News from Okinawa February 19, 2023 The Change of the Overseas Manager in Okinawa Dear WMKA Dojo owners around the world, I hope you are actively working on your daily and karate life in the countries where you live.We had a board meeting on January 22, 2023 in Okinawa and have decided on a new overseas manager. His name is Mr. Daichi Sakamoto at the Taira Dojo. I will keep working on my current duty until March 31st. Mr. Sakamoto will work as an overseas manager starting April 1st 2023, the date for Japanese Fiscal year 2023. His mailing address will be announced later. I am going to hand over all my work to Mr. Sakamoto between March 25 to March 30. I don’t want to leave any unsolved work for him when he starts as the new overseas manager. I want to ask for your cooperation as below: 1. Dojo owner license renewal for 2023 and after. Okinawa didn’t request any deadline last year to renew your dojo owner license for the dojo owners who haven’t renewed for 2023. I wish that you will renew your dojo owner license by March 20 or the sooner the better.. We are planning to hold a “Memorial Monument Erection Commemorative Festival” (tentative name) sometime in the autumn in 2024. I hope many WMKA members from around the world will come and meet each other again in Okinawa. 2. Up-to-date your Website dojo information. Dr. Fred Schlesinger who is the Website administrator asked […]
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WMKA/MKAA/AFTK SEMINAR TOSHIMITSU ARAKAKI SENSEI, HANSHI, 10TH DAN
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
Read moreSteve Woolston’s Visit to Okinawa in November, 2022
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 […]
Read moreSally Woolston’s Visit to Okinawa in November, 2022
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 […]
Read moreNew Year’s Greeting from the President
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 […]
Read moreAnnual Autumn Dan Evaluation test 2022
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 […]
Read moreA welcome return to the birthplace of Karate
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 […]
Read moreDojo Owner License Renewal for 2023
December 10,2022 Announcement from Okinawa Dojo Owner License Renewal for 2023 Dear WMKA Dojo Owners around the world, We hope you are spending everyday life in good health in your country. The Covid-19 virus is still troubling many people around the world. However, it seems that the people and their societies have started many activities to overcome the influence by Covid-19 (except for China). We hosted two World Events in Okinawa from August to November 2022. We had welcomed 17 participants from outside Okinawa at the “Annual Autumn Dan Evaluation test 2022” on November 20th. We strongly hope the world will have a clear dawn without Covid-19 in 2023. We would like to ask you to ““Renew your Dojo Owner License for 2023” (for those whose Dojo Owner Licenses have expiration dates ending on December 31st 2022). Though we had exempted annual fees for 2021 and 2022, we want to burden you with it for 2023. As we didn’t set the payment deadline, please be ready to cooperate with Okinawa for 2023. Since starting “The Multiple Year Renewal” in 2015, about 60% of the dojo owners are adopting it currently and 40% are keeping the “Single Year Renewal” every year. I assume some dojo owners who didn’t have a Dan evaluation test between 2020 to 2022 had no payment for Okinawa since 2019. Therefore, you may not know that we had set up a Paypal payment system to president Taira in 2021. Please check “News From Okinawa: New Payment Method […]
Read moreThe 2nd Okinawa Karate World Tournament
News from Okinawa November 15, 2022 The 2nd OKINAWA KARATE WORLD TOURNAMENT Report Dear WMKA members around the World,We want to inform you about the 2nd Okinawa Karate World Tournament. The following statement was made by the governor of Okinawa (prior to the event) and is borrowed from in the 2nd Okinawa Karate World Tournament 2022 catalog:“This year Okinawa marks the 50th year anniversary since its reversion to Japan from U.S. rule, and we believe that this tournament, held at such a milestone, will attract a general deal of attention from both within and outside of Japan. About 800 karate enthusiasts from 27 countries and regions around the world will participate in general tournament, along with about 1,400 boys and girls in the 1st OKINAWA KARATE WORLD JUNIOR TOURNAMENT.” In addition, about 800 individuals will participate in Okinawa Karate Seminars.” The participants in the “The 2nd OKINAWA KARATE WORLD TOURNAMENT 2022” were fewer compared to “The 1st OKINAWA KARATE INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT 2018” because of the Covid-19 Pandemic throughout the world. WMKA Okinawa Headquarters sent 12 personnel including president Taira and vice president Arakaki to the “Expert Committees” as seminar instructors and judges or staff. WMKA members participated in the opening ceremony, a group demonstration and in the kata tournament. WMKA participants included 30 members from Okinawa, 5 from mainland Japan, 15 from Australia (as led by Mr. Reece Cummings) and Mr. Kugan Sundarmurthy from India. We performed Fukyugata 1 & Wankan for the group demonstration. Mr. Reece Cummings also demonstrated […]
Read moreWMKA Seminar in Belleville, Illinois USA with WMKA Vice President Toshimitsu Arakaki
More than seventy Matsubayashi-Ryu practitioners attended the 2022 WMKA Belleville, Illinois USA seminar on September 9th and 10th, 2022. The seminar featured WMKA Vice President Toshimitsu Arakaki, Hanshi,10th Dan and was hosted by Ed French 6th Dan and members of the Nagamine Lineage Dojo in Swansea Illinois. The seminar included over twenty dojo owner’s as well as ten six dan ranks and above as well as their yudansha, mudansha. and several guests from the WSKF from around the USA attended. The seminar was held in gym belonging to the Belleville Union United Methodist Church. The agenda included an opening on Friday evening with attendees singing “Karate-Do Sanka” written by Grand Master Shoshin Nagamine. A summary of the seminar was given by Ed French indicating that the seminar will center on katas and bunkai as suggested by some of the senior ranks. Participants enjoyed a social gathering after the Friday training and Saturday’s training was followed by the banquet. A short welcoming and opening address was made by Arakaki Sensei. On Friday night as well as throughout the day on Saturday, Arakaki Sensei gave instruction to participants on Kihon drills, kata and kata bunkai practice. He was assisted by various dojo owners in the demonstration of techniques as well as instruction of the general group. Participants were able to practice partner drills and bunkai while developing connections and renewing friendships with other Matsubayashi practitioners from around the USA. A special thanks to Scott Schnell Sensei who translated for both Arakaki […]
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