The Karate club in Cardiff started in Maindy leisure centre in 2006.

It is affiliated to Higashi Karate Kai which is headed by our chief instructor Peter Spanton.

There are a number of clubs across Wales.

Peter Spanton is the chief instructor and founder of Higashi Karate Kai. He is 9th Dan and is one of the most Senior Karate-Ka in the UK.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pete started training in 1965. He read a small article in a newspaper/magazine about a martial art from Japan called Karate. This sounded very interesting so Pete tried to find a club, but couldn't find anything. He then heard about a Judo club where someone had some information on Karate, this person was called Len Palmer. He contacted Len, who informed him that they did have a small Karate Federation running, and that they had invited an instructor from Japan to come over and teach. His name was Tatsuo Suzuki and he was teaching the Wado-Ryu style at the club in South London. Peter Spanton went to the South London club to watch a session and to see Mr. Suzuki in action. He was most impressed and thought this was definitely for him. The classes then were all adult; mostly male, although there were a few women training.

Peter opened his own club when he was a Brown belt; that was in East London at a place called Custom House. At the same time he also opened a club in Forest Gate East London, which was over a pub. When he got his Black belt the Forest Gate club moved into the community centre and Peter has had a club there ever since. Higashi means EAST as the first club was in the East End of London. 

At the time there was only a small friendly group of clubs such as Swindon, Cheltenham, Cardiff and Bristol. That's how Higashi began. Eventually, there were enough clubs that were big enough to go it alone and form a federation of its own which was called Higashi Karate Kai (H.K.K.) and so Higashi was formally created. 

The techniques in Higashi Karate Kai are Wado-Ryu and use Wado-Ryu Kata. Some have evolved slightly but the original concept was never lost. 

In England there are about 1800 members, with affiliations in Wales, Northern and Southern Ireland and Australia. 

The future for Higashi would be to add to and maintain standards, as standards must not be dropped.