Sensei Tim Griffiths holds the rank of 6th Dan JKS, having graded in Japan under a panel including the JKS World Chief Instructor, Kagawa Shihan. He qualified as an instructor in 2001 and is the 2023 JKS England National Kata Champion.
Tim began training in 1992, gaining his black belt four years later. Since
then, he has trained with some of the most renowned names in Karate,
including Senseis Enoeda, Asai, Kanazawa, Abe, Kagawa, O'Neill, Yamaguchi
and Brennan. Tim recounts some of his most special karate
memories from trips outside of the UK, having trained for short periods
at both the Japan Karate Shoto Federation (JKS) and the Japan Karate Association (JKA) headquarters in Tokyo, at the dojo of WTKO Chief Instructor Richard Amos Sensei in New York and also in
Los Angeles under the tutelage of the late Master Nishiyama, one of the
JKA's founders. Tim particularly appreciates the opportunity to train regularly with some of today's inspirational new breed of instructors, such as
former European champion and current JKS England national coach, Sensei Matthew Price.
In competition, Tim has had a number of successes, including being the 2022 BKF British Champion and the 2023 JKS England Champion in Male Senior Kata, Male Masters Kata and Senior Team Kata. He was a medallist at the Commonwealth Karate Championships, a bronze medallist at the Karate England (EKF) all-styles National Championships and a silver medallist at the British Universities All-styles Karate Championships. He is a six-time KUGB national medallist and was 12-times KUGB Southern Region Champion, having won all four senior events at least once each. For more tournament highlights, click here.
As the Chief Instructor at Bristol Karate Academy, Tim continues to train
hard to develop personally and also to keep bringing fresh ideas to
students of the club.