Shihan Edwin Hamile

Shihan Edwin Hamile - Ninth Dan

It is with great regret that I have to report that Shihan Edwin Hamile passed away Tuesday June 22, 1999 at 2:00pm from complications due to cancer. A special service will be held at 2:00pm on Friday June 25, 1999 at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 400 W. Duarte Rd. Arcadia, CA, (626) 447-1249 at Duarte and Holly in Arcadia.

A gathering will be held to remember Shihan Hamile at the Headquarters Dojo in Temple City at 6:00pm on Saturday June 26, 1999. The Dojo is located at 9506 Las Tunas Drive, Temple City, California.

For more information contact; (voice) 818-285-5463, (fax) 818-285-1277.

Sensei David Hurlbut WCSKKAI

Shihan Edwin Hamile is a well-known karate instructor in Southern California. Mr. Hamile has been involved in the martial arts for over forty years. One of the founders of the famed Karate Association of Hawaii, he is a student of Masters Hirokazu Kanazawa, Tetsuhiko Asai--currently chairman of the Japan Karate Association--and Masataka Mori. Mr. Hamile was the first non-Japanese recipient of the Japan Karate Association's coveted Gichen Funakoshi Award, presented personally by Hidetaka Nishiyama. Shihan Hamile's early teaching assignments were made directly by Master Masatoshi Nakayama, who took great interest in Mr. Hamile's career and the development of karate in Hawaii. As president of the JKA in Hawaii, his team was the first to defeat the Japanese team in kumite competition. In 1965, he was designated a JKA branch instructor by Mr. Nakayama.

In 1968, Mr. Hamile founded the West Coast Shotokan Karate Association in southern California. Today, as president of West Coast Shotokan Karate International, he is the chief instructor of karate groups in several foreign countries, representing literally thousands of students. He travels extensively to Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, and the Middle East in support of his instructional duties. Mr. Hamile has for years been involved in the American Amateur Karate Federation and International Karate Federation with Master Hidetaka Nishiyama. He is one of the very few ITKF Class A Examiners. Additionally, Mr. Hamile is much sought after in his capacity as one of the world's most respected tournament arbitrators.

With fellow Hawaiian Ed Parker, and Caylor Adkins, Mr. Hamile authored the first rules for AAU karate, and was subsequently appointed to head the karate referee certification program of the AAU. Having served as a chief arbitrator at the now legendary Third World Karate Championships in 1975, Mr. Hamile formed the Referees, Judges, and Arbitrators' Association (RAJA) to train and assist individuals in obtaining WUKO-satandard judging certification.

In late 1994, as a result of meetings with a number of American and European karate instructors who had approached him concerning the need for a new kind of organizational structure in traditional karate, Mr. Hamile formed the World Federation of Karate Do Organizations. He was elected president of that organization and asked to serve as its Chairman. In 1996, driven by the desire to further explore the relationship between karate and the other martial arts, to bring unity and coherence to the arts, and to help shape a budo physically and spiritually appropriate to the 21st century, Mr. Hamile chartered WFKO's International Sogobudo Development Project, the federation's central research forum.

He lives in Temple City, California and holds the 9th degree Black Belt.

Last revision date: June 24, 1999.