The Jo is a Japanese weapon, a short wooden staff with round cross-section, roughly 50 inches in length and an inch in diameter. (There are variations in the dimensions.) In Japan they have been traditionally made of white or red oak. It is one of the simplest of the weapons that are still studied as part of Japanese kobudo, or…
My friend Yuka invited Shuto Karate Club to give a class for a group of children that meets at her house periodically to learn about Japan and the Japanese language. The name of the group is 日本語で遊ぼう, or, roughly translated, “Let’s have fun using Japanese (language)”. We had about 14-15 children participate, with ages ranging from about 5 to 10,…
On Sunday we did our first demo, during the 50th annual Pennridge Gallery of the Arts. I was very proud watching everyone perform to the best of their ability, or close to it. It is the role of any teacher to bring out the best in each student. We developed and practiced this performance for close to two months, and…
We will give our first demonstration as a club on Sunday, September 16 between 2 and 3 PM. We were invited to do so as part of the 50th Annual Pennridge Gallery of the Arts, an art exhibition and crafts festival held on Main Street in Sellersville. Our demo will take place in the Key Bank parking lot across Main…
I only met the founder of Shuto Karate Club, Louis Rabouin (pictured above at center), once, about a year before he passed away in 2011. We had a class in our club’s headquarters dojo in Skippack (at the time there was only Skippack and Hatfield) and Rabouin Shihan sat in a chair and watched. I remember him sternly correcting my…
Our young student Praachi trains at both the Sellersville and the Skippack dojos of Shuto Karate Club. Right now she’s in India with her family, visiting relatives and the ‘home country.’ While there, she has been training at a Shotokan school in the city of Rajkot when she’s able. Her dad tells me that the classes have 20-25 students and…
Welcome to the blog of Shuto Karate Club – Sellersville, PA. We are just getting our website up and running, and going forward these posts will share news of our club and describe its teaching philosophy and methods. We will also make observations about the wider martial arts world, both present and historical. Our club endeavors to preserve and convey…
Lately I have been having conversations with some parents about how karate, when practiced sensibly, can benefit almost anyone physically and mentally, no matter what their starting condition. In talking about this, I mention that many of the Okinawan masters from the 19th century were reported to have been, or described themselves as having been, weak or sickly as children.…
(This is a guest post by Alan Gochin.) When a new student begins their training, they are continuously being monitored by the Sensei. In today’s karate, a student’s progress is measured by their ability to retain and improve upon the quality of their basic skills and their katas. Once the Sensei feels that the student has become confident with a prescribed…
(Guest post by Alan Gochin) Generally credited to Gichin Funakoshi (but rumored to have been created by Kanga Sakukawa, an 18th-century Okinawan karate proponent), the Shotokan Karate “dojo kun” serves as a set of five guiding principles, recited at the start/end of each training session in most Shotokan organizations. The dojo kun is intended to frame the practice within an ethical…
