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“Be friendly. Take a partner. Partners make you better. Promote friendship—you know why? In karate you need a partner to practice.” —Sensei Iha, 1996 Q. What are your thoughts about life, karate and the last 30 years of building the Beikoku Shido-kan Association? Sensei Iha: “ I believe that after you leave home for independence, you meet many friends and opportunities. In my case, I came to this country in spite of my family’s opposition. I was lucky because I met many good

Seikichi Iha As he explains it, for Sensei Seikichi Iha, teaching karate is much more than teaching self-defense – it is a way to learn about people through mutual cooperation and a way to form lifelong friendships. An analogy he uses is that karate is like a sharp knife that can be useful for preparing the food that is essential for living or, without grounding in principles, it can be used maliciously to end life. Sensei Iha believes that encouraging the development of coop

Interviewer: Sensei, it appears that you favor using the makiwara punching post. Can you tell me a little about its use? Iha: There are two kinds of makiwara. One is called a Shuri-makiwara and it stands to the height of the instructor's breast bone. The other is called a Naha-makiwara. The Naha-makiwara was mainly used by goju-ryu practitioners. It stood as high as the instructor's solar plexus (the bottom of the breast bone). The shorin-ryu practitioner would stand up in

Do not show your ability or intention. Be modest in behavior and natural in movement. No excessive motion, just natural motion. Natural movement has no tension. Cooperating during practice (with a partner) leads to natural movement that, although small and unseen, yields great martial benefits. It creates an elegance in movement.

What I find most interesting about our style is the community that we’ve developed together. We regard other people, who otherwise we might never meet, as friends. There are many of my fellow karate-ka that I feel close to, in spite of careers, dreams, and last names I’m unsure of. Somehow, not knowing doesn’t take away from the training we do together. We are able to be friends with strangers, because we help one another to know ourselves. I began training at Sensei Iha’s do

About 18 years ago I walked into the dojo for the first time. I was middle aged and out of shape, and I’d never been good at sports. I was a bit scared before I walked in the door, but then I looked around and saw that almost everyone had a black belt. It was completely intimidating! But before I could turn around and run away a friendly voice said hello and welcomed me to the dojo. Slowly, bit-by-bit, I learned. I learned how to make a fist, and to get over my ‘nice girls do

Kata Homework Sensei Iha has often said that his teacher, Sensei Gusukuma was very critical but would not point out any additional corrections in his student’s kata until they corrected the movements he’d pointed out previously. One correction at a time, practice, then come back and show him. Like his teacher, when Sensei watches someone pre-testing and just going through the motions or not doing a technique correctly -- for example, back stance or focus (kimae), etc. -- he w

We had a sincere desire to find a true study of Martial Arts. This was our continued topic of conversation for a few years over many dinner tables. We realized that our training was not growing, and the dojo we were affiliated with in 1999 was not the path we were searching for so we made an effort to seek out true Okinawan Karate. Although we learned about Sensei Iha back in the 90’s, we finally meet Sensei Iha in July 2000. We drove up to Lansing with such anticipation . .

“Ah, Iha Sensei number one!” As far back as I can remember I had an interest in martial arts. After trying judo and another style of karate, I finally found a home in Shido-kan in 1989. Why? Well, I liked what was being taught, and the philosophy and authenticity it not only promised but also provided. It wasn’t until quite a while later, however, when Sensei Iha visited our Dallas dojo for the first time, that I knew for certain my search was over. He thoroughly enjoyed teac

For the past three years I have attended Sensei Iha’s Dojo. It has been one of the best experiences of my life. Every day when I walk into the small building I feel like I’m at home, and I feel as comfortable there as I would at my own house. For me, it is just like a second home. Karate makes me feel excited, happy, and proud. I wouldn’t give it up for nearly anything. Even when I have had a horrible day at school putting on my gi and arriving makes me feel like it is all be

I’m doing the math . . . one step onto the dojo floor, then another, then suddenly a couple decades of footsteps have passed over the dojo threshold to be later washed away by hundreds of damp soji towels. Dozens of pairs of my shoes have come and gone from the dojo shelf. Scores of attendance cards have been marked, filled and filed. An endless pile of gi’s washed, folded and distilled down to shredded rags. My partners grow older and dearer, looking as softly and beautifull

On March 17, 2007, Kip Barker Sensei received his 8th dan certification and the title of “Kyoshi” from Iha Sensei and the Beikoku Shidokan testing board. The following interview was conducted on May 7 by Marian Reiter.

When I was asked to remark upon my memories at the dojo from childhood until now I was a bit overwhelmed. After nearly twenty years of training with Sensei Iha, I can look back upon so many special moments when sensei performed techniques which demonstrated his uncanny ability to predict my movement or lead my attack as if he were the one thinking my thoughts, usually at the same time casually remarking about something to an onlooker with that grin and chuckle of his that we

Who would have thought that beginning karate so many years ago could blossom into something so wonderful and bigger than anything I could have imagined. Meeting Sensei over 30 years ago (yes, as a young person), I vividly remember the picture of this gi-clad Okinawan man peering intently at me as I did roundhouse kicks to his head. “Hard-ah, hard-ah!....ahh...” It wasn’t just his stern voice but more of this semi-glare that got me to forget about possibly kicking him in the f

I’m a teacher by trade; I have been teaching high school English for five years now. Because teaching was a second career for me, I had to go back to school to get all the proper credentials and skills. Fortunately for me, Michigan State University (the top ranked school for education in the United States) and Sensei Iha (the top ranked teacher for Shorin-ryu karate in the United States) were just down the road. To be sure, I needed a foundation of educational theory covering

Like many students in Sensei Iha’s dojo, I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the office greeting prospective students and talking to them about the school. “What will I do. What is the schedule? How much does it cost?” are some of the initial questions we routinely answer. One busy week day a few months ago a young man walked in during kata. Sensei nodded to me to leave the line and see who he was and answer his questions. I grabbed a class schedule and was prepared to run th

The following tribute to Sensei Iha was written by Hirokazu (Koichi) Nakasone in 1996 for the 20th Anniversary Celebration of Beikoku Shidokan and published in the 2001 Beikoku Shidokan Karatedo Association's 25th Anniversary journal