On Friday, August 14, Chicago Aikido Club hosted a goodwill exchange practice with Ravenswood Shorin-ryu Karate Dojo. CAC practices at Tohkon Judo Academy, located in the Japanese American Service Committee building, two blocks from our practice space at Ravenswood Fellowship UMC.
Much was learned and friendship was fostered. Thanks for having us, and we look forward to the next time!
Post-exchange back room dealing with Chicago Aikido Club.
Condolences to family and students on the recent passing of legendary karateman Sugiyama Shojiro sensei (1929-2015). In 1963, at the invitation of Mr. Walter Nakamoto and the Chicago Karate Club, Sugiyama sensei was dispatched from JKA headquarters in Tokyo to spread the Shotokan-ryu of Japanese karate throughout the Midwestern United States.
After a couple of moves, in the 1970s his dojo permanently settled at Belmont and Clark above Toguri Mercantile, in a neighborhood well-populated by Japanese Americans. Although he retired in 2000, the dojo remained until Toguri’s closing (after 65-years and 3-generations) and subsequent sale of the building in 2013, at which point JKA Chicago moved two blocks west on Belmont to the Japanese Culture Center, where it remains today under the direction of his senior students.
The majority of Shotokan (as well as knowledge of karate in general) in the Great Lakes Region today can be traced back to Sugiyama sensei’s efforts. His innovative training methods have been preserved by his students and through his numerous publications. And many still remember his entertaining demonstrations at the annual Ginza Festival at Chicago’s Midwest Buddhist Temple, one of the city’s longest running celebrations of Japanese and Japanese American culture.
A view from the Japanese Memorial Garden on the grounds of our dojo’s host, Ravenswood Fellowship UMC. RFUMC was founded in part by Japanese Americans relocated to Chicago from incarceration camps during and after WWII as a result of Executive Order 9066, and the beautiful Memorial Garden is a legacy to their perseverance. Tucked off the street between the church and the parsonage behind a rustic wooden gate, it is one of the hidden gems of Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood.
Ravenswood Dojo member Andrew (4th from left) recently traveled to Los Angeles and took the initiative to spend an evening training with Ishii sensei’s Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu Dojo of Little Tokyo. We are grateful for the relationship we maintain with our “home” dojo, and recommend all our members to visit should they find themselves in the neighborhood. Another special guest that evening was Jerry Bell sensei (far right), an accomplished Shotokan karateka and practitioner of Sanuces-ryu Jiu Jitsu. He and Ishii sensei have known each other for decades, and Mr. Bell occasionally drops in to cross-train with the dojo as well as share insights from his many years of experience. Many thanks to Little Tokyo Dojo for making Andrew feel at home!
Many thanks to those who worked so hard in preparation for our recent evaluations, and congrats to everyone who leveled up a notch this evening. It is an honor to train with all of you.
On April 18, 2015, the Sansei Yonsei Athletic Association, a youth basketball organization that plays at Ravenswood Fellowship United Methodist Church (where we also practice), held a Hawaiian breakfast fundraiser to raise money for a new gym floor and hoops. Our entire dojo came out to support. Thanks everyone!
There was a great community turnout between the hours of 9am-1pm.
Spam and Portuguese sausage grillin’ . . . the Portuguese sausage was flown in from Waipahu, Hawaii!
RFUMC kitchen. The nerve center.
The goods . . . Portuguese sausage, scrambled eggs, Spam, rice, and a cup of sliced takuan (pickled daikon radish).
Ravenswood Dojo member & family support!
More member & fam support!
We also ran into Dwight Sora, manager of Chicago Aikido Club, with his family. Dwight’s father came to Chicago from Hawaii, so he was glad to get a taste of “home!”
The peer coaches of the Sansei Yonsei Athletic Association Basketball Clinic. Third from right, peeking through, is SYAA organizer Ty Momii. Sweeping up in the background is octogenarian and RFUMC member Al Fujii, also an Army veteran and Chicago Nisei Post 1183 Historian.
Are you familiar with Chicago’s J-Town that was never formally designated J-Town? Before becoming one of the hottest real estate markets and young professional entertainment destinations in the city, the Wrigley Field neighborhood housed a diverse working class community with an unignorable Japanese American presence.
Looking south along the 3200 block of North Clark Street, from Aldine Avenue, September 2014.
Discover Nikkei investigates this lost community, which was once home to our host Ravenswood Fellowship UMC. Check it out!
Part 1:
http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2014/12/23/lakeview-1/
Part 2:
http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2014/12/24/lakeview-2/
Best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season!
Ravenswood Shorin-ryu Karate Dojo. 12/15/14.
Congratulations to K-man on his promotion to yellow belt! K-man has been with the dojo since its inception in 2012, took a short absence and has recently returned to participate alongside a couple other youth who have recently joined. At eleven years old he has shown great maturity and leadership as well as the indomitable spirit worthy of this next step.
The boys execute a triangular rotating step-sparring drill.
Joe Takehara sensei and Chicago Aikido Club at Ravenswood Shorin-ryu Karate Dojo.
On October 6th, we were honored to host Joe Takehara sensei, a charter member of the old Illinois Aikido Club. IAC, founded in 1961 by a small group of Nisei professionals in Chicago Police Detective Tony Muranaka’s basement, was the first aikido dojo in the Midwestern United States. Initially learning from a book by Koichi Tohei, then Chief Instructor of Aikido World Headquarters in Tokyo, the club would go on to host such luminary in-house instructors as Chester Sasaki, Francis Takahashi, Motokage Kawamukai, Isao Takahashi, Yoshihiko Hirata, Akira Tohei, and Shigeru Suzuki.
Takehara sensei demonstrates aiki principles with Ravenswood Dojo member Ryan Yokota.
As a special treat, the Chicago Aikido Club – where Takehara sensei occasionally instructs today – cancelled their scheduled Monday class to attend our dojo in support of this goodwill exchange. We shared a couple warm-ups and basics of karate, then handed the floor over to Takehara, who introduced some advanced concepts of applying technique through kimochi (feeling), relaxation, and proper breathing. A former boxer and gymnast, Takehara took up the practice of aikido shortly after starting a dental practice located across the street from Muranaka’s home. Like his contemporaries, he was not so much interested in the physical aspects of the art as the mental and spiritual side that would help him center and settle his energies for enhanced focus in his career and family life.
Special guest Jason Matsumoto, of Chicago-based Ho Etsu Taiko – “a collective of musicians with a fresh take on the art of Japanese drumming” – also happened to stop by the dojo for some training. Here he works with Chicago Aikido Club manager Dwight Sora.
At 83-years of age and plenty genki to join us for a post-practice hamburger and beer, Joe Takehara is an exemplar of traditional budo. The fact that his vehicle for expression is aikido and our chosen vessel is karatedo makes no difference. We are grateful for this rich experience and look forward to future such exchanges.
Post-practice pub grub at O’Shaughnessy’s Public House, around the corner. Most importantly, we all had fun.
For further information about Joe Takehara, read his story on Nikkei Chicago:
http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2014/04/17/joe-takehara-chicago-aikido/
For information regarding the Chicago Aikido Club, visit their website:
http://www.chicagoaikidoclub.com/
Shobu Karatedo / 松武空手道 