Autobiography Sensei Jan Knobel - 8th dan
Born May 30th 1950, married and father of 3 sons. Went working on a
cruise ship when he was
18 and visited many times the USA, what he still
finds his favourite country. This resulted in a
3-week motorcycle trip
at the West coast during his 25th wedding anniversary.
After his sailing period and after getting married to his wife Hanny, he
went searching for
something to do during the evening times. After
seeing him play soccer, his father, former
soccer coach of Ajax
Amsterdam and the Dutch National Soccer team, advised him to hang his
shoes to the tree because to his opinion: "He could not crash an egg
with his feet". So he did
and he went to practice karate.
His first foreign teacher was sensei Miyazaki and his assistant Sawada.
They made such a big
impression on him that Jan committed himself fully
to Karate. It started for him as a hobby
and
became a lifestyle and his
living. After a period of teaching karate at a local sports school,
Jan
started his own dojo in 1983. The dojo was and still is called UMO,
meaning feather.
This crest
was a description of Jan's character and
lifestyle, done by his former Japanese
teacher sensei Miyazaki, who has
passed away. He thought the feather in the air is swift and
uncontrolled, attached to an arrow the feather directs and controls the
arrow. This he thought
Jan's character was, happy and fun but straight
to the point and honest. Jan himself thought
this a great honour sensei
Miyazaki described him this way.
Jan practiced karate in those early days with sensei’s as Nakayama, Kase,
Enoeda, Shirai,
Ochi, Asai, Yahara, Abe.
Sensei Abe he met in 1985 during his first visit to Japan. He practised
with sensei Abe during
the Gaijin class for several weeks. At that time
entering the JKA instructors class or training
with the JKA Instructors
class was impossible.
In the early days Jan had a lot of success during competitions. Several
times Dutch champion,
individual and team. Especially in his specialty Kata . In 1993 he transferred from the National
Organization to his old
love the JKA. He was sick and tired of politics and only wanted to
practice and enjoy karate his way. Also the national organization was an
all style organization
and being so left a little room for traditional
Karate. So he went to the JKA Asai fraction and
stayed there until the
last split. During his stay with sensei Asai he met sensei Amos and
since
then always stayed in contact with him. Jan developed his Karate
under Asai sensei and
became more exited. He still wanted to compete and
he became European champion, 2nd in
Johannesburg during the World
Championships 1993 and World champion in Greece 1996. This,
in his eyes
completed his Karate and he devoted himself to coaching his sons and the
rest of
his team. Until now the successes are hardly to count, several
European champions, high
scores during World championships, several 1st
- 2nd and 3rd places. Being independent, after
the Asai split, Jan and
his team competed with all kinds of organizations. He thought of himself
as a Ronin, a samurai without a master. He kept contact with all those
organisations and
finally founded the WJKA, a traditional organization
which was and still is in Jan’s blood.
Nowadays Jan shares his time between his dojo and courses he is giving
throughout Europe.
He is a well seen instructor in the Balkan countries
and due to his efforts these Karateka’s are
now able to travel
throughout Europe to compete in several competitions.
Although he is a very busy man Jan still finds some time for his
hobbies: speed cycling with his
86 year old father who still has a
perfect condition. During these daily trips they share their
knowledge
about their sport and Jan uses this knowledge to develop his Karate. Jan
likes to
workout alone in his dojo and likes driving through the country
on his motorbike with his wife
Hanny.
At the moment Jan is training for his 9th dan. He is president of JKA
the Netherlands, president
/ co-founder of the WJKA, general secretary /
technical committee of the SKDUN, technical
director of the Balkan
countries and technical advisor of the WTKO.
