HIS Karate-Do

Nobuaki Kanazawa and Kancho Hirokazu Kanazawa Yesterday, eight of us, representing the the senior members of the NHPC Karate Ministry, had the chance to attend a training seminar taught by Shotokan legend Hirokazu Kanazawa and his eldest son, Nobuaki. It was a great fellowship, shared by our sempais, along with senior Shotokan practioners from throughout Oahu. The younger Kanazawa led us in great, extensive warm-up routines which really “stretched” our abilities. We practiced the basic tsuki – gyaku, kisami, oizuki, under his guidance, then a series of maegeri/yoko-kekomi geri combinations that challenged our balance. We spent the rest of the first half of training doing two-man punching drills. For the second half, we were divided into two groups, one led by the elder Kanazawa, the other group, led by his son. Us “middle-aged black belts (which included most of your sempais, haha) got the opportunity to learn kata from Kancho, while the younger black belts and brown belts got personal kata instruction from Nobuaki (SKIF World Champion). Needless to say, much was learned by each of us there (my personal thrill was getting to go over the first half of the little known kata, Nijuhachi). The training hall at the [...]

I’d like to build a comprehensive list of Karate resources on the web. To help jumpstart this list, please submit your favorite Karate links by leaving a comment on this entry — or by sending an e-mail to info [at] nhpcshotokan [dot] com. Currently on the Karate Resources page, we have 1 link to a list of Shotokan Kata Diagrams. (It’s a start!) Check it out — we think you’ll find it very useful!

Several notes: No training on 24 June (this Sat)… Momilani Rec Center will be undergoing repainting. Also, on that day, about seven of your black belt/brown belt sempais and I will be attending a training seminar at the Japanese Chamber of Commerce (by University Ave and S King) taught by Sensei Nobuaki Kanazawa, current SKIF World Champion and son of the legendary Kancho Hirokazu Kanazawa, who first brought Shotokan to Hawaii from Japan in 1960. Kancho Kanazawa was my teachers’ teacher and now heads up the SKIF with an estimated 3 million members world-wide. It’s from 5:00-7:00 pm and you’re welcome to come and watch… the beautiful dojo there, is on the first floor. The following Sat (1 July), please join us for our periodic yard cleanup at Momilani Rec Center, beginning at 9:00 am. Three of us will use weedwhackers for our traditional corner area… for the rest of you, please bring a rake to help rake leaves throughout the large grassy areas. Some of the men from the Men’s Ministry will also help out and I believe we can finish in 60-90 mins, and maybe still have some time for a quick training. Finally, I always say that [...]