Japan Trip 2011 (Part I: Linden Dojo)

Most of you know that Shihan first starting learning Shito-ryu in Japan in 1968 when he traveled there on an assignment for the US Air Force. At the time, his main teachers were Kuniba-sensei and Hayashi-sensei.

Shihan with Hayashi Sensei and Kuniba-Sensei in 1968

This was Shihan's first trip to Japan, and he stayed for three years. He kept training after he returned to the US, and invited Hayashi-sensei over many times. In 1979, he finally got a chance to go back to Japan himself and train.

Shihan training with Hayashi-sensei in Japan in 1979

In 1980, Shihan took a team from the Arizona Budokan to compete in the Hayashi-ha World Championships in Osaka. Even in Japan, the Arizona Budokan kids and adults came home with tons of medals--and one of his brown belt kids even took first place in the black belt division for his age group.

Shihan with the winning AZB team in Japan, 1980

Shihan traveled to Japan many more times throughout the 1980s, but stopped going in 1988. When he went again in October of this year, it was his first time back in 23 years, and 43 years since he first arrived. It was still Japan, but a lot of things had changed.

(Left) The bullet train had just appeared when Shihan arrived in 1968 and could travel at 130 mph. (Right) Today, it looks more like a spaceship than a train, and can go nearly 200 mph.

(Left) Shihan at Osaka castle in 1968 (Right) Shihan at Osaka castle in 2011

Unfortunately, Hayashi-sensei and Kuniba-sensei are no longer alive. But Shihan was excited to train with one of Hayashi-sensei's top students, Hashimoto-sensei, who is now considered the leading technical specialist in the Hayashi-ha organization.

Hashimoto Sensei and Shihan catching up over coffee in Osaka

Both Shihan and Hashimoto Sensei are known for their insistence on correct performance of technical details. We all know what it feels like to be on the other end of Shihan's endless corrections--it's the best and most difficult thing about training in our dojo. It was amazing to see Shihan finally meet his match in Hashimoto-sensei!!

(Above) Hashimoto Sensei fixing Shihan's kata in 1988
(Below) Hashimoto Sensei fixing Shihan's kata in 2011

Of course, Shihan wasn't the only one to get the benefits of Hashimoto-sensei's passion for precision and detail. Sempai Dawn also went with him to train at Linden Dojo in the heart of Osaka. Actually, by day, Linden "dojo" is a place where people come to bet on horses, but Hayashi-ha students have been training there in the evenings since the 1970s.

Linden Dojo 1980



Linden Dojo 2011

Like a lot of things in Japan, Linden dojo has changed a lot on the surface, but is still the same at heart: THE place to go in Osaka for quality karate. Shihan and Sempai Dawn spent hours and hours on the mat getting tons of personal instruction from some of the best karateka in the world.

Sempai Dawn learning how to punch, strike, step,
and do Pinan Nidan all over again



Shihan discussing the finer points of Seipai with
Hashimoto-sensei, Brian-sensei, and Michael-sensei

The training was difficult and fantastic, and all the sensei at Linden were as patient and funny as they were demanding and strict. While we were there, we also got to see Hashimoto-sensei's star student Yoshiaki-san give some amazing kata and kobudo performances.

Yoshiaki-san performing a stunning Kosokun (Kusanku) family kata

Of course, all of this hard training deserved some good times afterwards, and there were plenty of those as well, complete with tons of great food and laughter. Still, the training never stopped, and Hashimoto-sensei and Hayashi-sensei's son were as strict about how we held our cups as they were about how we threw our reverse punches.

Drinking sake, eating miso soup, or defending against a
surprise attack--the training continued on into the night.



The company was fantastic...

...and the food, needless to say, was delicious.

A warm and respectful thank you to Hashimoto-sensei, Hayashi-soke #2, Brian-Sensei, Michael-sensei, Yamaguchi-sensei, Chiba-sensei, Yoshiaki-san, and all of the amazing people at Linden. We can't wait to come back next year, and we hope that more AZB students will be able to benefit from your amazing knowledge and friendship.

Hanshi Merriman Seminar

On September 22, the Arizona Budokan was proud to host Hanshi Chuck Merriman for an exclusive kata bunkai clinic.

Hanshi Chuck Merriman

Hanshi Merriman is a second-generation student of the founder of Goju-ryu, Chojun Miyagi. Chojun Miyagi was best friends with the founder of our style, Kenwa Mabuni. Kenwa Mabuni got a lot of information for his Shito-ryu syllabus from Chojun Miyagi's teacher, Kanryo Higaonna, and the two spent many years training together.

Kenwa Mabuni and Chojun Miyagi

Since we share these common roots with traditional Goju-ryu practitioners, some of our kata look very similar to Goju-ryu kata--even though they might have different names.

Hanshi Merriman DVDs on Goju-ryu kata

Hanshi Merriman is a modern-day master of Goju-ryu karate, and he has been studying it for half a century. In addition to spending decades training closely with Okinawan Goju-ryu masters, he has had an illustrious coaching career leading martial artists to winning performances at multiple World Championship events.

Hanshi Chuck Merriman

Black Belt Magazine named Hanshi Merriman Instructor of the Year way back in 1980 and put him in their hall of fame after he became the first US coach to win his competitors the Gold, Sliver, and Bronze medals at the World Championships. Since then he has earned a host of other lifetime achievement awards and served as the head referee for many prominent international karate events.

Hanshi Merriman on the cover of martial arts magazines over the years

Luckily for us, Hanshi Merriman now makes his home in Phoenix, Arizona and was kind enough to stop by our dojo to teach us some continuous bunkai concepts using the Goju-ryu kata Geki Sai Dai Ichi, which is very similar to our Chi no kata.

Hanshi Merriman at the Arizona Budokan

We started by doing some three-step partner application sequences that were very similar to what we would be doing later during the actual kata bunkai. These gave us a feel for the major blocking and movement concepts first.

Learning the initial sequence as a group

Practicing with partners

Next, we went over the sequence for Geki Sai Dai Ichi. Hanshi Merriman gave us plenty of time to practice the kata so that we would be familiar with it when it was time to move to bunkai application.

Practicing Geki Sai Dai Ichi

Finally, it was time for the in-line renzoku (continuous) bunkai application. Though we typically limit our bunkai practice to one opponent (direction) at a time, Hanshi Merriman taught us how to perform the entire kata in a straight line so that we could bunkai the entire thing without stopping using only one partner. It was definitely challenging, but a whole lot of fun!

Sensei Jerry and Sempai Dawn work renzoku bunkai
with guidance from Hanshi Merriman

Sensei DeNado (far right) also helped us with the new exercise

Everyone came away from the seminar energized and full of new knowledge. We can't wait to practice these concepts further and try to apply them to some of our other kata as well. A huge thanks to Hanshi Merriman for coming by to teach us and to Sensei DeNado for helping out with the big turnout. We look forward to having you back soon!

Summer kobudo promotions

Congratulations to the Arizona Budokan students who received
kobudo promotions over the summer. We are proud of you!!

Kids, kyu ranks

Sarah: 4th kyu green

Tristan: 6th kyu purple

Ricky: 7th kyu yellow

Alan: 10th kyu white

Adults, kyu ranks

Brianna: 1st kyu brown

Rick: 6th kyu purple


Adults, dan ranks (black belt)

Dawn: 1st dan apprentice

John: 1st dan

Everyone studied and practiced hard to earn their ranks under tough testing conditions. We appreciate your dedication and look forward to seeing your future progress!!

Grand Canyon State Summer Games

Well, it's that time of year again--time for the summer edition of the Grand Canyon State Games. The summer games are usually smaller than the winter games, and this year was no exception. Still, we had few troopers who went out and did a great job representing Shihan and the Arizona Budokan again this year. As always, the instructor team worked hard to get us ready for the tournament as well.


We're especially proud of Alan, who went out and competed in long weapons and in a huge kata division after only having trained with us for a couple of months. He took third place with his bo kata, and we can't wait to see how well he does at the next tournament!

Alan competing with Kihon Ichi no Kata

Alan competing in long weapons with Sunakake no Kon

Ricky did an awesome job in both kobudo and karate, earning a medal in all four divisions. His ni-tambo kata was as solid as ever, rightfully earning him the gold. He got second place in bo and third place in both karate kata and kumite.

Ricky during his winning ni-tanbo kata

Ricky being presented with a silver medal in long weapons

Sarah was her usual unflappable self, presenting solid kata and kumite performances and earning medals in the weapons division as well. She placed first in short weapons, second in long weapons, and did a great job performing the kata Ji-in. We're proud of her!

Sarah mixing it up in kumite

Sempai Dawn also competed in the adult divisions, getting second-place medals in weapons and kata and a first-place medal in adult women's black belt kumite. The black belts fought under the new kumite rules, which require eight points to win the match instead of three. Whew!

Sempai Dawn performed Seipai in adult women's black belt kata

It took a lot of reverse punches to make it to eight points!

Congratulations again to all of the competitors, and a special thanks to Shihan, Sensei Ed, and Sempai John for coming out to support us and helping us perform at our best. We'll see you at the food drive tournament in December!!

Sensei Murayama Seminar

Some of you may remember that Shihan Kunio Murayama, an 8th dan in Shito-ryu karate, came from Mexico City to Phoenix for a training session last April. Like our Shihan, Shihan Murayama is a second-generation student to the founder of Shito-ryu, Kenwa Mabuni, and he is famous as one of the top Shito-ryu practitioners in the world.

Sensei Murayama on the cover of Masters Magazine in 2009

The seminar was a great opportunity to train with some of our martial arts "cousins" in the Shito Kai organization and compare some of the subtle differences between what they do and what we do. Murayama Sensei spent the first half of the seminar going over some interesting and very effective (ouch!!) grappling applications.

Sensei Murayama demonstrating a takedown

Murayama Sensei stressed tight, circular movements as a way to retain control of the opponent and increase the effectiveness of the technique. For example, he showed us how to add a subtle twist to this familiar arm bar in order to make it more powerful.

Sensei Murayama with Shihan, demonstrating an arm bar

As always, we were given the opportunity to work with other karateka outside of our dojo, helping us to broaden our ability to apply different techniques. In this case, almost everyone at the seminar was a Shito-ryu practitioner, but we still saw a lot of small differences, particularly when we did kata during the second half of the seminar.

Sempai Dawn working with a brown belt from another dojo

All in all it was a great experience, and those that attended were able to take home some new information as well as reinforce applications that we often do in our own dojo. A special thanks to Sensei Rabino for hosting Sensei Murayama and allowing us to attend. We had a great time and hope he comes back soon!

Brianna, Sempai Dawn, Sempai John, Shihan, and Sensei Ed with Sensei Murayama

If you want to learn more about Murayama Sensei and our cousins in the Shito-kai, you can visit his website at www.murayamashitokai.org.