Dear Branch Chiefs and Contacts

I hope you all are doing fine, and your Branch and Dojos are growing! 　By reading the reports that you have sent to us, I can see that there are a great deal of activities going on around the world. It is a proof that you all are working very hard. Thank you so much!

Already two months of the New Year have past, and there are only four months left to the Karate World Cup. The WKO Office has received most of the applications for the World Cup, and the draw will be made by the end of March.

To those of you who will fight in the World Cup: it is a great honor to you representing your Region in this tournament, and at this moment, everyone has the chance to become the Champion. So please have faith in your ability, and spend the remaining months training hard without doubts - you may become the World Champion. I believe that the one who will have been training most and hardest will become the Champion. Do not waste any day, any moment, but use the 100% of the time you have. I am looking forward to seeing your fights at the tournament!

I also hope that our competitors will have a big audience and many people cheering for them. Bring as many supporters as possible from your branch, so that the competitors from your Region will receive the encouragement that he/she deserves. The competitors will show greater and stronger fights further, if they get power and energy from the support.

As you all know, the three essential factors of Budo are Mind, Skill and Body. Though Budo Karate is spreading throughout the world, I feel that we should look at the factor: Mind. Of course we will gain a strong mind (spirit or heart) through severe training, but we also need to develop a mind full of gratefulness - a caring mind that thinks about other people. There will be no fight without an opponent. There will be no tournament without an organizer. There will be no training without training partners or teacher. Actually, there is not much we can complete only by ourselves. If we think like this, we will also learn modesty. Budo starts and ends with gratefulness and good etiquette. Respect your opponent and respect your opponent’s country.

At the World Cup, I believe that the most important for us is this factor; the Spirit of Budo. I would like you to please pass on this message to your students. I always say that WKO is OUR organization, so please let our organization be a true Budo Organization that we can be proud of.

Finally, I also would like to thank the Russian Branch for their hard work. Please continue your efforts, and make this World Cup a great success. And to all of you, Branch Chiefs and Contacts, I ask you for your continuous support to the organizer of the tournament.
Osu!

Kenji Midori

WKO President