John van Weenen
British karateka and humanitarian
- Born
- 26 August 1941
- Sport
- karate
- Occupation
- karateka
John Van Weenen (born 26 August 1941, Enfield, Middlesex, England) is a 9th Dan karateka and humanitarian.
Van Weenen was graded to 1st Dan by Moss Hollis in 1966, (his diploma is reproduced in his auto biography 'In Funakoshi's Footsteps'), before travelling to Japan in 1967 to train at the invitation of Masutatsu Oyama at the Kyokushinkai Headquarters. However, he ultimately chose to train under Hirokazu Kanazawa and registered at the JKA Honbu in Tokyo.
He later founded the Traditional Association of Shotokan Karate (T.A.S.K.) in Bedford, Bedfordshire, whose guest instructors included Bob Poynton, Ticky Donovan and Sean Roberts.
Awards and honours
- Member of the Order of the British Empire
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q6265926 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.