Information on Karate can be found all over the Internet and sometimes it’s hard to find what you need to supplement your training. We’ve compiled a Resources page with links to kata and bunkai videos to help you as you prepare for your next exam! We have also put together a list of recommended books, if you’re interested in adding to your library. We hope that this will be a helpful training tool for you!

When I was in elementary school, meetings with the teacher at conference time weren’t the greatest time for my mom. For some reason, I struggled in academics, right on through the fifth grade. I was the classic underachiever…you know, high test scores combined with terrible work in the classroom. I don’t know why that was, I didn’t mean to do poorly in class, and always looked forward to going to school. I enjoyed the teacher, my classmates, even the school lunch. Yes, for 25 cents, I could indulge in culinary delights like Spanish rice, hot dog with beans, brown bread, green beans, peach halves, milk in a carton (with the serrated circle for the straw), and too many other courses to mention. But in the classroom, I don’t know why I hardly ever did my homework and usually drew pictures to entertain the kids around me. Fortunately, we live in a society that makes school mandatory up through the twelfth grade, and my parents never gave up on me. In the sixth grade, my mind suddenly locked into school and learning, and I did well through high school, breezed through college, and finished graduate school, even while putting in 60-hour [...]

When I first started training in Shotokan many years ago, it was conducted in an old wooden building next to the Otto Klum Gym. Located in the hot University of Hawaii quarry. I was surrounded by the newest batch of white belts. The group was all UH students, mostly males in their late teens/early twenties. Six months later, there were only a dozen left, and I think three of us made it to shodan out of our class. The training was really pretty grueling for us novices. I remember one particularly tough practice session when at least six beginners either fainted or had to be pulled out of line. Mostly, I think they were trying to test our perseverance and conditioning. Many of you are familiar with the quarry. Back when I first started at UH in the late sixties, it contained the gym, some basic track/field facilities, various portables, and some old buildings like our old dojo. Most of the huge area was dusty, white and devoted to parking for thousands of students’ cars. The quarry was significant to me for just three reasons: karate, parking, and the place where my Air Force ROTC classes were conducted. Knowing my [...]