The Seifukan IGK Team

Tino Ceberano Hanshi, Kyudan, 9th Dan, is often referred to as the father of karate in Australia. His years of experience in the martial arts have provided him with skills and knowledge that has written him into the martial arts history books. His expertise as a teacher will make any opportunity you have to spend time with him an enjoyable, motivating, stimulating learning experience. The following brief biography of his life will give you a better understanding of the man that leads us. 

Hanshi was born and raised in Hawaii on the island of Kauai. Of Philippine-Spanish decent, his father was a Philippine migrant who came to Hawaii as a professional boxer who also acquired the skills of Philippine stick fighting when he settled in Hawaii. 

As a young man Hanshi and his father trained together in Kempo, which was the word commonly used instead of Karate. The Chinese would refer to Shorin Kempo as what Shaolin Kempo was. The Okinawans referred to Okinawa-te (Uchinadi) instead of Karate. Kempo was actually introduced to him by a neighbour, who was a returned serviceman. “He would gather up a group of kids and they would train together after school.” 

In 1958 the Gojukai opened in Hawaii, Kyokushinkai and Shotokan arrived in Hawaii as well. Before that there was only Kempo and Okinawa-te and the training wasn’t all that serious. With the introduction of these Japanese karate organisations things changed. People began to understand the values of the martial arts and became a lot more focussed about how they should be practised. Hanshi’s most revered teacher as a young man was Anton Navas Sensei. Navas Sensei took Hanshi under his wing and from 1959 through 1966 guided him in what the true meaning of the martial arts was.

Joining the Marines changed Hanshi's life, he went from living as a happy go lucky islander to being part of the armed forces elite and living a much more structured Western life-style, this was quite a culture shock for him. As part of the Fleet Marine Force Pacific, he was a specialist in the field of teaching armed and unarmed combat with a background of reconnaissance for which his job was to be on call to engage the enemy or secure information. The Force also served as the protection squad for senior officers. 

Hanshi also participated in the Fleet Marine Force Pacific Drum and Bugle Team marching squad where he played the bugle. It was with the bugle team that he first came to Australia in 1962 both playing the bugle and exchanging ideas and practice on combative warfare which was part of a highly confidential military operation at the time. The team eventually visited Okinawa and mainland Japan, it was on his first trip to Tokyo that Hanshi met the legendary founder of Japanese Gojukai, Yamaguchi Gogen Hanshi. 

After receiving his Sandan, 3rd dan from Yamaguchi Gogan and at Yamaguchi Gogan’s direction Hanshi arrived in Australia with his family in 1966. He immediately set about introducing the relatively unknown world of Karate to the Australian public. From small beginnings the school of Goju Karate has become one of the most widely practiced of the styles of karate in Australia. This is due in no small part to the skill and dedication of Tino Ceberano, Hanshi. 

After the passing on Yamaguchi Gogen in 1989 Ceberano Hanshi formed his own karate organisation and the IGK (International Goju Karate) was born. The IGK has now come to stand for the “International Goju Kobujutsu Kenkyukai” or International Goju Traditional Martial Art Research Society. 

Hanshi is in constant demand around the world to provide seminars and other training. He spends a significant part of his life travelling the globe. We in the IGK and at the Seifukan in particular have the very good fortune of having Hanshi see us as part of his close family