Back to the Shotokai Encyclopedia Index
Born in the Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, in 1927. At the age of nineteen he
started training Karate-do under Master Masaji Yamagushi (a student of
O-sensei), he did so for ten years at the same time he studied Kendo,
Aikido and a bit of Iaido. In 1957 he was invited to France by Henri
Plée. He trustfully signs a contract in an unknown language in
favor of the French Martial Arts Academy, owned by H. Plée. This
contract actually left him in very poor conditions, barely permitting him
to survive in this foreign country. In 1959 he is able to leave the FMAA
giving classes in Karate, Aikido and Kendo in another Dojo. From that
moment on his influence progressively expands to the rest of Europe,
Germany, England, Italy, Yugoslavia and Switzerland. In 1968
he travels to Japan where he meets
Master Shigeru Egami. Very impressed
by Master Egami and the technique he observes, he decides to make a
profound and very difficult transformation in
his technique and his
practice. He returns to Europe as the representative of the Nihon
Karate-do Shotokai. In the following years the expansion of Murakami's
Shotokai continues, including Portugal too. He dies in Paris in the
year 1987.