INOUE-HA SHITORYU KARATE
This page is on Sensei Seah’s experience with late Soke Yoshimi Inoue, founder of Inoue-ha Shitoryu Karate. More in depth information on Soke’s life can be found here.
“I was introduced to Inoue-ha Shitoryu by a fellow Karateka. The Katas performed by Rika Usami and Antonio Diaz mesmerised me. Their techniques intrigued me. Who is the Sensei behind these WKF Kata champions? What are the secrets behind their success?
My first trip to Tottori was in 2010. I had no idea where Tottori was but was looking forward to the trip. The 2-hour bus ride and the 20 minutes local train finally took me to Koyama Dojo.
When I first met Soke, he seemed like a very stern Sensei but as the training went by, I found him to be less stern, easy going, did not impose his authority and FUNNY. He was enthusiastic in imparting his knowledge and tried his best to explain even with his limited English. Always asking ‘Understand? Understand?’ with great humour throughout his explanations.
A simple Yoko-uke (Middle block) seemed so complex at the beginning, because the principle of Uke (Block) is different. Even the style of Tsuki (Punch) varied. Kihon (Basic) was executed differently but efficiently. Throughout the three days, I benefited from the intensive technical training. It was indeed an eye opener for me, to be exposed to the style of Inoue-ha Shitoryu Karate. It was technical information overflow during my three days of training there.
Unfortunately, I was not able to have subsequent training sessions with him before his passing in 2015. I continued my Inoue-ha Shitoryu Karate training with the Kaicho of Japan Karate-do Inoue-ha Shitoryu Keishin-kai, Yukio Okamura, subsequently.”
