Since the style is more biomechanically sound[citation needed] and self-defense oriented, there are notable differences in the way many techniques are performed; by comparison with JKA Shotokan karate.

There is a wider arc made at the startup position for the soto uke, the gedan barai is more a check than a full-power block.

Kenkojuku karate also includes both traditional Okinawan (bō, tonfa, sai, nunchaku) and Japanese weapons training, also known as kobudo.

Okano was also a noted expert in the field of Japanese flower arrangement (Ikebana) specifically roses which became a passion of his, in later years.

In 1942, Okano was given permission to start a karate research club named Kenkokai Karate-bu in his hometown of Hachiōji, Tokyo.

Okano was on the panel of Masters of the Japan Karate-do Federation (JKF), being an 8th Dan in karate.

Some of his most famous students were/are Takashi Akuzawa, Toyotaro Miyazaki, Kazuo Kuriyama, Masakazu Takahashi, Koji Sugimoto, Minoru Horie, Wayne Wickizer, John Slocum, Larry Durst, Ted Ratich, Bernard Pierce, Fred Hamilton, Stuart Hirschfield, Joseph Butrim and Armando Comacho.

Toyotaro Miyazaki was born in Tokyo, Japan and began his karate training at the age of 15 under Tomasaburo Okano at the Kenkojuku dojo.

In Flushing, New York Miyazaki taught over 30 years thousands of students and has produced hundreds of black belts, some of whom have become instructors at their own karate dojos.

In 2010 and early 2011 he could be found visiting the daytime classes at the Shotojuku dojo in Astoria, Queens.

Takashi Asukawa Shihan was sent to the United States in 1961, from Japan through the sponsorship of James Arwood to the city of Memphis, Tennessee to teach and promote karate kenkojuku.

At the age of fourteen he began karate under Tomosaburo Okano, a student of Gichin Funakoshi.

In the early eighties Okano visited again and held several demonstrations, including kenjutsu (sword).

Sugimoto has had close relationships and given certifications to several Shotokan kenkojuku Dojos in Latin America.