History of Dai Ichi Karate Association

The following treatise is gleaned from a conversation with Sensei Austin Box May 2010

Sensei Austin Box started his martial arts practice with judo in 1957 when he was an airman as a part of the Strategic Air Command, U.S. Air Force. After practicing judo for over a year, he was introduced in 1959 to the base karate instructor, Sensei Vincent A. Cruz. This was the beginning of Mr. Box’s karate practice. After more than a year of practice, he was advanced to shodan, and then in 1962 he was advanced to the rank of nidan. Part of his requirements for advancement was to draw out the movements to the kata Kushanku from the book Karate,by Yoshio Kawaguchi. This book was one of the first, if not the first book,printed in English about the subject of Shotokan Karate. The book is inscribed on it’s inner cover “Dillon K. Batcheley, Judo Instructor, Castle A.F.B,Calif., Tokyo, Japan, 1958” (Look in the Photos for a picture of Mr. Box’s drawing)

The U.S. Air Force, having seen the effectiveness of the Japanese martial arts, specifically karate, judo, and aikido, had planned to train all of their air crews in some form of effective hand to hand combat system. It was their plan to rotate them into a base in Japan for duty, and during their ground time, require that they attend the martial arts training system of their choice.

History states that U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command personnel were among the first westerners to study karate in Japan after WWII.

At the same time, the Air Force selected certain airmen and officers for”advanced instruction” that would serve as instructors when those aircrews rotated back to a state side base to continue their practice and perfection of their martial art. These airmen instructors-to-be received about a year of intense instruction from the best teachers that Japan had to offer.Sensei Cruz was selected to be one of these instructors.

When Sensei Cruz came back to the states in 1959 he was ordered to Castle Air Force Base located in central California. It was here that he started the Dai Ichi Karate Association of America.

It was during the spring of 1960 that the camp training near Yosemite was started by Sensei Cruz. Mr. Box told stories about “meeting the sun coming up in the east while running up the mountain”. Other stories are told byMr. Box about doing oi-zuki in the stream for hours until your feet were raw.

In 1962 Mr. Cruz was assigned back to Japan for more “advanced instruction”, leaving the Dai Ichi Karate Association in the care of Sensei Box.

After Mr. Cruz’s departure, Mr. Box continued to teach karate at Castle Air Force Base, propagating the values of the Dai Ichi Karate Association,instructing and grading with this authority. At this time Mr. Box changed the Dai Ichi emblem to reflect the association’s origins with personnel of the Strategic Air Command.

When Mr. Box was transferred from California to Texas during the Summer of1965, he took the organization and the teaching methodology with him to his new assignment at Amarillo Air Force Base, Texas. Soon after arriving, Mr. Box began teaching a class in town at the Amarillo Community Center. Mr. Dale Elliott, the judo instructor for the center, played a pivotal role in helping him to form the class. The karate class prospered from 1965 to 1966 growing to twenty five serious students. In June of 1966 Mr. Box was ordered to duty inViet Nam.

Meanwhile, Sensei Cruz had finished his assignment in Japan, and had rotated back to state side duty, and then on to the Panama Canal Zone. He founded the International San Ten Karate Association. During this time, Sensei Hiditaka Nishiyama arrived in America to later become known as the “Father ofAmerican Karate”. Some time after Mr. Nishiyama arrived in this country,Sensei Cruz approached him, and became his student, and has remained the student of Mr. Nishiyama since.

It was during his time in Amarillo that Mr. Box taught Mr. William Whitley,Mr. G. Jones, Mr. R. Meier, Mr. Max Sessions, Mr. Charlie Ledbetter, Mr. Robert Miller, and wife Carol, Mr. Tommy Fine, and his brother David Fine, and several others. Over the years some of these students diversified their skill in other disciplines of martial arts.

Although several of the old class have deceased, a few have gone on to advancement and expertise in their chosen disciplines. They got their start from Mr. Box’s excellent instruction.

Today, Mr. Jones is a highly respected 10th dan in Kodenkan jiu-jitsu.

Through the years, Mr. Meier has stuck with the Shotokan karate style that he was originally taught and still is a proponent of the Dai Ichi Karate Association, and senior student of Mr. Box. After many years of separation, Mr. Box and Mr.Cruz were reunited at a seminar that was put on by Mr. Nishiyama in 2005.