Any questions about this association, or how to join, should be directed to watto@midcoast.com.au
Soken Kinen Kan (Originally, Shuridokan then Soken Kinen Dojo), was founded in 1968 by Ted Lange an ex-US Serviceman. The Association was first founded in Vietnam and then Australia in 1971, both being the introduction of Matsumura Seito to those countries. Ted formally established the Vietnamese association just before leaving Vietnam after getting Grandmaster Hohan Soken's permission to grade Thrinh Duc Phu and Dao Thu Thuy, and making them directors. Ted's first Dojo in Australia was in Elwood, Victoria. Ted later transferred to Sydney and started opening schools there. Ted then returned to the USA because of family problems and stayed there for 10 years. During this time the association had dropped to less than 3 Dojos.
Soken Sensei died in 1982 and the Matsumura Style appeared to be without a leader for many years. Many have claimed the title, but none of them were the true heir. Ted searched and trained with many of the masters trying to find the true heir, or at least the one that was the closest to the teachings of O'Sensei Soken.
Finally after 10 years of searching he finally found Nishihira-San. In 1996 Ted and Richard Russell went to Okinawa to train with Nishihira-San. Ted feels that Nishihira-San is the rightful heir to the Matsumura Style. After returning Ted changed the association name to Soken Kinen Kan. Since Ted's trip to Okinawa he has sent Stephen Rae, Steve Watson, John Capewell, and Michael Bambagatti to Okinawa to train with Nishihira-San. Three teams of the Vietnamese have come to train in Australia to prepare for their training trip to Okinawa. At present Soken Kinen Kan has 90% of it's instructors trained in Okinawa. Today there are 8 Dojos in NSW, 1 in Victoria, one in Western Australia, and 2 in Queensland. Internationally there are thirty dojos in Vietnam, two in USA, three in the UK, one in France, one in Canada, and one in Egypt. Australia is the Headquarters for the association, as approved by Nishihira-San. Nishihira-San has requested that we move slow with the expansion of the association and wants to know all of the Senior Instructors personally so we are scheduling all of the senior instructors to train with Nishihira-San in Okinawa. Nishihira-San actually built an extra room on his house to accommodate overseas students.