Shinjinbukan Shorin-ryu
Shorin-ryu and Okinawa Ti, a living tradition.
Kokusai Shinjinbukan
Kokusai Shinjinbukan (lit. International Shinjinbukan), is a group of dojo and students learning and training Onaga sensei's Ti, under my direction and with the permission and authority of the Shinjinbukan Hombu dojo.
When I first went to Okinawa and was permitted to take classes at Onaga sensei's dojo in 1989/90 his dojo was barely a year old and it was registered with the Zen Okinawa Karate Do Renmei as "Shorin-Ryu Onaga Karate Dojo". Sensei had every intention of eventually buying or building a place that he would call the Shinjinbukan, but until that time came he would simply hang the dojo kun from where the name Shinjinbukan is derived and few people knew what he intended to call the school.
Upon my return to Canada after my second year in Okinawa I open a dojo in Vancouver BC, there were no other dojo outside Okinawa other than the once in Argentina under the direction of Miguel Ramos, who was using the name "Onaga Karate dojo".
At first I used no school name and simply called what I did "Shorin-ryu". Since my dojo was a private closed door dojo not having a name didn't matter. When Onaga sensei visited Vancouver in '96 we had just opened a public dojo in Kitsilano a neighbourhood of Vancouver. Sensei and I discussed what would be an appropriate name for the dojo. Sensei encouraged me to use the Shinjinbukan as that was what he intended to eventually name his school.
The Shinjinbukan Canada dojo was formally opened. Over the years Miguel Ramos in Argentina, Jimmy Mora in the USA, and Yoshihiko Shinzato in Peru each adopted the name to a greater or lesser degree.
In the past 10 years many things have changed, I no longer live in
Canada, my dojo is now in Seattle Washington, two of my senior students
are on opposite sides of the country and the Kitsilano dojo is still
going strong. Calling our dojo the Shinjinbukan Canada seems in
appropriate now that we cross 49o and have multiple locations
just within Canada. As a result our group calls itself Kokusai
Shinjinbukan, with each dojo using the name of the town or neighbourhood
it's located in.
Since we started using this name I've been asked if we some how
broken away from the Shinjinbukan Hombu, absolutely not!! In fact, once
again just like when Kitsilano dojo adopted the Shinjinbukan name before
any other dojo, again we have taken the name in trust, so to speak, for
the international association the Onaga sensei eventually hopes to
build. Onaga sensei and I have discussed the eventual repurposing of the
"Kokusai Shinjinbukan" name to include all students outside of
Okinawa, until that day comes it a convenient label for a small group of
students following Onaga sensei's path.
PS. Onaga sensei did eventually re-name the Onaga Karate Dojo to the Shinjinbukan in spite of not having built the building he still intends to erect. The millennium (2000) seemed like a good opportunity to start anew and sensei announced the name change in a very subtle way, he traveled to each of his deshi (Vancouver, Kentucky, New York, Buenos Aires) and presented them with an Obi with the Japanese character "Shin-Jin-Bu-Kan"
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Shinjinbukan Canada, International Shinjinbukan and OkinawakarateDo.com.
All rights reserved.
Revised:
February 25, 2009