Former Australian Chief Instructor and current World IKGA Vice President Paul Starling Shihan Kyoshi, a member of Goju Kai Karate do Australia for 45 years, was the first graduate in 1973 as Shihan from Gogen Yamaguchi Sensei's prestigious Nihon Karate do Senmon Gakko, and the only Australian Shihan Graduate.
Paul Starling commenced training in the Gogen Yamaguchi school of Goju Kai Karate do as a teenager 45 years ago in the early 1960's with the founder of Goju Kai in Australia Merv Oakley Sensei. At that time in Australia, very few Karate Instructors were qualified to teach and only a handful were legitimately graded to any black belt level of proficiency. Oakley Sensei was a pioneer of Australian Karate, and had traveled to the Hombu Dojo in Japan to train with Gogen Yamaguchi Hanshi for extended periods.
Paul had trained in Judo from a very young age with a very distinguished teacher Sensei Ron Cox, and for many years continued training in Judo and Goju Kai Karate do concurrently, on a daily basis. After graduating from Barker College in Waitara Sydney, he commenced a career with Unilever Australia, and also the Australian Army CMF, due to the influence of his father. Lieutenant Colonel Noel George Reid Starling, a career Army man, was said to be the longest serving soldier in the Australian Regular Army when he passed away in 1996. Colonel Starling born in 1913 had added a number of years to his birth date in order to sign on as a soldier in approx 1926. It was as an Army Officer that Paul also honed his skills at leadership and the self discipline that helped him build a successful Dojo, represent Australia at the First World Karate Do Championship in Japan in 1970, and the second in Paris in 1972. Paul was a founder member of the Australian Karate Federation,the Kokusai Karate do Shihan Kai, the New South Wales Karate Federation, and the Macquarie University Karate Club.(1968) Paul has also represented Australia as an International official at WUKO World Karate do Championships.
Whilst in Japan at the Karate do College, Paul had stayed with Gogen Yamaguchi Hanshi in his home , and had also acted in a secretarial capacity for the IKGA. In this role he had became very closely aligned with the Yamaguchi family in Japan, and he has returned on many occasions with very large groups of his students to train with both Gogen Yamaguch Hanshi prior to his death in 1989, and also Goshi Yamaguchi Shihan, Gosen Yamaguchi Shihan and also Wakako Yamaguchi Shihan.
Amongst Paul's achievements: he was a former NSW State Coach for the New South Wales Karate Federation, a former "A" Level National Referee for the Australian Karate Federation, a former National Secretary for the AKF (FAKO),represented Australia as a Referee/Judge at the WKF(WUKO)World Karate Championships in Taiwan in 1982, where his wife and student (Sandie)Alexandra Starling Shihan became the very first Australian AKF representative to win a medal when she won 3rd place bronze in the Female Kata event. He was a lecturer on the very 1st Level One Coaching Course run by the AKF for the National Coaching Accreditation Scheme, and was on the committee that designed the original Level Two Coaching Scheme for the AKF.
Whilst at the JAPAN KARATE DO COLLEGE (NIHON KARATE DO SENMON GAKKO) where Paul trained full time for one year in 1973, he was taught by Grandmaster Gogen Yamaguchi (Goju Kai), Grandmaster Hironori Otsuka (Wado Ryu), Grandmaster Iwata Manzao (Shito Ryu), Grandmaster Tamae (Rembukan), and Grandmaster Motokatsu (Gansho) Inoue (Ryukyu Kobujitsu Hozon Shinko Kai). Also trained by Goshi Yamaguchi Saiko Shihan, and several other Japanese Shihans of the time.
Paul played a pivotal role in the 1983 Classic Australian Movie 'The Coolangatta Gold' as a Karate Instructor, accompanied by several of his black belt students who played the part of the Karate class.
Many International, National, and State champions have come from Paul Starling's Dojo. Many of his students have gone on to become Internationally recognized instructors in their own right. Amongst Paul's Black Belt Graduates who have gone on to become Shihans are Ingo De Jong 8th Dan Hanshi (IKGA Vice President, Director of the European Bloc, Branch Chief for Scandinavia), Helmut Moldners 5th Dan Renshi (former NSW North Coast Branch Chief), Dr. Mark Burton 6th Dan Renshi (NSW Branch Chief and Chief Instructor) and Alexandra (Sandie) Starling 5th Dan Renshi (former WKF World Championship medalist).
Current IKGA Qualifications - Paul was awarded KYOSHI License in 1989 by Saiko Shihan Yamaguchi, 7th Dan in 1995 in Tokyo Japan, and was also graded to 5th Dan in the Ryukyu Kobujitsu Hozon Shinko Kai in 1988 by Grandmaster Motokatsu (Gansho) Inoue in Shimizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.
