Dressed in his white GI and sporting his black belt on his waist, sensei John Barnett stood proudly in front of his students as the sounds of ‘os’, ‘ni’ and ‘san’ echoed through the New World Shotokan karate dojo in Rynfield.
The sensei’s career highlights aren’t his own achievements, but rather those of watching karatekas develop from newbies to the best students. In his illustrious career, he graded to eight black belts and was one of the leading figures to embrace and lead the introduction of karate on the Western Bloc.Barnett started martial arts as an 11-year-old at the Benoni Karate Judo Club in 1959. He did judo for a few years before joining the Japan Karate Association under sensei Stan Schmidt at the Orange Grove Dojo in Johannesburg.
“I attended the summer Crystal Palace Karate event in 1974. At the end of this event, I graded to second dan. When I came back to SA in 1974, I rejoined old clubs and started the Dan Triangle with my good friend, Chris Anthony.”Together with Anthony, they joined the Shotokan Karate-Do International under senseis Nigel Jackson and Hirokazu Kanazawa and later formed the World Shotokan Karate-do Federation with sensei Hitoshi Kasuya and Jackson.
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