Ryusei Karate is a traditional style of Okinawan martial art.
In July, Ken Sakamoto, the head of Ryusei Karate-Do, will be coming to Canada to teach a series of clinics.
His first clinic will be an open seminar held Sunday, July 6, at Jennings School of Karate in Bradford.
Called “Three Ways to Emptiness,” the clinic will feature three sessions geared at teaching some of the higher principles of the martial arts.
A picture of Barrie Ryusei Karate student Andrew Muszynski receiving his black belt (shodan) certificate. Andrew joined the class at age eight and has put up with nine years of hard work and abuse to achieve this milestone at age 17. Congratulations, Andrew. He and Simon are the only ones from the original kids class to have made it this far.
I’ve heard a stat that claims that only one in a 100 will keep with their karate training to achieve black belt. And once you have received your black belt, you are now a true beginner – finally made teachable.
Speaking of new beginnings, Andrew is in his last year of high school and next September he will be off to Guelph University to study. If he shows the same dedication at school as he does in karate, he will be covered in academic glory.
In early February, Barrie Ryusei Karate black belt Carminha Caneira gave an introductory tai chi clinic, open to members and anyone interested among their family and friends.
Caneira-sempai has been practising Yang stele tai chi for six years now. Tai chi, as she explains, is an internal martial art, practised for hundreds of years in the East as “medicine in motion,” promoting overall health and wellness, healing, energy, and disease prevention.
Tai chi is a sequence of specific movements performed at a slow pace, aided by replenishing breaths and a feeling of calm focus. By moving through the tai chi form, we cultivate vital “qi” or “chi” (life energy) and encourage its proper flow through the meridians (pathways) in the body, promoting a state of “homeostasis” – optimum equilibrium for health.
Published medical studies worldwide have produced quite a list of ailments that tai chi has been proven to have positive healing effects upon, ranging from degenerative joint diseases to high blood pressure. Given tai chi’s wonderful relaxation and meditative qualities, it is no surprise that the exercise is also being recommended to help treat rampant modern day psychological conditions, such as depression and stress.
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 organizations. In North America these larger-than-life figures include Masami Tsuruoka, the Father of Canadian Karate; Shane Y. Higashi, head of the Canadian Chito-ryu Karate Association; and the late William Dometrich, founder of the United States Chito-ryu Karate Federation.
As longtime adherents of this karate style, most of ask ourselves at some point, What we should learn and emulate from these impressive examples?
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.
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To the cheers of 1,500 enthusiastic fans a 24-year-old Torontonian was crowned the new Karate champion of Canada. Shane Higashi, 1st Degree (Shodan), star pupil of Karate master Mas Tsuruoka, kicked and carved a path through some of the best Karateists in North America to capture both the Black Belt and Grand Champion titles during the 2nd Annual Canadian Karate Open Championship held at the YMHA in Toronto last October 19th.
Some 150 contestants representing clubs from such places as Detroit, Toledo, Ottawa, New Haven, Harrisburg, Peoria, Rochester, Erie, Montreal, Warren, and the United States Karate Association, representing 10 states, sent men from as far as California and Hawaii. Also, for the first time in its history, the United States Marine Corps sent out a Karate team for this meet.
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So opened the Black Belt magazine article, written by Kei Tsumura, describing the second annual Canadian Karate Championships, in 1964. The previous year, Tsuruoka-Sensei’s top pupil, a young brown belt named Shane Higashi, won second place in the tournament, losing only to a third-degree black belt named Gary Alexander.
And while the young nisei (second-generation Japanese) karateka’s fighting spirit was undeniable, his life lived in the martial arts is more a story of character and dedication than being the toughest guy on the block.
The new Ryusei Karate-Do Technical Manual will be published this fall. The core of the manual are the writings and illustrations done by Sakamoto-Sensei. To make this kyu manual useful for beginner and intermediate students, we have also added step-by-step illustrations for the kihon (basics), kata and bunkai (two-person self-defence exercises that serve to elucidate the meaning of moves in kata).
The illustrations were created by Kambiz Miranbigi and Rick Going, the instructors of the Ottawa Ryusei Karate dojo. Rick served as the model for illustrations, his technique honed through long practice and during his years a national-level competitor. Kam was the photographer, who used a custom Photoshop process to convert the photos into the black-and-white illustrations you see here.
Kam and Rick are currently working on illustrating the black belt kata and bunkai.
