From July 12 to 13, Canada held its annual Ryusei Summer Camp in the beautiful resort area near Barry’s Bay, Ontario. The camp was special because it brought together long-time members from Ontario and Quebec with new ones, including people from Atlantic Canada and Whitby. Our long-time friends from Pittsburgh and Florida also joined us,…
Mike and Dawn Brown are a married team in life and a karate teaching duo who run the West River School of Karate, based in Rustico and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Mike, a 5th dan, and Dawn, a 4th dan, combine an island sense of hospitality and charm with a devotion to martial arts excellence…
Senior practitioners of Chito-ryu karate live under long shadows. First there is enormous shadow cast by founder Tsuyoshi Chitose, a martial arts virtuoso who studied under many masters and synthesized what he learned into his remarkable art. Then there are the shadows cast by the pioneers who introduced Chito-ryu to their countries and amassed impressive…
The English-language Ryusei Karate-Do Technical Manual was published last fall. It includes a translation of the original Japanese manual, written by Sakamoto-Sensei, with his understanding of Chito-ryu technique, as well some excursions into history and philiosophy. To this we have added illustrations of the lower belt techniques, kata and bunkai and an expanded glossary. To top this…
When Sakamoto-Sensei came to Canada in 2000, he did a demonstration and for the first time I got to see the koryu kata being performed. These are old style or ancient kata once performed in Okinawa and often with Chinese roots. I was really impressed by his performance. I had never seen anyone move like…
The following is a piece I wrote about my teacher, Shane Higashi – 9th dan, head of the Canadian Chito-Ryu Karate Association – for the program given out at the celebration of his 50 years of teaching karate, held last April in Toronto. * * * To the cheers of 1,500 enthusiastic fans a 24-year-old…
Most martial artists train to learn how to protect themselves and others. Eventually they ask themselves how well their training is preparing them for this task. After all, there are many styles and systems and not all really teach adequate self-defence skills. This oversight, in my opinion, could have grave consequences. Since I am a…
It’s a well-known fact that more than 100 years ago karate was referred to as “te.” I understand te to be a means of self-defense, an unbeatable martial art, and also a martial art that can transform into dance. However, I continue to question why karate was referred to as te (hand), why not bujitsu…
A true fight is one where one or more of the fighters has the potential to sustain grievous bodily harm or even death. When a fighter understands this possibility, a whole range of physiological and psychological changes will occur, to different degrees. I will try to explain the process so that a person can train…
Sakamoto-Sensei once told me to stop worrying about hitting my opponent. After time and practice, I think I finally understand why. When you stop worrying about hitting your opponent and just do it, your body flows more naturally. As you make contact, the power is released more spontaneously and powerfully than when you force your…
Are “warming up” and “stretching” the same thing? Often people equate the two. But “warming up” and “long-term flexibility development” are really quite different concepts that have evolved over time. And our practice should reflect that. Faced with some sport or physical endeavour, most people want to jump right into it, but then that little…
Many years ago, I studied percussion under a world-renowned teacher. One of the most important things I learned was to practise slowly – as slowly as I could possibly go. In his words, “If you can’t play it right when you play slowly, how can you expect to play anything other than rubbish when you…