Welcome
Dear IOGKF Karateka, Sensei, Colleagues and Students,
I warm heartedly want to invite you to the European Gasshuku in the summer of 2026 in the Netherlands.
The European Gasshuku 2026 Team has started early with the organization, because, as the IOGKF Netherlands, we want to give our utmost best to make it a big and warm IOGKF-family gathering, with inspiring trainings, as well as some interesting, inspiring and enjoyable activities outside of the training schedule.
The European Gasshuku 2026 will be held in the Wageningen University Sports Centre ‘De Bongerd’. Wageningen is a small, friendly town with an international vibe, due to a world renowned university [WUR – Wageningen University & Research]. Because of this it has quite a few nice restaurants and other facilities, and is easy to reach with public transport.
Major cities like – Arnhem , Nijmegen and Utrecht – are within 30-45 minutes driving distance, and offer a lot of cultural and recreational facilities. The center of Amsterdam is a 65-75 min drive and less with public transport.
There are plenty of good hotels, B & B’s, camp sites and other facilities in the vicinity and the town is surrounded by various natural attractions like the river ‘de Rijn’, forests, a botanic garden, hills, fields and floodplains that are perfect for walks or bike rides. The National Park, de Hoge Veluwe and the well-known Kröller Möller Museum, is at a 20 min drive.
Wageningen is also the city where the peace treaty with the Allied Forces was signed on May 5th, 1945. Something that is celebrated every year with national and international guests and brings back the desire for peace. A desire that is shared and propagated by many Okinawans and Okinawan karate masters, who’s home island, a the same time, suffered from ‘the Battle of Okinawa’.
We, the Dutch IOGKF family, will do our utmost best to create an atmosphere of kindness, support and peace, with inspirational training sessions.
Kind regards,
Sydney Leijenhorst
Chief Instructor for the IOGKF Netherlands