Mother Nature was very co-operative this year.  Sunday was a perfect southern California spring day.  It was cool and overcast all morning, just as everyone arrived, the clouds went away and the sun shined the rest of the day but it didn't get hot.  Games and activities continued all afternoon. The first baseball game was the juniors vs. the adults.  The juniors trounced the adults, 9-4!  Way to go Junior Team!   The second game was all adult Kohai vs. Sempai.  The Blackbelts jumped out front with a 10 run first inning.  The Kohai made a good effort but the Blackbelts broke up a 5 run rally in the last inning and ended the game.  Final score 12 to 6 Way to go Senpai Team!    As usual, there was a huge quantity and variety of great food.   Everyone seemed to have a great time!  Thank you Sensei.

    First semester photo (May - June 2006) of the brand new Genbu-Kai Colorado Dojo class consisting of 4 adults, 4 juniors with Chief Instructor Damon Pace.  According to the instructor, "They are a really good group of students.  They just completed their fourth class and are moving along quickly."   Classes are affiliated with the Montrose Colorado Recreational District and conducted at the Centennial Middle School MAP.   More details are available at their website:

    Shihan Demura with his special guest instructor Master Kazuhiko Hosaka (from Gunma, Japan) presented a magnificent Batto Seminar on Sunday May 7th teaching the style and techniques of the World Toyama Ryu Batto-Do Federation, in the Gymnasium at Riverside City College in Riverside, California USA.  Students reported this seminar was fun, fast paced and very informative.  If you haven't attended one of Sensei's Batto Seminars, you are missing out on something Special.  Thanks very much to Shihan Demura and Master Hosaka for another great learning opportunity.

Scotts trip to Great Britain

April 30th 2006

    Scott Moreno from the Santa Ana dojo in California recently visited the Tameside Genbu-Kai dojo in Ashton-Under-Lyne, Northwest of Greater Manchester. Julian Mallalieu is the head Senpai there. Julian and his wife Sharon, run the dojo, located up a flight of stairs. They have a nice waiting area where the parents can wait, and where they sell drinks and miscellaneous souvenirs too. The main dojo training area has the blue and red mat, but they also have another room that looks like a dance studio with mirrors. They can split the classes into this room. They have also just installed new showers next to the men's changing room. Julian and the other black belts are very knowledgeable and run great classes, emphasizing physical agility, karate technique and discipline, while creating a friendly and supportive atmosphere. You can visit their web-site at:  www.shinbo-karate.co.uk

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    Congratulations to Damon Pace: The DKL (Delta Karate League) 10th annual Delta Spring open invitational Karate Championships in Delta, Colorado on April 22, 2006 drew over one hundred advanced mixed martial arts competitors. Various styles were represented there including Tae Kwon Do, Gojo Ryu, Hung Gar Kung Fu, Shotokan, Uechi Ryu, Seidokan and of course Shito Ryu.  Damon Pace of the brand new Genbu-Kai Colorado Dojo placed 6th in Blackbelt Kata using the kata Suparenpi and Kusanku Dai, one round was Suparenpi and 2 rounds with Kusanku Dai, for a total of three rounds in kata.  He also finished 5th place in Mens Blackbelt Kumite, 3rd place in Blackbelt Kobudo with the Sai Kihon Kata, and 1st Place in an incredibly close (1 point) 3 man Team Kumite along with James Lee of Gojo Ryu from USKA in Eagle, CO and another Blackbelt from the Uechi Ryu style.  http://www.genbukaicolorado.com

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Genbu-Kai News Flashes

April 2006

Bob Hunt (Arizona) is recovering from a successful quadruple bypass. 

Get well soon…

Congratulations to Cassie Stuckey (Kansas) and her fiancée,

they will "Tie the Knot" in May.

Mr. Sawabe (Sensei) is recovering from several broken bones

received during a Motorcycle accident.  Get well soon…

Shihan Demura will be taking 15 people to Mr. Iwabuchi’s

Mr. Kazuhiko Hosaka (Sensei) of Gunma, Japan will be visiting

    Shihan Demura performed a remarkable individual Karate demonstration in his unique energetic style and participated in a Team Kata demonstration for a completely packed house at this years Ozawa Cup Masters Karate Demonstrations at the fabulous Flamingo/Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas Nevada USA.  Sensei again wowed the audience with his skill and agility.  As always, Sensei received thunderous rounds of applause from the very appreciative crowds and was mobbed by autograph and photo seekers. 

http://www.ozawa-tournament.com/demonstrations.htm

Ozawa Cup Karate Tournament

April 13th though 16th 2006

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    Congratulations to: Genbu-Kai students Joann Hua from Riverside Dojo and Shayla vanWormer from the Costa Mesa Dojo both competed in the 2006 U.S.A.N.K.F. Jr.Olympics in the large Sports Center at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada USA.  Despite feeling poorly, Joann won a Bronze medal in the Women's Advanced Kumite -60 and a Silver medal in the Women's Advanced Open Kumite.  Shayla won a Gold medal in Women's Advanced Short Weapons in the morning.  In the afternoon, she injured her ankle fighting against the eventual overall winner during the Semi-Finals of the Women's Advanced Open Kumite.  The referee ended the match and Shayla received the Bronze medal, a security escort and a ride to the hospital for X-Rays.  Her ankle is broken, and she will be out of action for a while. 

    Sensei Demura presented an absolutely amazing masters seminar to a large and enthusiastic class at the 2006 Ozawa Cup in the Coronado room at the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada USA.  Sensei covered many things, but focused this seminar on applications from popular katas.  Even the most advanced students there marveled at Sensei's speed and technical ability.  Sensei taught so many "cool"  techniques and tricks that it's difficult to keep track of them all.   Everyone there learned many new things and saw moves and techniques they'd never seen before.  If you haven't been to one of Sensei Demura's seminars, you're missing out on something really special.  http://www.ozawa-tournament.com/clinics.htm Thank you for  a great seminar Sensei...

    Genbu-Kai performed another spectacular Karate demonstration today at the Orange County Buddhist Temple's Hanamatsuri Festival.  About 50 Karate students and instructors performed for a full house in the auditorium.   The show lasted about 40 minutes and the audience seemed to enjoy it very much.  This show included karate basics, kata, defense applications  and kumite.  The show also included Board Breaking, Kobudo Kumite (with padded weapons and safety equipment) and Batto.  The crowd made a big noise of surprise when the first mats were cut.   They seemed very impressed to discover that the swords being used were obviously very sharp.  The show went very and the audience rewarded the performers with an extended round of applause.  Afterward, many performers stayed for the rest of the entertainment and great food found at this event.         

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    Genbu-Kai has a very long tradition of performing a Karate demonstration during the annual Hanamatsuri Festival at the beautiful Orange County Buddhist Temple in Anaheim California.  2006 was no exception and Genbu-Kai students had a well packed auditorium to perform for!  50 students of various ranks were led by Dave Hines.  Greg Collier narrated the fast paced demo.  Many aspects of Karate training were demonstrated.  I  really enjoyed watching the Kobudo demonstration.  Especially the double Nunchaku and Furi-Kama katas.  You don't get to see those very often. Batto katas were performed, the katana sword is a crowd pleaser.  The crowd seemed to particularly enjoy the self defense applications.  I guess everyone likes to see the small "victim" make the "Big Bully" cross his eyes and collapse in a heap.  

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    Genbu-Kai Costa Mesa students led by Jackie Long performed a Karate demo at the California "Youth Expo 2006." The demo was performed on the world famous Heritage Stage on the Orange County Fairgrounds.   The audience was sparse at the beginning but filled up as the show progressed. Students demonstrated various levels of Karate basics Kata, Kumite applications, Kobudo weapons and the audience favorite, board breaking.  The show was very well received by the audience. They showed it with a long round of applause and gathered around after with many questions.

    Genbu-Kai students assembled from far and wide to attend the Kobudo Seminar and Tournament in the big gymnasium on the campus of Riverside City College in Riverside, California USA.  Blackbelts selected by Sensei Demura demonstrated each of the 6 Okinawan Kobudo weapons:  Sai, Kama, Tonfa, Bo, Nunchaku and Eku-Bo.  Then Sensei ran the group through an interesting and effective series of warm-ups and divided the students into groups to learn the various weapons.  The students in each group learned the basics and the Kihon Kata for that weapon.  After the seminar there was a Kobudo Kihon Kata competition and an exciting and fast paced Kobudo Kumite Tournament with padded safety equipment and padded weapons.  After the tournament was completed Sensei Demura conducted Kobudo Kyu testing.  Thank you for a terrific day Sensei!

Kids Learn the Science of Karate

March 22nd - 24th 2006

    Wednesday – Friday at the Tucson Convention Center.  Kids learn the science behind Karate as Math and Science Come to Life at the 4th annual Math, Science and Technology Funfest (MSTFF). More than 6,000 grade 4 through 8 students had the opportunity to meet more than 300 scientists and engineers from a broad range of disciplines during the event.  Tucson Genbu-Kai instructors Doug Corlew and David Stefanovich used the math and physics behind Karate to promote Raytheon initiative MathMovesU.  The goal of MathMovesU is to help turn around the image of math for America's middle school students. The program communicates with today's pre-teenagers on their terms.  The Tucson Genbu-Kai harnessed their talent and community spirit to reveal how math and science can be used as tools of discovery and stepping stones to real-life “cool” careers.  They conducted 30 demonstrations and broke 26 bricks and 35 boards over the 3 day period. Visit the web site at: http://www.azdojo.com

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