On July 24, 2006, Matt Mannerow and I drove from our Ontario towns to Cincinnati, Ohio, to train with Roland Figgs-Renshi and exchange techniques and ideas about Ryusei karate. We arrived at 3:30 p.m. and settled into our motel room not far from the Figgs home. Figgs-Sensei met us at the hotel and then drove…
Food For ThoughtIn the course of my karate training, I made three pilgrimages to live at the home of and train with Tsuyoshi Chitose (1898-1984), 10th dan master and founder of Chito-Ryu karate: in 1977, 1979 and 1980. Each time I was humbled by the master’s openness and generosity, letting young, ignorant foreigners intrude on…
Oshi-zuki, or push punch (think the sequence in Chinto), is often taught as two oizuki (lunge punches) in a row. While this the right way to learn it, oshi-zuki is really much harder than this to do properly, and has applications that aren’t readily apparent in the basic execution. In fact, it’s not really a…
In January 2005, following a serious dispute with the Chito-Ryu Sohonbu (Headquarters), the membership of the Australian Chito-Ryu Karate Association elected to separate from the International Chito-Ryu Karate Federation and pursue independent research into the technique and legacy of the founder, Dr Chitose. This was a serious and tumultuous decision, as many of the voting…
Very early in their training, karate students are taught a basic punch called oizuki (lunge punch). It is used frequently in basics, bunkai (applications) and kata, and is usually executed in hangetsu-dachi (the Ryusei forward stance). The beginning student should step first and then punch – the base must set before the punch is executed….
The Ryusei Karate-Do Technical manual is currently being translated from Japanese to English by James and Sonoko Hatch, Canadians currently living in Fukoka, Japan. Since the manual contains Sakamoto-Sensei’s advanced training concepts, described in complex kanji, the process of translaton and editing is laborious and slow. Many thanks to James and Sonoko for all their…
When I was a young man training at the Chito-Ryu hombu in Kumamoto, Japan, O-Sensei (Tsuyoshi Chitose) would often stop a class to check our stances. He would go around to test leg muscles and exhort the students to use more shime (closing or contracting tension). Before going to Japan in 1977 and ’79, I…
Download Ryushu22.PDF
Ryusei Karate-Do Canada is proud to announce that Ted Jungblut-Sensei has agreed to become a special technical advisor to our group. Jungblut-Sensei is one of the best karate fighters and technicians that Canada has ever produced.He is currently a rokudan (6th degree black belt) in the Tsuruoka Karate Federation and also holds yondan (4th degree…
In 2004, we in Canada plan to practise what we learned in 2003. Last October, we were visited by Sakamoto-Sensei, accompanied by his students Sakai-Shihan and Mr. Nishizaka, for a series of clinics in Ontario. The week of training gave us enough to work on for a long time to come. The clinics were attended…
The following document, translated by Mario McKenna, was written by Sakamoto-Sensei to North American Ryusei instructors before he conducted his clinics last October. Within Ryusei Karatedo system, kata, and techniques we can see the expression of ‘keii’ (literally ‘form and intention). Regarding keii, when performing [kata] three years ago I said: “There are thousands of…
Ukemi (breakfall)—how should it be used and what is its real importance to karate practice? Ever since I started training over 22 years ago, I have done ukemi. I was always fascinated by breakfalls, but I did not until recently understand the role that ukemi can and should play in our training. In my practice,…