In January 1973 representatives of the Pittsburgh Shotokan Dojos traveled to Los Angeles and were formally accepted by Ohshima Sensei and invested into the Shotokan Karate of America family. The committee consisted of Mr. Sadaharu Honda, Ray Artz, and George Taylor of the Delaware Valley Karate Association (DVKA). However the journey to Los Angeles actually began in 1964 when a math professor, Marty Eisen, at the University of Pittsburgh began training and looking for others who would join him to form a dojo at Pitt. In 1965 Dan Sullivan, who was beginning his graduate studies at Carnegie Mellon University, networked with Marty and together these two began to forge the resolve, perseverance and humble spirit that we have come to know as the Way. At that time there was no formal relationship with SKA as SKA itself was experiencing its formative years as the Southern California Karate Association. A member of the DVKA visited Japan in search of an instructor and Mr. Isao Obata had recommended Mr. Yoshiaki Yamagami, the 1963 Captain of the Waseda Karate Team. In alliance with the DVKA, Mr. Yamagami visited and provided instruction in Pittsburgh.
Thus began Pittsburgh's long association with karate and most particularly alumni of the Waseda karate program. Mr. Kazumi Tabata the 1967 Waseda Co-captain followed Mr. Yamagami. Finally Mr. Sadaharu Honda, the 1962 Captain of Waseda, made his home in Pittsburgh and led the Pitt Dojo through the early 1970's. Mr. Honda came to the United States in 1962 and trained as part of the then Southern California Karate Association.
During those early years we were lucky in that we had exposure to several Japanese instructors including Takashi Fujioka, Koji Kuwabara, Katschiko Maruoka and, when visiting the University of Illinois Dojo, Mr. Shoji Okabe the 1965 Waseda Captain. In 1970 the Pittsburgh Shotokan members attended a practice at the University of Illinois which was lead by Mr. Ohshima.