Japan Shotokan Karate Association (JSKA) was founded by Keigo Abe in 1999. Abe was a former instructor graduate of the Japan Karate Association and trained and taught at the JKA Headquarters for nearly 35 years. He held a number of senior positions within the JKA and latterly the Matsuno section of the JKA. He had been a senior student of Nakayama and as such the teachings of Nakayama remain an integral part of the evolution of the Shotokan style within the JSKA. Abe Sensei died on the 20th of December 2019. Origins Abe Keigo founded the Japan Shotokan Karate Association 10 February 1999 following his retirement as Technical Director of the JKA (Matsuno section) on 31 January 1999. As of 2008, Abe holds 9th Dan in the Japan Shotokan Karate Association and is the JSKA Chief Instructor. His current grade was awarded to him by his Shihankai at the World Championships held in Manchester, England. Abe Keigo, born in October 1938, had started Karate and Judo training when he was 15 years old, and it was in 1958 that he started to train at the Headquarters of the Japan Karate Association (JKA) thus becoming a student of Nakayama Masatoshi, who was to become his grand master. Abe trained there every day for nearly 35 years. In 1965 Abe graduated as JKA instructor and in 1985 was appointed Director of Qualifications. Whilst at the JKA, Keigo Abe saw a number of divisions arise from the 1970s onwards, such as in 1977, when JKA instructor Shiro Asano formed his own organization (which was to become Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation (SKIF)), taking with him Hirokazu Kanazawa to be chief instructor. Following Nakayama's death in 1987, the JKA experienced a turbulent period, both at the Tokyo headquarters and worldwide. Taiji Kase and Hiroshi Shirai, senior JKA instructors in Europe quit to form the World Karate-Do Shotokan Academy. Taketo Okuda, JKA chief instructor in Brazil, quit to focus on his own organization, Butoku-kan. Abe became involved in a split in 1990, when a legal dispute started between two groups about the control of JKA. One group was led by Tetsuhiko Asai, the JKA chief instructor after Nakayama with Raizo Matsuno, the other by Nobuyuki Nakahara and including Masaaki Ueki and Masahiko Tanaka. Tetsuhiko Asai's group, known as the Matsuno section, included Keigo Abe and Mikio Yahara. In 1990, Abe was appointed Technical Director of the