Well, we’ve just held our first exams since last July and it’s a good time to reflect on HIS Karate Foundation’s philosophy regarding examinations and promotions.  Let me begin by describing what it is NOT:  It’s not about getting promoted so that you can have a belt of a different color.  It’s not about keeping up with your peers or gaining a higher rank above your kohai’s.  It’s not about competing and showing than you’re better than others in the dojo.  It’s not about “cruising in regular class” and saving one’s best effort only for exam time (one should always put in 100% effort).  It’s not about receiving a really nice certificate that you can frame and hang on your wall to impress others (although, these are very nice indeed).  And it’s certainly not an additional source of revenue for our dojo – we’re lucky to break even, haha. These are some of the negative things that can develop in dojos where exams are routinely held every few months with the aforementioned factors in play.  Understandably, most students naturally focus on any upcoming exam in anticipation of reaching higher rank.  Over the years, I sometimes see students who place less than their best effort in class and [...]

Haha, I guess that it’s around now that we stop saying “Happy New Year” when we someone for the first time in 2018.  Five days in, though, the year is still very new.  I have such great memories of the new year – and several relate to karate. Waaay back, nearly 50 years ago, it was the cusp between the 1960’s and 1970’s.  I was a young freshman at the University of Hawaii, enjoying the holiday season and my first semester break from classes.  One fateful night, I called an old friend and classmate to wish him a Happy New Year.  He invited me to come over and talk story.  I drove over to his parents’ Pearl City home (hadn’t seen him in a year or two, as we went to different high schools) to wish him and his family Happy New Year as the world said goodbye to the 1960’s.  Years earlier, we trained in Aikido together but had lost touch with each other and the dojo by 1969.  While waiting for him in the living room, I noticed that there were several karate trophies on the stereo – with his name on them.  He had started training in Shotokan Karate and [...]

This is for those who are interested in “how we got here”.  Back, over 25 years ago, a fellow instructor and friend of mine and I decided that we wanted to teach our children Karate-Do the way we thought it should be shared.  His idea was to train our own children in his garage, which I felt was a somewhat limited venue and made less than full use of two veteran instructors.  One thing led to another, and we ended up founding a dojo with him as Chief Instructor and Vice President, and myself as Asst Chief Instructor and President.  It turned out to be a good dojo with a membership of between 50-70 karateka.  I felt that we offered good quality training in the art of Karate-Do and folks enjoyed training with us, while we truly enjoyed sharing our perspective on Shotokan with others.  My initial purpose for this endeavor – training for my children – was fulfilled, as my son made it to ikkyu (high brown belt) while my daughter achieved her shodan there.  I had a great time with that dojo for nearly 10 years. Everything was going well, but over time two things nagged at me: The necessary cost of incorporation, taxes, rent, insurance, etc were all charges [...]