In March of 2017, our dojo will be hosting two major martial arts events, back to back! Be sure to plan ahead so you don’t miss this amazing opportunity!
Click here to see the flyer for the Ryukyu Martial Arts Friendship Gasshuku!
Our first ever Ryukyu Martial Arts Friendship Gasshuku was held in October of 2015, and was a great success! We had attendees and instructors from several different states, and the feedback we received was strongly positive. Here is just one example:
“I had the opportunity to go to the first Friendship Gasshuku at the Peaceful Warrior in Scottsdale. It was a great experience with amazing martial artists. The attendees were all professional and fun to be around and the classes all presented great concepts. Many different styles were present and it was great to hear the view of people like Chuck Merriman.” – R.H. Gutierrez
This has encouraged us to make our next Gasshuku even better! To give people more time to plan, and to avoid the hectic schedules that tend to develop in the last quarter of the year, we are scheduling our second Ryukyu Martial Arts Friendship Gasshuku for March 17-19, 2017. You can expect to meet and train with martial artists from a variety of different backgrounds, and learn from many different instructors who are excited to share the Okinawan methods they practice. Below is our tentative list of instructors:
Ryan Parker – Ryukyu Kempo/Matsumura Seito Shorin-Ryu:
Paul Enfield – Goju-Ryu:
Ulf Karlsson – Bugeikan KishimotoDi:
Chris Denwood – Shorin-Ryu:
Dan Djurdjevic – Muidokan Karate-Jutsu:
Richard Poage – Shorinkan Shorin-Ryu/Kokusai Rengokai Kobudo:
Michael Newland – Matayoshi-Ryu Kobudo/Shorinkan Shorin-Ryu:
Raphael Gutierrez – Yamane-Ryu Kobudo/Shogen-Ryu:
Robert Rivers – Motobu-Ryu Udundi:
Robert Mitcham – Shindokan Saitou-Ryu:
We are very excited to host this event, and we hope to have a great turnout and expose many people to old-style Okinawan martial arts! For more information on this event, please email me!
Click here to see the flyer for the KishimotoDi Intensive Seminar Series
In addition, we will also be hosting a groundbreaking event in the week leading up to the Gasshuku. From March 11-17, 2017, we will be presenting the first ever KishimotoDi Intensive Seminar Series in the United States! Ulf Karlsson is the first person to be granted a Shihan License in the Tachimura-Kishimoto tradition by Higa Kiyohiko, the head of the Bugeikan on Okinawa, making him one of the foremost experts on the art. He is flying all the way in from Sweden to teach this rare and fascinating system!
This 7-day course is made up of 50 minute segments, with an hour break for lunch each day, for a total of approximately 40 hours of training. Attendees will have the amazing opportunity to learn an art the few have ever seen, and many have only read about in books like Mark Bishop’s “Okinawan Karate: Teachers, Styles, and Secret Techniques.” I have also written a few articles (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) on the art, to give some background for those who are unfamiliar. The series will be primarily focused on the kata, Tachimura no Naihanchi, which you can see in the video, above. This kata has the unique distinction of being the only extant version of Naihanchi (aka Naifanchi, Naifunchin, Tekki, Chulgi, etc.) that comes from a lineage which does not include “Bushi” Matsumura or Itosu Anko. In addition to learning the kata, itself, attendees will learn its fighting applications, and the history, philosophies, and concepts of KishimotoDi. This is an excellent chance to experience the fundamental fighting methods of old Okinawan Te (Ti, in the Okinawan language), and incorporate them into your personal approach to karate!
For more information on this event, please email KishimotoDi USA!
Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to experience something that most martial artists can only dream of! This entire week of training is like a month-long trip to Okinawa, but with a much shorter flight, and the lovely weather of Arizona in March! We will be reserving a block of rooms at a hotel nearby at a group rate, which provides free breakfast, free wifi, and a free shuttle service that can take you to the dojo, as well as any other location within 5 miles. If your concern is parking area, there’s a Best Valet Parking Solutions that you can check out here at cvps.solutions Scottsdale, AZ, is known for upscale shopping and a busy nightlife, for those with an interest. Being in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, there are also many other ways to occupy your time when you aren’t training–theaters, museums, art galleries, a great Desert Botanical Garden, and a beautiful Japanese Friendship Garden. You will also be within a day’s drive of one of the Natural Wonders of the World: the Grand Canyon! Just because you are coming out to train, doesn’t mean you can’t have a vacation, too, you could take a small break, taking a day or two to go camping, fishing or hunting with the best rangefinder you own!