When I started learning karate, it was with Japan International Karate Center. My sensei at that time was Roy Woodard in
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

The Japan International Karate Center was founded by Hirano Kiyohisa, who was a student of Otsuka Hironori, and did demonstrations of Wado Ryu along with Suzuki Tatsuo and Otsuka Hironori.

It was on a demonstration trip to Hawaii with Otsuka, Suzuki, and Kawaguchi Senseis, that Hirano decided to move to Hawaii and he opened a Wado Ryu dojo. This eventually became Japan International Karate Center using Hirano’s knowledge and experience in other styles of Japanese Karate, Judo, and Iaido.

My first karate sensei, Roy Woodard, travelled from Alabama to Hawaii to train under Hirano. Roy Sensei opened a dojo in Kailua-Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaii. This became Nippon Kokusai Karate Center. This is where I began my journey in karate.

Through my time at Nippon Kokusai Karate Center, I met many of the other sensei in the Japan International Karate Center organization… One of the senseis I met is Dale Coker. Dale Sensei has dojos in South Carolina and North Carolina.
When I moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2000, I could not find a Japanese karate dojo in Chiang Mai, so I joined the Aikido club at Chiang Mai University. One day I saw two young men practicing karate near the Aikido practice…. When I went to meet them, it turns out one of the young men had been an exchange student to the U.S.A., and actually practiced in one of Dale Coker Sensei’s dojos. Small world……. I knew a little more than the two young men, so I began helping them in their journey.

Dale Coker Sensei visited Chiang Mai one year and he was nice enough to allow us to come under his Japan Karate International organization.

When I had been practicing with the Chiang Mai University Aikido club, I noticed similarities with some techniques my first sensei, Roy Woodard, had taught us in Kona. I was very interested in this aspect, and, since Wado Ryu was formulated from Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujitsu and Japanese karate (which later became known as Shotokan) I wanted to try and find a way to learn about jujitsu.

Toby Threadgill, who is the head of Takamura ha Shindo Yoshin Ryu, was going to do a workshop in Hamilton, New Zealand, at Robbie Smith Sensei’s dojo. I was lucky enough to be able to attend this workshop and learn more about Wado Ryu and jujitsu.
After this workshop I started inquiring how I could somehow learn and enter Wado Ryu. I could not find any Japanese karate schools in Chiang Mai, much less Wado Ryu. I was researching on the internet and came across a Canadian man living in Japan, Richard Mosdell Sensei, who was in Wado Kai. I contacted Richard Sensei and asked how I might be able to join Takagi Hideho’s dojo in Japan.. Takagi Sensei was mentioned so much in my research as being so knowledgeable about Wado, that is why I was asking. As it turns out, Takagi Sensei’s dojo is VERY difficult to join….. BUT…. Richard Mosdell Sensei was the liaison for Arakawa Takamasa’s Shiramizu dojo in Sugito, Saitama, Japan.

It was arranged for me to visit Shiramizu dojo in Sugito, which is part of the Wado Kai organization.
On my first visit to Shiramizu in Saitama, Lawrence Liang was an intern at Shiramizu and he was an invaluable help guiding me from the airport to the dojo, and then in “converting” to Wado Kai style. Lawrence accompanied me to my shodan examination and helped me through it all.  I was able to challenge and pass the Shodan exam on one of my visits to Shiramizu, and that allowed our Chiang Mai dojo to apply to be a Japan Karate Federation Wado Kai Branch Dojo. On the 21st of June, 2008, we were allowed to be
JKF Wado Kai Branch No. 217001, Japan Karate Institute Wado Kai, Chiang Mai.

I was fortunate to be able to travel to Japan for training a few times, and more importantly, Arakawa Sensei travelled to Chiang Mai a few times to give workshops. On his trip and workshop in November, 2018, he made our Chiang Mai dojo an official branch of his organization, and we became
WADO-KAI KARATE, SHIRAMIZU-SYUYOUKAI, CHIANG MAI,
as of 25 November, 2018.

And the journey continues……..

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