A Brief History of My Life in Karate
By Hanshi Bill Hind (9th dan)
I joined the Eastern Karate Club in Toronto in September, 1965 under the instruction of Benny Allen and Robert ‘Bob’ Dalgleish. Benny Allen instructed me in Chito-Ryu karate in which I received my first Shodan. It was there that I also studied Gung-Fu, Animal Styles, Hang-Gar styles and Tai Chi Chuan, but with Bob Dalgleish I studied Shotokan karate, receiving Shodan again, and Goju-Ryu karate which I loved. It was then that I decided to dedicate my training to Goju-Ryu. Some of my classmates at Eastern Karate were Wally Slocki, Tony Facetti and Ted Martin who all became Canadian champions.
In 1969 Benny Allen and the Eastern Karate Club joined with the Zen Nippon Butokukai Organization, the oldest Karate organization in the world. We trained with affiliate Richard Kim at his San Francisco dojo, taking our club and training international. I received the ranks of Shodan, Nidan and Sandan from Japan via the organization and became the Vice-President of Zen Nippon Butokukai in Canada with Benny Allen as President.
In 1972 I received the rank of Sandan from Bob Dalgleish in his Canadian Goju Karate Association. Then in 1976 I received 6th Dan from Bob Dalgleish and became Bob’s senior student. When Bob passed away in 1978 I took over his association and renamed it Canada Goju Karate Association. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s we attended many tournaments in Ontario, Quebec, New York State, Michigan and Pennsylvania and won in both kata and kumite.
In the 80’s, Gary Hails, Cezar Borkowski and I formed an association, called the Southern Ontario Karate Association, to share and teach each other our styles of karate.
In the summer of 1989, myself and two of my senior students traveled to Okinawa, to train with Daisensei Meitoku Yagi, one of the world’s foremost authorities on Goju-Ryu Karate. I returned, in 1990, to train again with Daisensei, this time with 10 of my students. We also participated in the International gathering of Goju-Kai students, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Okinawan Karate-do Goju-Kai.
In the 1990’s more and more dojos joined the Canada Goju Karate Association to the point that by the year 2000 there was 25 dojos in the Association, from British Columbia to New Brunswick and even in Lahr, Germany and California.
In 1990 while being the senior student of Goju in Canada, Ken Tallack, the head of Meibukan of Canada graded me to 6th Degree and asked me to head his Association while he travelled to Okinawa to further his training. Upon his return two years later I relinquished the position as Head of Meibukan of Canada to focus solely on Goju-Ryu and the Canada Goju Karate Association.
Since the 2000’s I have led many Seminars in Canada and Europe and have held the Canada Goju Karate Championship Tournament for over the last 20 years.
Since leaving Toronto in 2010 and moving to northern Ontario I have opened four dojo’s in four different communities to further the reach of martial arts, and now in 2018 I plan to continue my teaching of Tai Chi Chuan in which I have trained from 1967 onward.
After 52 years of training I am 9th Degree in Goju, after 50 years a Master in Tai Chi Chuan and after 42 years a Master in Reiki.