GRAND MASTER OF WORLD KANREIKAI KARATE
Hanshi Manny Matias, 8th dan
Founder and Chief Instructor of World Kanreikai Karate, Manny Matias has been training students in the United States and Canada since 1971.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Manny Matias acquired a solid reputation as a lightweight fighter and a knockdown champion in North America. Since then, he has trained many champions for international full contact tournaments. He is highly regarded in martial arts circles worldwide as both a fighter and a technician in Japanese Karate.
In addition to the numerous awards that he received during his career, Manny Matias has been featured in international martial arts movies. He was admitted to the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 2003 and named “Shihan of the Year in Japanese Karate”.
Manny Matias started training in Tae Kwon Do and Aikido in the early 70’s. After obtaining his black belt, he taught Tae Kwon Do at two schools. In the mid 70’s, he gave up teaching, his black belt and title as a Sensei, to train in Japanese Karate under the great Shigeru Oyama of the Kyokushinkai Organization. He then became a champion fighter of the organization and opened his dojo in Connecticut.
In the mid 80’s, Hanshi Manny decided to follow Soshu Shigeru Oyama and contributed to the foundation and development of the World Oyama Karate Organization. Ranked 4th in the organization, he found himself at the helm of tens of thousands of students.
Hanshi Manny Matias faithfully followed his Master until Soshu Shigeru Oyama closed his dojo in New York and stepped down as director of the organization in 2004. Thereafter, Hanshi Manny and his associates founded a new organization called World Kanreikai Karate. It is within this organization that he pursues the teachings of the great masters Mas Oyama and Soshu Shigeru Oyama.
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