TRADITIONAL OKINAWAN KARATE IN EDMONTON
International Okinawan Shōrin-ryū Seibukan Karate-dō Association
国際沖縄少林流聖武館空手道協会
人に優しく己に厳しくそういう精神が厳しい稽古の中で培うものである
This spirit of being kind to others and being strict with oneself is cultivated through rigorous training
島袋善保先生 Shimabukuro Zenpō Sensei, leader of Seibukan karate-dō worldwide
Zenpō Sensei has coached world-class athletes. Yet he told us his purpose is to teach the unathletic, to bring in the weak and make them stronger, more supple, and more able to move with purpose. He said that’s what karate can do.
I admire clubs and sensei that produce award-winning competitors, and I try to learn from watching the very best karateka. But the mission of our dojo is to make a difference in the lives of ordinary people.
NEWS
The Seibukan Karate Dojo stands with Alberta's marvelous teachers.
In our dojo, this is giri 義理, which means social obligation.
There is a progressive circularity: we need to become better than the society we grew up in, but that’s to elevate the society we now live in and the society our children will inherit. The dojo is a community that pushes, teaches, and supports us to do so.
Dojo senior Craig working with a new student.
I am justly proud of the dojo's instructors, who embody not only the techniques of Seibukan karate, but also its values of dedication, kindness, and care for others.
This woman turns 60 in three months.
Karate is a force for life.
Proudly wearing our Okotoks Karate shirts, which are cherished gifts from Sensei Steve Vinden. Thank you, Sensei! Hope you can visit our dojo soon.
If you live in the Okotoks area and are interested in learning traditional Okinawan karate, you could not find a better teacher or more honorable and principled man than Sensei Vinden.
Kachō fūgetsu 花鳥風月 is a traditional four-character Japanese idiom. It invokes the beauties and wonders of nature. The ancient agricultural need to know when to plant, cultivate, and harvest sharpened the Japanese sensitivity to seasonal changes, heightening their awareness of nature. This gave rise to arts and customs embodying kachō fūgetsu.
The sacred ground of the indigenous Okinawan religion is not a shrine or temple or church, but special places in nature, such as the great rock formation of Sefa Utaki.
Our dojo seeks to continue those traditions in Canada. Here, Lundbreck Falls, Alberta.
Family karate: father and daughter; father and son.
Seniors on an unseasonably cold, blustery August evening.
Sannin geiko 三人稽古: three person practice.
Owen practicing his karate on his summer holiday.
Kawaguchi-san gave us these two bags at class. She made them herself. One is in a Japanese floral pattern and the other in an Okinawan design with waves and whales. In these times when ignorance and bigotry are rampant in the world, her thoughtfulness and generosity remind me that there is still good remaining in this world, at least in the strong and gentle hearts of the people on this beautiful little island.
Training in Okinawa
Lucy and Doug with Zenpō Sensei and Zenei Sensei, May 2025.
Zenpō Sensei is unequivocal that it is necessary for Seibukan karateka to go to Okinawa:
Karate is from Okinawa, so you must go back to Okinawa and see what we do; every karate technique you must correct in Okinawa. Make sure you visit your sensei and feel all Okinawan people.
Please visit Okinawa, to feel traditional Okinawan karate, and eat Okinawan food and breathe Okinawan air. Many things you have to experience in Okinawa.
Our dojo funds instructors and senior students to go to Okinawa to learn from the finest Seibukan sensei in the world. Last October three went there, for the 62nd anniversary celebration of Seibukan. Craig stayed for two weeks; Lucy and Doug were there for a month. It was demanding, illuminating, and marvellous.
This year, Lucy and Doug returned to train Okinawa for the month of May. It was their eighth trip since 2014. Three other members of the dojo will be going in October. Clayton will be going for a fourth time; Craig for a second time; Jared for his first.
The purpose of our dojo is to be a bridge between the karate and culture of Okinawa and good people in Canada seeking to move with more grace through life.
Araha Beach, where we stay in Okinawa.
I am so full of admiration and gratitude for this woman. Different people have different ways they like to spend their holidays, but not many want to come all the way to Okinawa to train hard in the evening at hombu dojo, then get up the very next morning to take the bus to class at Urasoe.
It's 32C (90F) here, and the Weather Network says it feels like 38C (100F). There's no AC in the dojo, and before class, a regular student pointed at my uniform and laughed because it was already soaked through with perspiration and we hadn't even begun training.
Karate is different at these temperatures. Only someone special would seek that out and put her whole heart into it, and very few who are turning 60 this year. That's my wife. Extraordinary doesn't come close to honouring what she is. And she is just one of the extraordinary people who belong to our dojo.
In what's become a happy tradition, we had lunch with Sensei at a Chinese restaurant. We loved the conversation over good food, as Sensei reflected on karate, Okinawa, and his life.
When we were in Okinawa, Zenpō Sensei told us he would never change kata. Our dojo will always follow his example; we will, to the best of our abilities, be faithful to the tradition that has been passed down to us.
Our last training session this trip was at the Urasoe Dojo this very wet morning. Kyan-san gave us this beautiful sampler that she wove herself. Weaving is a traditional Okinawan art form.
We get treated so well here by such good people. Lucy and I are going to miss them so much as we head home. "Ichariba chodee": "Once we meet, we become family."
Our Edmonton Dojo
9000 km from Okinawa, we are doing our best to uphold the great tradition of Seibukan karate-dō.
