Masami Tsuruoka

Early years Mas Tsuruoka was born in Cumberland, British Columbia. The Tsuruoka family, as was standard with Japanese families living in Canada at that time, was placed in 'Internment Camps' during World War II, first in Tashimi, B.C., and later at Roseberry.

When Tsuruoka began studying with Chitose, karate was at the point where two eras crossed, the old ways of Okinawa and the new ways of post-war Japan. Tsuruoka was one of the first students of the group that was to reshape modern karate.

Canadian Chito-Ryu Although Tsuruoka first began teaching judo,

In 1962 Tsuyoshi Chitose recognized Tsuruoka's accomplishments by appointing him as Chief Representative of Chito-ryu karate in Canada. In 1967 as part of his efforts to promote Chito-ryu karate in Canada, Tsuruoka invited Dr. Chitose, along with Mamoru Yamamoto, later noted as founder of Yoshukai Karate, and some of his students including Mike Foster, to Canada, where they conducted demonstrations, a clinic, and presided over the Canadian National Karate Association tournament. The event was held at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre's Nisei Karate Club.

During the occupation of Japan, a number of American service personnel had trained at the Yoseikan Chito-ryu ‘’hombu dojo" (headquarters) in Kumamoto. In the early sixties Tsuruoka contacted these former students in an effort to expand the Chito-ryu karate organization in North America. One of the former students was Bill Dometrich of Kentucky, who traveled to Canada to train with Tsuruoka. Dometrich was eventually appointed the Chief Representative of Chito-ryu karate in the United States. In the same year he began teaching karate at the University of Toronto, which became the first university karate club in Canada, and held the first summer camp called Kamp Kamikaze in northeastern Ontario which was open to all styles of karate. In 1964 Tsuruoka founded the National Karate Association of Canada (NKA) and served as its first president. In 1967 the first inter-university karate tournament was held between Ontario universities, with the University of Toronto team winning the championship. On November 16, 1973 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Pan-American Karate Union elected Masami Tsuruoka first Vice-President. On May 13, 2006, Tsuruoka received his 10th-Dan rank, awarded by the National Karate Association.

Tsuruoka Karate is named for it founder Masami Tsuruoka, 10th Dan. Its foundation is in Chito-Ryu and Shotokan and it blends in effective techniques from many martial arts.