WMKA/MKAA/AFTK SEMINAR FEATURING TOSHIMITSU ARAKAKI SENSEI HANSH, 10TH DAN  February 18th to 20thCummings Karate Dojo, CanberraFebruary 21st to 24thMatsubayashi-ryu Karate Assoc. of Aust. Dojo, Wingham, New South Wales.  All WMKA/EMKA members are most welcome to attend.  The seminar is sponsored by the Matsubayashi-ryu Karate Association of Australia, Cummings Karate Dojo – Canberra, and the AustralianFederation of Traditional Karate.  Enquiries – John Carlyle (Chief Instructor, MKAA), if you require a comprehensiveagenda of the seminar. jcarlyle5@bigpond.com or message the Facebook Dojo Pages of the MKAA   

Due to the covid pandemic, it had been three years since students were able to visit Okinawa and receive corrections and instructions from their seniors.  In November this year, however, I was able to undertake the journey along with my wife, Sally Woolston.  We run a small dojo in the South-East of England and in the past have travelled regularly to Okinawa; this would be my 11th trip since first visiting in 2010. It’s been a difficult couple of years for us, as it has been for everyone, but at last the restrictions were slowly lifted and we were able to spend 10 days on ‘the Island of karate’ once more.  Flying out of London Heathrow Airport on Saturday, the 12th of November, we were looking forward to arriving and checking into our hotel in the center of Naha, located near to the bus terminal.  Plans, however, always seem to have a way of keeping you on your toes and we missed the connecting flight from Tokyo Haneda to Naha due to being stuck in a massive queue for immigration processing.  The result of this was us having to frantically try to book a hotel in Tokyo, somewhere near to the airport, at 9 pm at night!  Anyway, we did it and flew out from Tokyo bound for Naha at 7:30 am the following morning. Thankfully, we didn’t miss any of the training sessions that we had arranged in advance, as the first of these was on Monday evening with […]

Wow what a trip!!I haven’t had the chance to return to Okinawa since 2016. Usually every second year is my year to travel there, but in 2018 I forewent my ticket and let my eldest son go in my place so he could have the experience before he set off to University.  Then boom, Covid struck in 2020 and as we all know, life was never to be the same and the delay for my next chance to visit was excruciatingly long. So as you can probably imagine I was both nervous and excited with the trip looming and the prospect of being able to attempt my 5th Dan promotion.  On occasion I was unable to understand why I was putting myself through it and doubting that I knew anything. Thank goodness I didn’t listen to myself as this was a trip over all other trips for me. Training twice a day was exhausting and exhilarating for me and my companions that visited at the same time.  The enthusiasm that we had between ourselves was immense and just what we all needed to keep us going.  We all worked well together and got to know each other’s training ways and could tweak whilst we were in the different dojos learning from the very best.  The chats on the way back from each session was what you might call intense and we even made an online chat group so we could share and remind each other of any tips. Being a […]

News from Okinawa                                                            January 1,2023 Dear WMKA members around the world, 　　Ａratama nu tushi ni simi tu ku-bu kajyati kukuru kara shigata wakaku naimi sochi ii-sho-guwachi de-biru!   I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations to all of you for the glorious and hopeful New Year! In August last year, as Okinawa marked the 50th anniversary since its reversion to Japan from U.S. rule, “The 2nd Okinawa Karate World Tournament” and “The 1st Okinawa Karate Boys and Girls World Tournament” were grandly held by Okinawa Prefecture. Okinawa karate enthusiasts from 24 countries around the world gathered in Okinawa. WMKA Okinawa Headquarters welcomed participants from Australia, India and the mainland of Japan and deepened our bonds & friendship for future. The mass media in Okinawa also published many special featured articles about the Karate events, and anticipation & potential of Okinawa karate’s future was greatly felt.  The 2nd Okinawa Karate World Tournament 2022 Farewell Party was originally planned at a hotel but the event was changed to a Farewell Ceremony at the Okinawa Karate Kaikan to prevent the spread of Covid-19 corona virus infection. My closing address at the Farewell Ceremony on behalf of all Okinawa karate & Kobudo organizations is shown below. The 2nd Okinawa Karate World Tournament Farwell Ceremony Closing Address:“Gusu-yo chu- uganabira!  Good evening, fellow Karate fans. We were able […]

News from Okinawa                                                           　　　　    December 10, 2022 Annual Autumn Dan Evaluation test 2022 Dear WMKA members around the world,   I hope you are staying healthy in your everyday life where you live. The Covid-19 is still actively troubling many people around the world. However, it seems the people and their societies have started moving forward to overcome the damage by it.  We had “The 2nd Okinawa Karate World Tournament” from August 1st to 9th. We also hosted “The 7th World Uchinanchu Festival”, which is scheduled to be held once every five years, from October 30th to November 3rd. Both World Events were very successful and many thousands of visitors from around the world came to Okinawa.   We had the Annual Autumn Dan Evaluation test for 2022 on November 20th in Okinawa. We were surprised to see 17 participants because we had very few in 2020 and 2021 due to the influence of Covid-19. Unfortunately, we had none from Okinawa this time. We had five participants from overseas, three from England, one from Germany and one from USA.  Mr. Steven Woolston received Rensh 6th dan, Ms. Sally Woolston, Mr. David Troup and Mr. Karl-Heintz Tessner received 5th dan. Although Mr. Joel Castasus could have received his 3rd dan within the EMKA, he came to Okinawa and we welcomed him willingly because […]

A welcome return to the birthplace of Karate From 29 July to 11 August 2022 a delegation of 15 adults and 1 child from the Kodokan Cummings Karate Dojo, travelled to represent Australia at the 1st Junior and 2nd [Senior] Okinawa Karate World Tournament, along with more than 2,000 participants from around the world. With Japan remaining strict on COVID-19 regulations, entry into Japan was permitted only with an invitation letter from the 2nd Okinawa Karate World Tournament Executive Committee. This year’s tournament was the second seniors tournament (with the first in 2018), and the inaugural juniors tournament. It is designed for karate practitioners across Okinawa, Japan and overseas to come together to showcase the results of their daily training and promote Okinawan karate. Of the delegation, three karate practitioners competed. Reece Cummings placed in the Top 16 in the Male I Shuri/Tomari Division (increasing his world ranking from the Top 32 in 2018). Tom Smithson, age 9, also travelled to Okinawa to compete and placed in the Top 16 of the Boys and Girls II Shuri/Tomari Division. Black belt dojo member, Sean Wallace, also placed in the Top 32 in the Male I Shuri/Tomari Division. The tournament was not the only purpose of the trip, though; the delegation engaged in various cultural and physical education activities while in Okinawa, including visiting prominent landmarks and participating in daily karate training at Taira Dojo, Arakaki Dojo, and Makishi Dojo. The training was particularly rewarding and every student walked away with not […]