Throughout history enlightened warriors in many societies around the world have valued the pursuit of mental, physical, and spiritual self development and have created traditions through which they could practice these pursuits together under highly knowledgeable teachers. In Japan, the elite Samurai who desired to not only perfect themselves, but to serve and protect society, developed the tradition of Budo. This tradition was much like the Renaissance "Universal Man" concept; it was a path of mental, physical, and spiritual training to educate and perfect one's self. Shorinjiryu Karatedo is one of these ancient Samurai paths of Budo that is rooted in an incredible depth of authentic and austere martial and Zen (meditative) training. This classical training in an ancient martial discipline provides a path to intellectual, spiritual, and moral insight.
Shorinjiryu is not commercial "Americanized" martial arts, sports, street fighting, or movie martial arts. It is an authentic, classical, traditional ryu, or school of training. The ancient physical training is comprehensive, involving not only kicking, punching, striking, blocking, but also throwing, grappling, weapons, and more learned through various methods of partner training and kata (forms).
The Sensei holds the rank of Rokudan (6th degree black belt) in Shorinjiryu, is East Coast Director of the U.S. for the system, and has teaching certification from Japan. He has been actively training in karatedo since 1974 and has trained directly under the Director of the International Division since 1980. He is also a Professor of Anthropology who has published research concerning Japanese Budo. He is one of the most highly qualified teachers of classical Japanese Karatedo in the Atlanta area.
