The Swiss Karate Do Renmei (SKR) – a member of JKA since 1969 – is a nationwide organisation that unites around 40 karate schools of the traditional Shotokan Karate style. We practice Karate as a holistic martial arts system, which includes self-defence, physical training and the development of personality. Our values are based on our tradition, with a strong focus on health and Integration, which allows Karate to be practiced throughout one’s life, regardless of age, origin or abilities. The SKR Emblem is designed to reflect this: The red circle symbolizes the sun and signifies courage and commitment, the silver sympolizes the crescent moon and refers to inner peace and concentration while the golden star symbolizes self-reflection.
Special emphasis is placed on encouraging the participation of Children an youths. The range of offfers is supported by “Jugend+Sport”, the Federal Sports Promotion Programme (J+S). We are a member of the “Swiss Karate Federation” (SKF), the umbrella organisation recognised by Swiss Olympics, which comprises arount 12’000 members and around 240 karate schools.
Dear Friends of Shotokan Karate
All Swiss karatekas warmly welcome you to Sursee! We are happy and proud to host such an important international karate event. Tommaso Mini and his team have done everything to ensure your stay will be memorable.
Over the course of 728 years, Switzerland has grown into a multi-national community with 4 official languages and numerous religions and ethnic groups. To the visitor, Switzerland might seem full of contrasts, but thanks to a direct democracy, in which every adult citizen is required to take part in one way or another, we have lived in peace for over 150 years. Although Mother Nature did not give us much in the way of natural resources, we were given the great will to fight through poverty – at a time when we were once among the poorest countries in Europe – to become a flourishing economic stronghold today.
As well as innovations, the Swiss love traditions. For example, although our
cows are internationally renowned for their robustness and productivity in
terms of agriculture, there is actually a lesser known traditional competition
in which the cows actually compete against each other to test their strength.
For us Swiss humans, one of the most popular individual sports is called « Schwingen ». The history of this sport goes back to the 13th century and is similar to judo. Strong men, known as the “the baddies”, compete in a sawdust ring. The winner is the one who manages to throw his opponent over on his back. During the finals more than 60‘000 spectators a day enjoy this competition.
So, given the fighting nature of Swiss traditions, it is no wonder that karate has gained such popularity across the country. It is just strict hierarchical structures that we do not like, so more than 20‘000 active karatekas are split into several associations, the Swiss Karatedo Renmei (SKR) representing the largest Shotokan association in Switzerland.
We are hoping for exciting, fair and accident-free competition in Sursee and we hope you go home with great memories.
Swiss Karatedo Renmei
Athletes
Delegation JKA 2018