Shinjinbukan Shorin-ryu
Onaga Yoshimitsu
Onaga Yoshimitsu sensei is the chief instructor of the
Shinjinbukan Shorin-ryu lineage of Okinawa Karate.
He was a life long student of Higa Yuchoku sensei and is the Shorin-ryu
chairman for the Zen Okinawa Karate Do Renmei and is the senior
Shorin-ryu teacher on the Federation's grading panel.
He started as a young boy under a man named Taira Osahiro, who was a
student of Higa Yuchoku. He eventually got introduced to Higa sensei and
began training with Higa at the
Kyudokan. He spent nearly 13 years as
the only Uchi deshi (live in disciple) Higa sensei ever had. Just prior
to Onaga sensei's 50th birthday he opened his own dojo under the
encouragement and advice of Meitoku Yagi sensei
He is considered by most teachers on Okinawa to be one of the last
teachers to have learned the detailed theory, techniques and fighting
philosophy of the traditional Okinawan martial arts, referred to as Ti.
Many teachers and masters of others arts, Goju-ryu, Uechi-ryu, Jo-jutsu
and Ken-jutsu have sought out Onaga sensei in the recent years to learn
the indigenous Okinawan art which is at the verge of extinction.
Contact details
Shinjinbukan
Hombu
location:
MIHARA 1-14-14. NAHA SHI, OKINAWA KEN, JAPAN T
902
Phone:
(098) 832-2520
Class Time:
Mon, Wed, Fri (8pm ~ )
Although it is not a formal rule and once in a while people do just show-up, I would not suggest that you simply show-up uninvited to the dojo. The Onaga dojo is a very closed and private dojo. It would be best to send a letter of introduction or at the very least call ahead and ask permission to visit the dojo.
As a result of people wanting to learn Ti, Onaga sensei has created a parallel organization, the Shinjinbu-kai ("Kai" literally meaning "association" or "group") where he accepts students interested in learning Ti but not necessarily Shorin-ryu. His direct students at the Shinjinbukan learn and train Ti primarily by way of Shorin-ryu Kata and technique, but this is not the only way to train Ti and Onaga sensei has started to teach Ti to non-shorin-ryu karate-ka. Rather than using Kata, the training is mostly via Kakie and Irikumi.
The Shinjinbukan is a closed door school, Onaga sensei has approximately a dozen deshi disciples. All other students learning from Onaga sensei today or training at his dojo are either students of his deshi or are considered Shinjinbu-kai members.
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Shinjinbukan Canada, International Shinjinbukan and OkinawakarateDo.com.
All rights reserved.
Revised:
May 31, 2007