Recently, I had an inquiry from my nephew’s wife as to whether I thought their little daughter could start training in karate-do. I was told that, “She likes to punch and kick and looks pretty good…plus, she’s always watching Kung Fu Panda on DVD.” Her question boiled down to what was the minimum age a child could start training in karate-do. This is probably one of the most commonly asked questions that parents ask with regards to their children and karate-do. Generally, we don’t accept students until they’re at least 5 years old. In the case of the HIS Karate ministry, we also invite the parents to train with their children – so that they can understand what the training’s about and to help keep an extra eye on their little one. Over the years, I’ve found that: each child is unique in their ability to absorb the art, some 5 year-olds can learn and perform as well as any adult, most kids attention span begin to wane after 45 minutes of practice, girls seem to have a little better focus/coordination than boys, and that the kids seem to do better if a parent is training alongside them. Here’s a [...]

Well, first of all, what a great time we had at our annual holiday party – even if we did hold it in February of the following year, heh heh. I’m glad that so many of you could make it to Krazy Karaoke for good food, good desserts, good music, good singing, and most importantly, great fellowship. I do want to especially thank: Sensei Trish for leading the fun with her amusing and pertinent games/prizes, Sempai Ken for donating money (he insisted!) to add to the club funds used for prizes/gifts (I think everyone went home with something), Kohai Donna’s dad (Jimmy) for reserving this prime room and time for us at KK, and thanks to the Dumlao/Fukuda sisters for manning the hard-to-figure-out (for your hapless Sensei) karaoke electronic equipment. Thanks to everyone’s efforts and expertise, the party went really smoothly. It was really great to meet and interact with family members of the students, wear regular clothes:) and relax together. I was also happy that even our son, Matt (Trisha’s big brother) made the effort to drop by and join us. In case you’re wondering; yes, he also used to train in the lineup just like each of you, [...]

Back when I was training in Aikido, in addition to practicing how to throw our partners, apply holds and take-downs, there was a very important element of the learning process – being an ukee. The ukee was the one whose turn it was, to be thrown, the one whose wrist/elbow/shoulder was twisted until you signaled pain, the one who was flung straight down or across the mat. The ukee was the one who was privileged enough to “receive the technique”. Often, when I was the ukee, I received very weak, ineffective technique. Other times, my sempais or the sensei would apply great, effortless technique and I would try to study and understand just what made it work so well on me. The greatest honor (and greatest learning experience) was the periodic opportunity to receive technique from an Aikido master such as Tohei Sensei. Back in the 1960’s, Koichi Tohei was Aikido’s great ambassador to the United States. It was he who introduced the art to the islands of Hawaii, beginning in the 1950’s. He was probably the Founder’s top disciple and few could match his flawless execution of technique. Throughout the many hours of training, I believe that I learned [...]