Volume 14, Issue 1 January, 2009

Volume 14, Issue 1 January, 2009

THE HARMONIZER—VOLUME 14, ISSUE 1—JANUARY, 2009 2

The Harmonizer

Volume 14, Issue 1

January, 2009

In this issue:

Message from the President—p.2

Message from the National Coach—p.2

Seven lessons learned from Seven

Cage Fights—p.4

The Championship Match—p.6

National Team Update—p.6

Updated Website—p.7

Interview with Sensei Lawrence Blakemore—p.9

Participate! —p.10

First Annual Alberta Provincial Cham-

pionships—p.10

Message From the President In memory of Master Shintani

Sensei Denis Labbé

On the cover: Sensei Shin-tani relaxes with Senseis Bruce Perkins, Willie Le-Brun, Rick Leveille, and Jack Gingras after a Shindo workout in Wawa, Ontario, in 1993.

I would first like to wish everyone and their family a Merry Christmas and all the best in 2009. My upcoming travel events for this year are: Jan. 17th - Fort Erie Wado Kai 26th Annual Friendship Tournament in Fort Erie, Ontario. Jan 31st - Timmins Wado Kai Karate Tournament in Timmins, Ontario. Feb 7th - Black Belt Grading in Welland, Ontario. Feb 20th and 21st - Virden Wado Kai Karate Tournament and Clinic in Virden, Manitoba. Mar 6th and 7th - South Calgary Wado Kai Karate Tournament and Clinic in Calgary, Alberta. Mar 20th and 21st - Saskatoon & Warman Wado Kai Karate Tournament and Clinic in Warman, Saskatchewan. Apr 17th and 18th - 14th Annual Ken Brown Memorial Tournament in Wawa, Ontario. Apr 25th - 12th Peter Ciolfi Memorial Karate Tournament in Welland, Ontario. May 22nd and 23rd - National Master Shintani Memorial Karate Tournament and Clinic in St. Catharines, Ontario. I welcome everyone back to the New Year and will see you soon in the up-coming clinics and tournaments.

40th Anniversary at the Welland Dojo The Welland Martial Arts Center celebrated its 40th anniversary this past September with an open house. We had demonstrations all day of the various arts available at the Welland dojo.

Message From the National Coach By Sensei Ron Mattie

Sensei Ron Mattie (middle front row in white uniform) leads Iaido practitioners


Sensei Rod Sumbler headed the Wado-Kai Karate group, Sensei Bob Ursacki headed the Jiu-jitsu group, Sensei Mark Kawabe headed the Kendo group, Sensei Ron Mattie headed the Iaido group, and the kickboxing group was led by Chad Mattie. We had the MP, the MPP and the Mayor attending for our cake cutting ceremony. Outside the dojo, we had a barbeque with free food and drinks for spectators.

Sensei Shintani started the club in 1968 at the Welland Y.M.C.A. I can‘t help to think how different life would have been if Sensei had never came to Welland. Sensei Peter Ciolfi would never have run the Welland club, which means no Denis Labbe, Ray Poulin, Dominic Mora-bito, or Ron Mattie. There would also have been no Ro-land Day, which means no Peter Ruch, Bruce Dunning, Rathe Mokelky, Darren Humphries, Jeff Gervin, Crystal Johnston and so many, many more that are too numerous to add. What a ripple effect. Sensei Gary Laplante was the main person responsible for bringing Sensei Shintani to Welland and Sensei Ray Poulin is our most senior member today.

We have so much to be thankful for. The Welland dojo is still going strong and is a main hub for all martial arts practitioners who come to visit, work out and vacation.

Everyone is always welcome to come and join us.

Chad Mattie demonstrates jodan mawash-geri

Kendo practitioners at Welland anniversary celebrations

Sensei Gary Laplante, Sensei Ray Poulin, Sensei Mark Kawabe Sensei Ron Mattie, MP John Mahoney, Sensei Bob Ursacki,

Mayor Goulbourne and Sensei Denis Labbe

Senseis Ray O’Connor (left) and Alain Bisier (right) demonstrate Wado techniques


SEVEN LESSONS LEARNED FROM SEVEN CAGE FIGHTS By Troy Sorensen, Nidan

Editor’s note: The inclusion of the following article in the Harmonizer is for academic inter-est only. The SWKKF does not encourage its members to participate in mixed martial arts due to the violent nature and extreme danger associated with this activity. Karateka constantly ask me what I have learned from mixed martial arts, or MMA. I‘ve had 7 fights now and I‘ve learned so much, but it has-n‘t been easy. I have broken my hand, my foot, and received dozens of stitches to my face. The first time I returned home from a fight my wife cried when she saw my face, and my daughter wouldn‘t let me close enough to hug her. Here are seven lessons I needed to learn before I started winning (I lost my first 3 fights): 1) I had to learn to contact the head and follow through on strikes. This may sound easy but karateka are trained both physically and men-tally to punch one inch away from the head. I recommend you find a karateka you trust and use boxing gloves, or use hand pads and a boxing head guard. Your distancing, stance and kamae may need to be adjusted. 2) I was taught in karate to punch in the general direction of the head, and if possible punch the nose to cause the eyes to water. I was taught that under the influence of adrenaline and the unpredictable movement of your opponent, it is very difficult to aim for specific areas of the head, so don‘t bother trying. I‘ve learned from MMA that if you aren‘t aiming specifically for the chin or jaw, you are wasting your energy, possi-bly exposing your face for a counter punch, and endangering the bones of your hand. I hit my first opponent with a fully extended gyaku-zuki to the mouth/nose and it didn‘t even slow down his forward motion or daze him. I punched my second opponent in the temple and it sprained my wrist while he proceeded to take me down to the ground. Over the years I picked up a boxing trick: aim for the throat. Most fighters will flinch downward when you start your punch, and con-sequently your punch will end up on their chin or jaw. I also learned that it‘s better not to punch at all than to punch a forehead.

3) I obviously needed to gain experience in ground fighting and fighting in a closed area. I strongly encourage karateka to train in ground escapes and learn to prevent a variety of take-downs. The philosophy that punches, kicks, and side-stepping will prevent takedowns is flawed. I needed to feel confident and calm on the ground to prevent massive energy waste and panicked breathing. I now have 4 years of brazilian jiu-jitsu training and most of my MMA wins are from ground submissions. 4) I had to practice elbow and knee strikes and clinch fighting against a wall. A muay thai clinch will destroy a karateka if you don‘t know how to defend the knees/elbows and escape the clinch. I had to learn to prevent wrestling takedowns when pinned up against a wall. I learned to cir-cle more and never retreat straight backward; linear retreats leave you in-line for subsequent strikes and eventually backed up against a wall. I had to add leg kicks and learn to block head kicks. The distancing we use in karate is insuffi-cient when leg kicks are involved. Your front knee needs to be pointing perfectly straight for-ward and strong in order to prevent your stance from crumbling after receiving a leg kick. Leg kicks are much harder to block than kicks to the torso, and I learned to block most kicks with my shin rather than gedan barai, keeping my kamae up and ready to counter punch. I‘ve noticed some karateka initiate a gedan barai as soon as I lift my foot off the floor for a kick, this means they have been programmed to block body kicks and are unprepared to block leg or head kicks. Leg kicks are now my favourite way to set up a strike to the head. I also learned that leg kicks, especially to the thigh above the knee, are not as dangerous and I was led to believe. On a more positive note, I learned I had an excellent and effective mae-geri. 5) I started MMA with my hands way too low, shoulders too low, and my chin too high. In ka-rate, a strike to the body is awarded just as much points as a strike to the head, so my kamae was mid-height to protect both areas in kumite. In MMA I‘d rather receive 4 strikes to my body than 1 to my head. I now carry my fists high enough that my wrists are at nose level, my punches initiate from that position (not from my ribs) and I block straight punches downward. I now protect my ribs and stomach from kicks with my shins. When one fist is punching the other fist is on my jaw to prevent a counter punch, not


on my floating rib near my hip. I shrug my shoul-ders to partially protect my jaw from hooks, and look at my opponent through my eyebrows, keeping my chin tucked down. This leads me to my next lesson… I had to learn to throw and block hook punches. Ude-uki and Soto-uki are insufficient to block a hook punch. I‘ve seen some clubs use uraken (back fists) and haitos (ridge-hands) in kumite, which are good side-of-head strikes, but do not prepare you for a hook punch that can loop around your block and strike you in the jaw or ear. I recommend adding open palm hook punches to your randori, a gentle palm slap on the face will wake up your friends. I now try to block/absorb left hooks with my right fist on my right ear, el-bow in front of my nose, and my bicep protect-ing my jaw. If I am wrong and the punch is not a hook, my elbow protects most of my face from the straight punch. I did learn that I have excel-

lent extension on my jab (jun-zuki) and shoulder rotation on my straight right (gyaku-zuki). 6) On a separate but related issue, I‘ve learned the physical and mental preparation needed to fight professionally. I‘m embarrassed to say (but I hope you learn from it) that for my first fight I tried to generate hate and anger towards my opponent in preparation for the fight. I thought this would energize me and prepare me for war. It only wasted energy and made me more care-less and less strategic in the cage. I now try to fight like a machine, with a single strategy, steady breathing, and without emotion. Physi-cally, I learned the importance of strength train-ing (especially whole-body compound lifts), and

the importance of plyometric, anaerobic, and interval training. I learned that long aerobic workouts (e.g. jogging and biking) train you to fight slower (slow- vs fast-twitch muscle fibres). I also learned that my speed and endurance al-most doubles every time I lose 10lbs of body fat. 7) I‘ve also found that these lessons have made me less successful in karate competition. My body is much more open for point scoring, I sometimes absorb weak body strikes so that I can score to the head, I hesitate to score to the head when only their upper face is exposed, I get dis-qualified more often with head contact, and I forget to retreat after scoring one point. This article is not about improving your karate com-petition. I still fight MMA and find it very challenging and addictive. I don‘t fight for the money (which

never even covers expenses), I don‘t fight for the cheer of the crowd (in all cases I am the out-of-towner so I only receive dead silence), and I started too late in life to make the big leagues (UFC). I fight because it challenges me and I know success is entirely in my hands if I prepare and train harder than my opponent. I hope I don‘t offend any karateka with this arti-cle; that is definitely not my intention. [Attached photo: My first MMA win at ‗Rumble in the Cage 19‘ at the Road House Nightclub, in Lethbridge, Alberta. I broke my right hand. I re-ceived a stinky hotel room and $120 to cover travel expenses.]

Sensei Sorensen landing right hand to opponent's jaw Setting up a sangaku-jime (triangle choke)


I knew that it was going to be my last career match. After years of being disciplined and training hard, I had been at the top of my game for too long. Age was creeping in. I wasn‘t as fast and it took longer to heal. The training was taking its toll on me. It was my opponent‘s first match in this top divi-sion. He was twenty-five years younger, stronger, very fit, and just as disciplined. I had followed his career for a long time. I had even helped him train in the past. We had sparred on many occasions, but this was different. This was the real thing, the title, the championship. Would he untitle me? His weakness? He was a little cocky, but that was his youth expressing itself. I, on the other hand, had the experience. Our names were called for the final bout. I walked in the ring to face him. Up close, he looked more mature than his age. Our eyes met. I had no idea what was going through his mind. He was trained well, full of courage and confi-dence. I felt old. I put my hand out to him and said ―Good luck, son‖. He stood there for a mo-ment, looked at me and smiled. Then he reached for my hand, and with a soft compas-sionate voice replied, ―You too, Dad‖.

The SWKKF National Team members have been busily training for upcoming tournaments. In March, the team will reconvene in Calgary for training and competition in the South Calgary Wado-Kai Tournament. The team competition at this tournament will operate under WKF rules, where kicks to the head score three points and takedowns followed by a strike also score three points. In addition, the team members will compete using newly-learned international katas. The team will travel to Las Vegas on Easter weekend to compete in the Ozawa Cup. This is a large international tournament that last year boasted some nine-hundred competitors from fourteen countries. In May, team members will compete in the SWKKF National Master Shintani Memorial Tour-nament in St. Catharines. The team congratulates heavyweight Sensei Scott Hill, who was graded to the rank of Yodan in Welland recently. The team members and coaches would like to once again thank the membership for your con-tinued support .

Team middleweight Sensei Michel Gosselin fires jodan mawashi-geri (Sensei Ray Poulin photo)

The Championship Match

A fictional account by Sensei Ron Mattie

Inspired by Sensei Dominic Morabito

National Team Update

By Jeff Gervin


The website committee is pleased to announce the update to the www.shintani.ca website. There are many new enhancements to the site which we feel you will find useful. In this article we will outline just a few. The SWKKF has had a website for many years and it has served us well. It has always been a good place to view information on tournaments, workouts, club contacts, etc. In this spirit the website committee has continued with this premise - and now reflects some of the updates to our organization over the years. Categories For ease of navigation you will find 7 main categories that span the depth of our organization.

Shintani Federation You will find information about our organization such as:

SWKKF Organization – Information on our Senate, Provincial and Regional Representation.

Committees – the SWKKF has a number of committees – check it out!

Participate! – Have you ever thought about participating in our organization and did not know how to go about it? Complete this form and your voice will be heard.

Grading – information on black belt grading from requirements to downloadable forms.

National Team – information on the current team, as well as a historical view on past teams.

Scholarship-Did you know that the SWKKF has two scholarships of $500.00 awarded annually?

Our History and Roots In this section you will find out information such as:

What Is Wado Kai Karate

History of Karate

Sensei Hironori Otskua

Sensei Masaru Shintani

There is also a form called ―Submit Your Experience!‖ The website committee is gathering informa-

Updated Website By Sensei Marco Reyes

http://www.shintani.ca/


tion on your personal thoughts and experiences with Sensei Masaru Shintani from members who had the privilege of knowing and working with Sensei. Please take the time to do this since Sensei now lives in our memories and by capturing this we do not lose these memories. Tournaments and Events There are a number of workouts, clinics, and tournaments that span our organization. Here you will find information on SWKKF sanctioned events. If provided, downloadable flyers and forms can be ob-tained (there is even a google map to find the venue) If you would like to provide information, or more detailed information on an event (such as a flyer, venue address, etc) please email [email protected].

Sign Up For Our Newsletter By simply entering your name and email address you will receive reminders on upcoming events, broad-cast messages, as well as information on releases of the Harmonizer right in your inbox! The Black Belt Mailing List Every registered black belt of the SWKKF is on the list. Historically this list has been mailed out. Now, you can request access to the list by completing the ―Login Request‖. Please ensure that you are a reg-istered member (with passbook!) of the SWKKF. We hope that you enjoy the new website. And your thoughts and any new ideas are always welcome. Remember, this is your website. Contact us through the website or by emailing [email protected].

The Art of Shindo Shindo was Sensei Masaru Shintani‘s gift to our organization. Now you can view information on Shindo such as the current curriculum, clinic infor-mation, and have the ability to contact the Shindo committee directly!

Harmonizer Newsletter The Harmonizer is the official newsletter of the SWKKF. You can still obtain past copies of the Harmonizer, as well as download the current re-leases here.

DVDs and Merchandise Did you know that there are three volumes of Kata instructional DVDs as well as two volumes of Shindo instructional DVDs available? Click here to view pricing and ordering information.

Club Listings and Contacts There are a number of clubs available for you to participate. Here is a list! If your club is not listed simply click ―Submit your Club‖ and it will be added.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


The Senate interview series in this edition of the newsletter features Sensei Lawrence Blake-more, shichidan. I thank him for taking the time to share his thoughts with us. Greetings. My name is Lawrence Blakemore and I have lived in the Simcoe, Ontario area most of my life. I am now retired and devote my time to teaching and studying Wado karate-do. I am the chief instructor for the South Western Ontario Wado-Kai Karate Organization, which is a non-profit group of five dojos. I started training in Wado karate-do under Sen-sei Shintani as a beginner in 1973 in the Port Dover dojo. Port Dover was the only dojo south-west of Hamilton and Welland at the time. We trained in a hall over the local beer store. The first time I saw Sensei he was teaching in the Pt. Dover high school before the move to the other location. As I watched Sensei teach on my first night out, I realized that there was some-thing unique about him. He drove from Hamilton twice a week to teach us, bringing with him other black belts for us to work with. The club moved to Simcoe and within two years Sensei left the dojo and had us carry on for him. I helped instruct in this dojo until sandan level and then started my first dojo. All other clubs in south western Ontario are descendants of the Dover/Simcoe club. Sensei gave me many insights into what a karate person should try to be. He showed us many sides of the art and instructed us in their value. The sport and political aspects and types of training that he gave to me as well as his other students helped us to see that there is a much deeper understanding in this art which we all should strive to achieve. Although the above are necessary they are only a part of the whole. The real essence of karate-do, especially Sensei Shintani‘s wado, is the togetherness, the humil-ity and compassion that he lived and showed us by example. Seeing these principles and values in action had a great effect on my life. I have been part of most of the committees at one time or another since Sensei allowed us to help him in his organization. Currently we have just completed the judging/training section of

the tournament committee. The purpose of this committee is to improve our competitions through a system of professional presentation. Sensei Shintani appointed a number of his rank-ing people to structure a grading system and incorporate specific kata for the Shindo system. The committee has achieved this objective and a new committee has been assigned to carry on. It is my wish along with the other committee members that the organization embraces Shindo and determines its acceptance and success. To me the archive project is an extremely im-portant venture and one that the whole organi-zation should be involved in. We know little about the history of this organization‘s growth and connections; this is the history of who we are as Wado karate-ka. As individuals, if we each give a little, the whole will benefit. The provincial representatives are helping in this project and I know we will make an achieve-ment. It used to be my belief that the organization was the most important thing to consider. I still be-lieve this to be true but from a different per-spective. I f we train good and proper yodansha they will train proper students who will create solid clubs and we will have a strong organiza-tion. To me it is the individual where we should concentrate our efforts. I feel that we must learn to explore Wado in all aspects and to be open minded. The pureness of humility and compassion that Sensei demon-strated should be strived for. This is the har-mony of Shintani Sensei. Thank you for this opportunity to share some of

my thoughts.

Interview with Sensei Lawrence Blakemore

“...there is a much deeper under-standing in this art which we should all strive to achieve” Sensei Lawrence Blake-more

Sensei Lawrence Blakemore


PARTICIPATE! To all members: The Shintani Wado-Kai Karate Federation is a not for profit organization which is often in need of vol-unteers with specialized skills and knowledge for the optimal running of the organization. For exam-ple, there are legal documents to be read, accounting to be completed, computer skills needed, pro-ject management tasks, creative and artistic skills required, corporate fund-raising challenges to be met, and so on. Historically these tasks have been placed on a small number of people over the years but as the organization grows so do these tasks. Volunteering is the foundation of this organization from the instruction through to the organizational boardroom. In order to facilitate getting more peo-ple involved, we have set up space on the SWKKF website inviting members to PARTICIPATE! If you have some time and effort you would like to contribute to your organization please visit the website and fill in the PARTICIPATE form. Since this is a brand new empty database we do not have records from those who have contributed in the past, so if you are still interested in helping out please fill in this form as well. This database is confidential to the website manager and members of the Senate who will use the information appropriately. Information will only be used for the purposes of the SWKKF. Link: http://www.shintani.ca/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=82 Thank-you for your continued support, Members of the SWKKF

First Annual Alberta Provincial Championship By Sensei Troy Sorensen

Edson was honoured to host the first annual Al-berta Provincial Championships on 16 January and 17, 2009.

Workshops Friday night started off the events with three workshops. Sensei Norm Volk taught a self-defense workshop to 21 women at the Alpine Health Club. Sensei covered 3 main issues 1) physical differences and recognizing returned aggression; 2) reluctance towards violence; and 3) adrenaline freeze. Sensei covered these in a way as to get the students to recognize what and how it happens, and to use tools to avoid adrenaline freeze and account for size and weight differences. The instruction included a review of Canadian statistics on Violence Against Women, and discussion on reasons why the dif-ferent age groups get into these situations. They

also reviewed the Legal aspects of Self Defense and the criminal code, and identified what was deemed ―reasonable force‖ and the differing rights of a smaller weaker person in the eyes of the law. Sensei Heather Fidyk taught a workshop to 37 delighted kids aged 6 to 12, from white to green. The youth went through the usual battery of ba-sics followed by some kata fine tuning in prepa-ration for the next day's events. Then came the ippon kumite—the kids enjoyed working on dif-ferent scoring techniques with a focus on dis-tanc ing, explos ive techniques and counter attacks. Working with so many different partners the kids were able to explore a large variety of competitors. The karate-ka who at-tended the workshop definitely showed their new and refined skills the following day at the tournament. Sensei Troy Sorensen taught a ground fighting workshop to 17 adults. The workshop focused on three areas: a) methods to return to standing after being knocked down (‗defensive stand-up‘); b) methods to defend punches when on your back; and c) methods to escape various pins


on the ground. The workshop ended with two minute matches of ground-kumite and everyone exhausted.

Tournament The tournament was the largest ever hosted by Edson with 139 kyu belts and 20 yodansha in 28 divisions. Thanks to the enthusiastic support of the black belts, three rings were con-tinuously operated for 7 hours. The tournament was a ‗smash‘ success with zero injuries.

After Party Immediately after the tournament 140 people piled into the basement of the Sacred Heart Parish for an excel-lent buffet dinner, drinks, and danc-ing. It was the first dance circle I‘ve ever seen where the age started at 6 years old. Last year‘s winner, Sam Fitzel (Whitecourt) pre-sented the Kobushi ‗Old Warrior‘ award to Kevin Bowes (Glamorgan Calgary). The award is an Ed-son tradition passed on each year to a black belt that demonstrates a true warrior spirit in kata and kumite.

Acknowledgements The Edson club would like to thank the following parents for their hard work at the registration, refreshment, and merchandise tables: Sonja Boyce, An-drea Donkin, Debra Halterman, Gale Conarroe, Jodi MacNeill, Marie Holo-painen, Nichole Krebs, Mrs. Wudrick, Mrs. Seguin, and Mrs. Harrison. Edson Paramedics and Parkland Composite High School also provided support.

We would also like to thank our gener-

ous tournament sponsors: ConocoPhil-

lips, Cardium Vac Services Ltd, Wal-

mart, KOS Oilfield Transportation,

Brian Janish Enterprises, Volvo Rents,

and Timberjack Building Supplies Ltd.

THE HARMONIZER IS PUBLISHED UNDER THE MANDATE OF THE SENATE OF THE SHINTANI WADO-KAI KARATE FEDERATION (SWKKF). THE SWKKF DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR STATEMENTS OF FACT OR OPINION MADE BY ANY CONTRIBUTOR. STATEMENTS MADE BY INDIVIDUALS MAY NOT REFLECT THE OFFICIAL POSITION OF THE SWKKF. ACCEPTANCE AND PUBLICA-TION OF ARTICLES, ADVERTISEMENTS, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES DOES NOT INDICATE ENDORSEMENT OF SAME BY THE SWKKF AND THE SWKKF ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FO R THE ACCURACY.

A happy Iyer Koen and his Dad following Alberta Provincial Champion-ship

Nothing says I love you like a wooden fist to the head: Sensei Kevin Bowes receives ―Old Warrior‖ award from Sensei Sam Fitzel

Volume 14, Issue 1 January, 2009

Documents