The three kanji (Japanese symbols) that make up the word Yoshukai literally translate as "Training Hall of Continued Improvement."

The body of fighting and self-defense techniques which became Japanese Karate-do is thought to have originated about a thousand years ago in India and spread from there to China, Okinawa and finally to Japan in the early 1900s.

Gichin Funakoshi asked Tsuysohi Chiitose to teach Masatoshi Nakayama (who became Chief Instructor of the Japanese Karate Association).

[8] Yamamoto and some of his students, including Mike Foster, accompanied Chitose on a promotional visit to Canada in 1967, where they conducted demonstrations, a clinic, and presided over the Canadian National Karate Association tournament.

Foster first studied judo, and later karate with Hiroko Watanabe, a Goju Ryu instructor who taught at the Itazuke Administration Annex base gym.

Watanabe felt that Foster was a promising student and suggested that he study with Mamoru Yamamoto who was then still affiliated with Tsuyoshi Chitose's Chito-ryu.

In the early nineties he relocated to Titusville, Florida, where he shared a hombu dojo (headquarters) for seven years with aikido Tom Walker.

[16] Foster continued to instruct senior grades at his hombu dojo in Titusville until 2008, when he retired from active teaching for health reasons.

[9] Koda affiliated with the new U.S.A. Yoshukai style under Mamoru Yamamoto and Mike Foster continued to assist with establishing and developing schools in the United States.

He is the founder of Shingo-ha Yoshukai which focuses on stances, distances, angular movements, striking arts, joint taking, and throwing.

Outside Japan, techniques and stances are adapted from Japanese karate to fit taller Westerners with longer legs and higher hara or center of gravity.

Although Yoshukai is considered a full-contact style, students are also trained to participate in light- to medium-contact sparring within the dojo to develop strategy and control of technique.

Yoshukai study includes traditional Okinawan kobudo as an extension of karate technique, and mastering the use of martial arts weapons may be required for advancing in rank.

[21] Other noted champions and officials associated with the style include Larry Pate (retired),[22] Calvin Thomas,[23] Mike Smith, Donnie Hair and Tracy Moorehead.

Yoshukai International at one point had dojos all over the world,[24] including the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, Germany, Latvia, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

[21] Depending on the source, the outline of the crest patch represents a cherry blossom or possibly Yata no Kagami (八咫鏡), the sacred mirror of Japan which stands for wisdom and honesty.

The three kanji symbols that make up the word "Yoshukai" across the top of the crest (養秀会), literally translated, mean: Training Hall of Continued Improvement.

Alexandria Plumer, an American studying under Gerry Blank in Los Angeles, is the youngest female in the world to achieve black belt status in Yoshukai Karate.

Due to Mike Foster's success as a practitioner and instructor, Yoshukai International in its "zenith" established schools all over the world, including throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Germany, Latvia, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

The Yoshukai Karate organization grew quickly as students reached black belt status and began opening schools throughout Alabama and surrounding states.

World Yoshukai now has more than 1,000 members in more than 30 branches throughout the United States, including Florida, Alabama, Texas, Georgia, California, Missouri, Nebraska and New Mexico.

[28] In 1993 Sensei Mark Hepburn (shodan) and his wife Shelley (brown belt) opened a Chito Ryu dojo in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.

From 1995 to 1996 Hepburn trained frequently with Sensei Nick Nibler, a 4th dan black belt with Mike Foster's Yoshukai International Karate group in Seattle, Washington.

Robertson also holds a 5th Dan from the National Karate Association under Hanshi Masami Tsuruoka and 4th Dan, Shidoin diploma directly from Tsuyoshi Chitose and a Godan (5th Degree Black Belt) in Ryu Kyu Kobudo Hozon Shinkokai under Hanshi Devorah Dometrich and ranks in Muso Shinden Ryu Iaido and Kodokan Judo.

Mike Foster was invited by German karate pioneer Peter Trapski to conduct demonstrations in Germany in the late seventies and entered and won the Duisburg Euro-Cup competition in 1978.

At the end of 1975, Solano returned to Puerto Rico and established his first dojo, where he continued to practice the Yoshukai Karate style until 1981.

[30] In 1991 full directorship of the Puerto Rico Yoshukai organization was assumed by Miguel Alejandro, with schools in Cupey, Carolina, Cidra, and two in Trujillo Alto.

Tom Somerville was a New Zealander who lived in the United States and trained with Mike Foster's students Charles Scanlan and Kevin Bradford in New Jersey in the mid seventies.

The Neguss martial arts club was founded in Yurmala by Eric Annuskans and Sergej Lukatch in autumn 1995 with specialization in karate.

Sergej Lukatch is a long-time student of Shihan Otto Rumann, who lived and trained in the Yoshukai Germany Honbu Dojo in Dortmund for several years before moving to Latvia in 1995.