So Much Has Happened Since My Last Post

Wow! I have not done a good job keeping this blog updated. I sometimes amaze myself with my absolute love and passion for everything budo, yet find that I fail miserably in updating others with regards to events that I witness or take part in over time. Sounds like the things New Year resolutions are made of, yes?

At any rate, In October, for the second year in a row I made the wonderful journey to Pittsburgh, PA to train with an exceptional group of Chito-Ryu Karate-ka (and others of the Chito lineage). I love the fact that this has become an annual pilgrimage for me, and am always awestruck at the amount of exquisite martial knowledge shared by instructors from all over the U.S. and Canada. I cannot begin to detail how open and accepting the Koshin-ha Chito Kai, United States Chito-Kai, and Ryusei karate-ka are.

We spent the first evening working universal techniques shared between the Chinese art of Baqua and Chito Ryu/Yoshukai. Valentino hanshi always hosts a wonderful "pre-training" at his home dojo before the main event to be held the following Saturday. We beat on one another, laughed at jokes, and sweat together in the glorious surroundings of Valentino sensei's beautiful home. I cannot thank the Valentino family enough for hosting this event and putting up with a group of smelly, overaged budoka beating on one another followed by an evening of drinking and being merry.

The next day we all gathered at the northern Pittsburgh Koshin-ha Chito dojo to continue the previous night's onslaught, albeit with a much larger group. Classes led by Gerry Beshears, Peter Giffen, the Sbuscio's, and Tony Hedderman, kyoshi. This excellent group of instructors opened their hearts and minds to share their knowledge gleaned over decades of dedicated training. Yoshukai budo-ka would do well to spend time with any of these fantastic sensei!


Even more special was being a part of Terry Valentino hanshi's promotion to ninth dan in Koshin-ha Chito Ryu. No person is more deserving of this honor than this fine gentleman warrior!

I won't even begin to detail the jokes and laughter shared at the after training party. Rest assured, my ribs hurt as much from laughing as they did from the training. The separation between the two were mere bruises! Beshears sensei is a hot mess, and Mina Ludwig shihan is an amazing intellect with a dark sense of humor that I simply adore. :)

November 2018 brought a long awaited meeting between Gary White sensei and yours truly. We have followed each other on social media for some time, but had yet to meet. That
was remedied when I made the short drive to north Atlanta to train with him, Seth Selke, Chris Nelson kyoshi, and Stephen Labar sensei. White sensei allowed me to take the floor and teach some kata applications then followed with his own interpretations of the kata. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing and learning with this wonderful group of karate-ka!

On December 1st a reunion of sorts was in order at Rachel Camp renshi's beautiful dojo in Albertville, Alabama. Chris Ball kyoshi, Alex Brice kyoshi, Scott Tomlinson kyoshi, Rachel Camp renshi, and myself taught a day long seminar that encompassed lessons in kumite, bunkai/oyo, and bo basics. Although it had been ten plus years since I had seen many of those folks, it was as though we picked up where we left off. We enjoyed one another's teaching, friendship, laughter, and camaraderie only known when you sweat and bleed on a dojo floor. These are truly my budo brothers and sisters!

Lastly, on December 8th, Shintai-ha Yoshukai Karate-do was honored to host Paul Lyle for training and testing. Lyle sensei was scheduled to test for his nidan and flew from wintery Woburn, Massachusetts to enjoy training, bruises, sweat, and different ways of "doing business" in our method of what I refer to as martial violence.

We were happy to have our contingency of black belts on our testing panel, and also welcomed Tim Lewis, shihan to join the fray. For those who don't know, Lewis sensei is a gem in Yoshukai karate-do, and if you have not spent time training with him and getting to know him as a gentleman karate-ka, you are missing out on something special.

Lyle sensei tested and received a lot of feedback, but prevailed to receive his nidan. It was great seeing this gentleman again and introducing him to some of the Yoshukai seniors I have come to revere.

Lastly, we were honored and blessed to award Tim Lewis sensei with his rokudan (6th degree black belt) and renshi license in Yoshukai Karate-do. This humble man choked up for a moment when receiving his new rank and mumbled, "I don't deserve this." Following was a chorus of "no one other than you deserve this honor, sensei." He is a man we all strive to emulate.

Osu!