Latest Iain Abernethy Podcast: Funakoshi's 20 Precepts

Iain Abernethy Sensei has posted his latest podcast, a discussion on the 20 Precepts of Gichin Funakoshi, the pioneer of karate in Japan.

Iain does a great job of discussing each of the 20 precepts, and providing his own insight into them.

I always find that Iain's works are thoughtful and insightful, and well worth the read/listen. Enjoy!

International Shorinjiryu Shinzen 2012

Hanshi Myron Lubitsch and the Shorinjiryu Shinzen Kyokai will be hosting the 26th International Shorinjiryu Shinzen Shiai Tournament in Brooklyn, New York on the weekend of 6/7 October 2012.

This annual event is an exciting opportunity to renew friendships, develop new ones and compete with other practitioners of the Shorinjiryu legacy of Kaiso Kori Hisataka (1907-1988).

For more information on the 26th Shorinjiryu Shinzen Shiai tournament, please visit the Shorinjiryu Shinzen Kyokai website.

Strong Koshinkai Performance at WKKF Oceania Cup

On the weekend of 9–10 June, instructors and members of Shorinjiryu Koshinkai Karatedo gathered at the Gold Coast to participate in the World Koshiki Karate-do Federation’s Oceania Cup and seminars with WKKF Founder, So Shihan Masayuki Hisataka.

Koshinkai members participating included chief instructors Kyoshi Jim Griffin and Shihan Max Estens, Senior Instructors Shihan Des Paroz and Renshi Graeme Bowden, Instructors Tasshi Tony Fletcher, Tasshi Marnie Roberts, Sensei Mark Slingo and Sensei Leanne Sippel, and other members from Brisbane, Coonabarabran and Melbourne Dojos.

On the Saturday, So Shihan Hisataka conducted a seminar that covered the WKKF approach to Bunkai Kumite, studying some bunkai applications from the kata Bassai. These looked at applications based on Juho (soft techniques), Goho (hard techniques) and Bukiho (weapons techniques). Following a break, some bogu kumite drills were covered, and the seminar concluded with a review of Koshiki competition refereeing and judging.

The WKKF Oceania Cup tournament was on the Sunday, and Koshinkai members displayed a high level of courtesy, comraderie and technical skill. Our contingent did very well, with outstanding participation as follows:
- Deji Balogun: strong performance in both kata and shiai
- James Bowden: 1st place in kata and 3rd place in shiai
- Amanda Bugden: strong performance in both kata and kumite
- Jed Dunmore: 2nd place in shiai and strong performance in kata
- Leesa Dunmore: 3rd place in shiai and strong performance in kata
- Olivia Grech: 2nd place in kata, and strong performance in shiai
- Dean McKernan: 3rd Place in shiai, and strong performance in kata
- Marnie Roberts: 1st place and 2nd place performances in kata (2 divisions)
- Leanne Sippel: 2nd place and 3rd place performances in kata (2 divisions)

With participants from Japan, Russia, New Zealand, Italy and Samoa, as well as from around Australia, we can all be proud of the strong performance of our Koshinkai contingent.

Having been formed in 2011, Shorinjiryu Koshinkai Australia is based on a tradition built on 35 years of Australian Shorinjiryu Karatedo, 65 years of the Shorinjiryu Karatedo of Kaiso Kori Hisataka and centuries of Okinawan karate. With this foundation, we are proud to practice a classical art whilst participating strongly in modern sporting karate systems such as Koshiki Karatedo. In this way, we balance the old and the new…

65 Years of Shorinjiryu Karatedo

Today, 10 June, marks the 65th anniversary of the formal founding of the Shorinjiryu Karatedo lineage of Kaiso Kori Hisataka (1907-1988).

On 10 June, 1947, Kaiso Hisataka established the his original Kenkokan Dojo of Shorinjiryu Karatedo on the island of Kyushu, Japan. He later moved his Kenkokan Dojo to Tokyo, Japan.

Of course, this is the date of official inception, but the Shorinjiryu style was obviously in development for a long time before that. In fact, the term Shorinjiryu is the Japanese pronunciation of the Okinawan term Sukunaihayashi, which was used by Master Chotoku Kyan (1870-1945), the principle teacher of Kaiso Hisataka.

With 2012 marking the 65th anniversary of the formal founding of Shorinjiryu style of Kaiso Hisataka, the 35th anniversary of the establishment of Australian Shorinjiryu Karatedo, and the 1st anniversary of the founding of the Koshinkai school of Shorinjiryu Karatedo, it is a good time to reflect on the past as we continue to develop a strong future. This truly reflects our motto of On Ko Chi Shin ("Examine the Past to Discover the New")

(Reposted from Shorinjiryu Koshinkai Australia's News Page)

No Training Tonight

Due to the extreme weather event in Sydney tonight (Tueday 5 June 2012), there will be no training at the Kengokan Dojo.

Its a good night to practice "street wise self defence" - stay home, off the streets and be safe!

Blitz Article Online

The September 2011 issue of Blitz magazine featured an article on Shorinjiryu Karate and Kengokan Dojo instructor, Shihan Des Paroz, written by Mike Clarke, Kyoshi.

This article, Karate With a Twist, can now be found online on the Blitz website.

Thanks to Sensei Adrian Cepak who acted as uke for the images in the article, and to Kevin Withnall for the photography.

Shorinjiryu Books on Kindle

Shorinjiryu Karate is a dynamic, expressive, effective and unique form of budo. It has a richness of technique, history and practitioners, yet there are relatively few books and other media available on our style.

To the best of my knowledge, only a handful of books have been published to date - three in English, one in Japanese and one in German. There have also been a couple of training manuals written by some individual schools of Shorinjiryu, and there are a couple of books on Koshiki Karate - the competition system developed by Hanshi Masayuki Hisataka of the Kenkokan. 

All of the published books are out of print, and this is a shame because these are important resources for practitioners of our style. A great piece of news is that two books on Shorinjiryu are now available from Amazon as Kindle eBook editions. This means they will be resources readily available to current and future generations of Shorinjiryu karateka.

Of particular interest is the Kindle edition of Scientific Karatedo, written by Hanshi Hisataka (my former teacher), and first published in 1976, with a 2nd edition in 1995. In my opinion, this is one of the most comprehensive and valid books written on karate - full stop. For Shorinjiryu practitioners, this is an important resource, with detailed information on many of the kata (including Naihanchin Dai, Nijushiho, Happiken, Bassai and Seisan), yakusoku kumite and bukiho practices of our style. It is a must have feature of every practitioners library.

Also authored by Hanshi Hisataka is the Kindle edition of Essential Shorinjiryu Karatedo, which was first published in print in 1994. This book is almost completely based on a manuscript co-authored by Hanshi Hisataka and myself during my years in Japan (1991-93). We worked very closely together on this book for over 2 years. It contains a huge "brain dump" of Hisataka Sensei's impressive personal knowlege on the techniques of karatedo, as well as extensive historical information which we jointly researched. After the final manuscript we did jointly, some additional material of a religious nature was added, and some original material on history and one kata (Seisan) were omitted. Aside from these aspects, Essential Shorinjiryu Karatedo should also be part of every Shorinjiryu practitioners library.

eBooks are a great way of having the wonderful information available in these books. Apart from the fact that previously hard to get books are now available, eBooks are always available (on your computer, smart phone or tablet), and are environmentally friendly (no trees killed, and less resources spent in getting them from the printing press to you).

Redoing Sai Handle Grips

One of the Okinawan weapons we use at the Kengokan Dojo in our buki-ho (aka kobudo, kobujutsu or bukijutsu) practice is the sai (iron truncheon). Whilst traditional sai came were wrapped with rope or occasionally leather, or simply had a bare handle, most modern sai are wrapped with the same material often used on cheaper tennis racquets.

For a long time, I’ve wanted to get a pair of sai with a rope grip, but these are (to my knowledge) only available from Shureido in Okinawa, and a quite expensive to import to Australia. Plan B was to re-wrap my existing pairs of sai, and as the old grips got worse and worse, the time finally came to do just that.

Not being a handy-man sort of guy, I stumbled across a wonderful Youtube video on re-wrapping sai by Ernie of Ernie’s Budo Lab. So I set aside a weekend afternoon, and got on with the job of stripping the remaining tennis grip handle off 2 pairs of sai, and replacing with a rope grip handle.

It was pretty straight forward. I got some rope, superglue and some of that non-slip stuff you put at the bottom of kitchen draws and tool boxes. After a couple of hours, I had two pairs of sai that have wonderful new wraps. Apart from feeling more “authentic”, these rope handles are great to work with. They feel better in the hands, and are a much firmer grip.

Until I can next get to Okinawa to buy some Shureido sai, any new sai I get will immediately have the grip removed and replaced by rope. Its better all round.

Yudansha Promotions - April 2012

Shihan Des Paroz, Sempai Chrissy Hanley, Sensei Joanna Choe and Sensei Adrian CepakAt the National Training Camp of Shorinjiryu Koshinkai Karatedo held at Coolum, Queensland, over the weekend of 20-22 April, a number of Yudansha and Kodansha tests and demonstrations were conducted.

Sempai Chrissy Hanley successfully tested for Shodan Ho (probationary black belt). Over the next 12 months, she will continue to develop and prepare a presentation for her final promotion to Shodan (1st Dan).

Sensei Adrian Cepak successfully demonstrated all requirements and was promoted to Nidan (2nd Dan) in Shorinjiryu Koshinkai Karatedo. He was also awarded Nidan by the International Shorinjiryu Shinzen Kyokai.

Sensei Des Paroz was also promoted to Rokudan (6th Dan) and awarded the title Shihan in Shorinjiryu Koshinkai Karatedo. Shihan Des was also awarded 6th Dan by the International Shorinjiryu Shinzen Kyokai.

The grading panel consisted of Hanshi Myron Lubitsch, 9th Dan (president of the International Shorinjiryu Shinzen Kyokai, and Advisory Council Member of Shorinjiryu Koshinkai Karatedo), Kyoshi Jim Griffin, 7th Dan (Joint Chief Instructor of Shorinjiryu Koshinkai Karatedo), Shihan Max Estens, 7th Dan (Joint Chief Instructor of Shorinjiryu Koshinkai Karatedo), Shihan Jeffrey Henderson, 6th Dan (founder of the International Budo Institute) and Shihan Troy Lester, 6th Dan (Shorinjiryu Kenryukan Karate).

Congratulations to the above, and also to the following for their promotions:

• Shihan Max Estens (Coonabarabran) - 7th Dan
• Shihan Lesley Griffin (Bribie Island) - 6th Dan
• Renshi Graeme Bowden (Coonabarabran) - 5th Dan
• Tasshi Marnie Roberts (Melbourne) - 4th Dan
• Sensei Amanda Bugden (Bribie Island) - 3rd Dan
• Clinton Andrews (Coonabarabran) - Shodan Ho
• Dee Foster (Bribie Island) - Shodan Ho
• Ben Oliphant (Coorparoo) - Shodan Ho

Congratulations are also extended to our Joint Chief Instructor, Shihan Jim Griffin, who was awarded the title Kyoshi.

The Passing of Nagamine Takayoshi Sensei

Soke Nagamine Takayoshi with Sensei Joanna Choe and Shihan Des ParozI was saddened to hear this morning of the passing of Soke Nagamine Takayoshi, the second generation headmaster of the Matsubayashi-Ryu Karate system.

Matsubayashi-Ryu was founded by Master Nagamine Shoshin, father of Nagamine Takayoshi Sensei, and a student of masters Kyan Chotoku and Motobu Choki, amongst others.

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet and train with Nagamine Soke last October in Canberra, on his visit to train with his Australian branches. Nagamine Sensei came across as a knowledgeable and highly skilled karateka who cared deeply about the progress of his representatives and students. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to have met and trained with this gentleman of karate.

On behalf of the Kengokan Dojo, I would like to take this opportunity to extend condolences to the members of the Matsubayashi Ryu organisation worldwide, particularly to John Carlyle Sensei and Reece Cummins Sensei of the Matsubayashi Ryu Australia group.