Introductory Offer! Call Us Today
(805) 850-3656
220 N. Main Street Sellersville, PA 18960

Martial Arts Philosophy

The philosophy behind what we do — either the Okinawan/Japanese traditional or the more modern application to Western society, particularly U.S.

Putting the “martial” into the lines of your performance

Putting the “martial” into the lines of your performance

The kanji above reads in Japanese as “en-bu-sen,” or as it’s normally pronounced as a complete word, “embusen.” (It’s just easier to pronounce “em” in the word than “en.”) Japanese karate players recognize this word as referring to the path or pattern that your steps take when you’re performing a kata. If someone was watching you do your kata from…

Read more

Why we train to fight

Why we train to fight

Both Delguidice Sensei and I came up through the karate ranks and earned our black belts learning Shotokan Karate the “traditional Japanese” way. And I actually trained for three years in Japan and earned a 2nd degree black belt through the “Kenshinkai” organization, which was definitely traditional Japanese. (For those who want to know, “kai” in this context indicates an…

Read more

Shoto’s 20 Principles: Keep your karate boiling

Shoto’s 20 Principles: Keep your karate boiling

This is the first in an occasional series of short posts on Gichin Funakoshi’s “twenty principles of karate,” a set of concise axioms describing the Master’s philosophy of applying one’s study of karate to one’s everyday life, and vice versa. The 20 principles were first published in 1938, when Funakoshi (“Shoto”) was 70 years old. The English translation I am…

Read more

The legal elements of self-defense: Innocence

The legal elements of self-defense: Innocence

This is the second post in the series on legal aspects of self-defense.  We will cover the five elements of a physical encounter that must be demonstrated to the criminal justice system in order to make a successful claim of “self defense.” I am basing these on the highly informative book “The Law of Self Defense” by Andrew Branca, whose…

Read more

Top 10 reasons for attending karate class faithfully

Top 10 reasons for attending karate class faithfully

We currently have 3 class days per week. One of my goals is to increase that to 4 during 2019. We’re not quite at the point where that would be justified, but we will get there. Here is my “Top 10” list for regular karate class attendance, somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Not in any particular order. You will progress more quickly. When…

Read more

Belt Ranks (Kyu)

Belt Ranks (Kyu)

(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…

Read more

Our Dojo Kun

Our Dojo Kun

(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…

Read more