellency, impressed with the project at 80 percent completed, pledged another G$10 million to GKC.
In 2011, Frank founded the IKD - International Karate Daigaku (University). Twelve years later, the IKD membership grew astonishingly, to 95 regions in 62 countries. This remarkable accomplishment demonstrates his credibility, knowledge, administration, and technical skills as an organizer. Today, IKD is much larger than many karate organizations that are descendants of the JKA.
Frank is the author of Shu-Ha-Ri: My Life in Japanese Karate, published by IKD Honbu Inc., 2020 and has produced DVDs: FW Vintage Demonstration, 1992; Eclipse of Life, 1997; Soul of Kata 1, 2000; IKD First World
Cup, 2012; Road to the Cup, 2015; and The Next Generation; 2015. He also edited several Newsletters, Technical Manuals and wrote several Association By-Laws.
Shuseki Shihan (World Chief Master) Frank Woon-A-Tai has dedicated his life to his art and has travelled worldwide as a Guyanese/Canadian Karate Ambassador with 59 years of training experience. Although he has some karate seniors older than him, who earned their first dan black belts before him, he has accomplished more than them in his karate career globally.
Master Hidetaka Nishiyama
Master Woon-A-Tai Master Teruyuki Okazaki,
Master Masatoshi Nakayama, Tabata
Master Sugiura
Master Ueki
Frank's strength in breaking objects propelled him to international Fame
Master Masahiko Tanaka
Today, ninety-eight percent of Frank’s notable mentors have passed away, namely masters: Nakayama, Sugiura, Nishiyama, Okazaki, Ito, Kanazawa, Shoji, Takahashi, Hayakawa, Tabata, Enoeda, Mori, Koyama, Takashina and others leaving Frank and his contemporaries to preserve and perpetuate their legacy in traditional karate.
On November 5th, 2022 Shuseki Shihan Frank Woon-A-Tai was inducted into the Canadian Black Belt Hall of Fame
Shihan Brian Mattias and Shuseki Shihan Frank Woon-A-Tai
