Diego Higa, son of Master Oscar Higa, the last of a long line of karateka, was born in
Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 25, 1974.
In 1981, during his second year of elementary school, he started practising karate
with Master Antonio Policrisi, pupil of Master Oscar Higa, attending the children's
sessions at his father's gymnasium in Buenos Aires.
He spent a great part of his childhood alternating between school and karate,
chess and soccer. In 1984 he moved to the city of Mar del Plata, where his father
visited him at least twice a month in order to train him in the arts of kihon and kata.
After two years his father started to train him in yakusoku kumite,
i.e. pre-arranged kumite. In the meantime Diego was continuing to dedicate
himself to chess and his other great passion, football, where he became a
member of the Club Huracan team, in the Mar del Plata Football League.
After obtaining his school-leaving certificate,
he returned to Buenos Aires where he devoted himself exclusively to karate practice
in his father's gymnasium, with some of his father's best pupils as instructors.
In 1993 he was placed first in the kyu category in the national kata championships.
In January 1995 he travelled to Italy, and stayed there a year, in order
to train with his father and to help promote the school, working as instructor
in several gymnasiums in Palermo and Partinico and taking part in various exhibitions.
The same year he took part in a regional competition in Partinico obtaining first
place in a kata competition (Dan category). Since 1996, he has continued to work
as an instructor in Buenos Aires, taking part in various national and international
competitions and achieving a fair amount of success, both in kata and kumite.
Among these successes we might note:
- in 1996 2nd place in the Argentinian kata championships (Dan category);
- in 1997 kumite team champion in the international competition "Yuchoku Higa Cup"
- in 1998 Argentinian kata champion (Dan category).
In January 1998, he returned to Italy to train with his father and stayed for 3 months.
In November of the same year he again returned to Italy to take part in the prestigious
international competition in Palermo, "International Shorinryu Kyudokan Karate-do Tournament",
being crowned champion in the kata speciality.
In December 1999, at the last Argentinian Kyudokan Karate-do championships of
the millennium, held in San Luis, Argentina, he finished 3rd in the Kumite Dan-category
and champion in the Kata Dan-category.
At present he switches between training and teaching karate and his university studies.
Moreover he has also held the office of vice-president of FEDAKKO,
the Argentinian Kyudokan Federation, eventually becoming its present treasurer,
and is the natural successor of the Kyudokan school.
