Karate

Announcement / Philosophy

Useless Titles

I was surfing on the web the other day and stumbled on a karate video on Youtube where a teacher referred to himself as “zokucho”; then another one where a different teacher called himself “gunshi”. I almost fell out of my seat laughing. It was an absolutely brilliant display of using  Japanese completely wrong.

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May 14, 2020
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Karatedo / Kobudo

An Interview with Derek English

I originally published this post on Derek English sensei five years ago which included an interview conducted by Mike Clark sensei (thank you wherever you are), but I am republishing it to include a wonderful new interview with him on the Invisible Sensei Podcast.

Derek English is a true power-house of Okinawa Budo – proficient in both Goju-ryu Karate-do and Ryukyu Kobudo. I first met Derek in Japan way back in 1995 at a conference we were both attending in Kumamoto prefecture, but it wasn’t until a few years later that I finally caught up with him on Okinawa and was able to train very briefly with him and his teacher Uehara Ko at the latter’s dojo in Naha.

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May 2, 2020
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Part 2
Philosophy

So you want to move to Japan

Uechi ryu, Goju ryu, Karate, Vancouver, BC, Lessons, Martial Arts, Dojo, Japan, Okinawa
Minowa Katsuhiko (L) & Me (R)

When I lived in Japan, I would get e-mails from people from time to time saying how envious they were that I was living and training in Japan. To be perfectly frank, there was nothing to be envious of. Living and working in Japan, despite your love of budo, can be extremely taxing, frustrating, stressful and at times incomprehensible. (more…)

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April 26, 2016