In July, I photographed kata champion, and Goju-ryu master, Norihiko Masuda. We started the shoot at 7AM in Onoyama Park in Naha City. There were very few other people around, but we did have one extra person joining us. Uezato-san from the Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper came along to take some behind the scenes pics of our shoot, and interview both us and Masuda Sensei about the Karate Masters Portrait Project.
Norihiko Masuda
Okinawa Goju-ryu Karatedo Kyokai
Kyoshi 7th dan
JKF Goju kai Technical committee member. Photographed July 25th 2021 for Karate Masters Portrait Project in Onoyama Park, Naha City, Okinawa.
After taking some environmental portraits near the Onoyama Park shrine, and the torii gate, we took a few extra shots at the entrance to the Budokan (martial arts hall) where Masuda has won many competitions.
Norihiko Masuda
Okinawa Goju-ryu Karatedo Kyokai
Kyoshi 7th dan
JKF Goju kai Technical committee member. Photographed July 25th 2021 for Karate Masters Portrait Project at the Budokan, Naha City, Okinawa.
This was the first shoot I’d done with the new Sony A7RIV camera, and I used the 24mm f1.4 lens and the 50mm f1.2 lens. (Thank you to Uetsuki-san at Kitamura Camera Chatan branch for helping me trade in several of my Pentax lenses for the new Sony 50mm.) Off camera flash was done with the Profoto B1 strobe.
Sorting through gear and switching lenses as Uezato-san interviews Masuda Sensei.
It was good to hear Masuda Sensei telling Uezato-san how valuable he believes our portrait project and video series are. Masuda Sensei is going to assist in introducing us to some of the Goju-ryu masters we have not yet had the opportunity to photograph.
Norihiko Masuda
Okinawa Goju-ryu Karatedo Kyokai
Kyoshi 7th dan
JKF Goju kai Technical committee member. Photographed July 25th 2021 for Karate Masters Portrait Project in Naha City, Okinawa.
After the outdoors shoot we went over the Aragaki Dojo in Omoromachi to take the studio portraits of Masuda Sensei. Shot with the A7RIV and the 50mm lens.
Norihiko Masuda
Okinawa Goju-ryu Karatedo Kyokai
Kyoshi 7th dan
JKF Goju kai Technical committee member. Photographed July 25th 2021 for Karate Masters Portrait Project in Naha City, Okinawa.Norihiko Masuda
Okinawa Goju-ryu Karatedo Kyokai
Kyoshi 7th dan
JKF Goju kai Technical committee member. Photographed July 25th 2021 for Karate Masters Portrait Project in Naha City, Okinawa.
One big advantage of using the Sony system is that I was able to quickly switch from shooting stills to recording some video footage of Masuda Sensei with the same camera.
A huge thank you to Masuda Sensei. The article for the Ryukyu Shimpo website / newspaper will hopefully appear sometime in August.
Students of Seikichi Iha 10th-dan Okinawa Shorin-ryu Karate, Beikoku Shidokan Karatedo Association gather at Shuri Castle, Naha City Okinawa 26/8/2019 (just months before it was destroyed by fire.)
Drew
Bernadette
Soma Nomaoi a traditional Japanese samurai horseman festival held in Minami Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The area is still recovering from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Fukagawa Fetival aka water throwing festival held at Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine, Tokyo, Japan on Sunday Aug 17, 2014. Water thrown at mikoshi (portable shirines) carried through streets in one of the great Shinto festivals of Tokyo.
Brylee
Virtual Reality
Fairy Tales
Toshihiro Oshiro, 9th dan Shima-Ha Shorin-Ryu karate, 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu kobujutsu. Photographed on Chura Sun Beach near his dojo in Itoman, Okinawa.
Nissan GTR
Richard Napier (48) American living in Fukuoka, Japan spent 4 years and US$34,000 to build a working R2-D2 called R2-J1.
Fusei Kise 10th dan Matsumura Orthodox Shorin-Ryu Karate and Kobudo 83 years old. Photographed at his dojo in Okinawa City on April 13th 2019. Standing in the crane stance that would become iconic in Karate Kid.
PENTAX 645Z IMAGES
For many years I shot exclusively with the Pentax 67ii medium format film camera system. When the Pentax 645D digital medium format camera arrived I switched to shooting digital, and I’ve shot stills with the 645D and 645Z until now. The 645Z remains one of the best cameras for portrait photography.
Yuki walking across Millennium Bridge away from St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, England.
Bise, Motobu
PENTAX K1 images
A few years ago I also began shooting video. I started with the Sony A7Sii and then as things progressed with the Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate series I purchased a used Sony FS5 cinema camera. As the documentary series has continued I’ve had to purchase more Sony lenses, and in the near future will need to update both the Sony bodies to the latest models.
数年前、私はビデオ撮影も始めました。最初はソニーのA7Siiを使っていましたが、「SENSEI: MASTERS OF OKINAWAN KARATE」シリーズの制作が進むにつれ、中古のソニーFS5シネマカメラを購入しました。 ドキュメンタリーシリーズを続けていくうちに、ソニーのレンズをさらに購入しなければならなくなり、近い将来、ソニーのボディを両方とも最新モデルに更新する必要があります。
Having two completely separate systems for photography and video has created its own set of challenges in terms of storage, cost, and ultimately how much gear I can physically carry when going on a shoot.
Maybe in my 20’s I could carry a full rucksack, plus pelican cases, tripods, and lights, but I’m definitely going to struggle now.
I have to choose a system that will cover both professional videography and professional photography, and the best option for me moving forward will be to switch my digital stills cameras over to Sony.
The result is that I’m going to be selling all my Pentax digital gear ( I will still be keeping my Pentax 67ii and the K1000) and reinvesting the money in a high resolution Sony cameras for stills (A7RIV) and a couple of Sony lenses.
If you’re interested in purchasing either the Pentax 645Z system or the Pentax K1 system please get in touch. Ideally the buyer would be in Okinawa, Japan would be okay, and I’d ship overseas in certain circumstances.
Pentax 645Z with 90mm, 55mm, 35mm, 300mm, 135LSmm ¥700,000
Pentax K1 ¥100,000 Pentax 24-70 2.8 ¥100,000
Pentax K3 ¥40,000 Pentax 35mm f2 ¥20,000
I’ve been really happy shooting with the Pentax digital system for the last decade, and for photographers the 645Z and K1 are fantastic. It has been an honor to have had my photograph exhibited numerous times at the Pentax Imaging Forum in Shinjuku. I’ll continue to be a Pentaxian with my Pentax 67 film camera, but hopefully when I’m out shooting both digital stills and video, my camera bags will be a much lighter using just one system.
Episode #11 of the Sensei: Masters of Okinawa Karate Series has just been uploaded to YouTube and will be also available on Bujin.tv in the near future.
Toshihiro Oshiro is 9th-dan in Shima-Ha Shorin Ryu karate, and 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu Kobujutsu. He learned karate and kobudo in Okinawa, then for several decades taught in the USA. In 2018 he returned to Okinawa. In this interview he talks about his life of martial arts, and his analytical interest of body movement. A huge thank you to Oshiro Sensei and his students, both in Okinawa and overseas, especially Kenji Hirai for setting up the interviews and translating.
Toshihiro Oshiro, 9th dan Shima-Ha Shorin-Ryu karate, 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu kobujutsu. Photographed for the Karate Masters Portrait Project on 21st November 2020 at his dojo in Itoman, Okinawa.
A huge thank you to all those who have sponsored and supported this series. Without so much help from the international karate community, we would have struggled to film the interviews, and we definitely wouldn’t have been able to archive the bulk of the raw data. A few months ago one of the 24TB (yes TB not GB) drives failed and luckily I’d been able to purchase enough backup drives to have some redundancy in the system, and no karate data was lost.
Toshihiro Oshiro, 9th dan Shima-Ha Shorin-Ryu karate, 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu kobujutsu with his student Kenji Hirai. Photographed for the Karate Masters Portrait Project on 21st November 2020 at his dojo in Itoman, Okinawa.
Making the series has taught me so much about filmmaking, but also about the realities of film production, and distribution.
Toshihiro Oshiro, 9th dan Shima-Ha Shorin-Ryu karate, 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu kobujutsu. Photographed on Chura Sun Beach near his dojo in Itoman, Okinawa.
Episode #12 is going to be with Zenshu Toyama 10th-dan, Goju-ryu Karate 當山 全秋 範士十段 剛柔流空手. We are also working on a special reunion episode between Seikichi Iha Sensei and Koichi Nakasone Sensei, and an interview with iaido master Hamamoto Sensei. So if you haven’t done already, please subscribe to the YouTube channel, and don’t forget to like the videos, comment, and share them.
Sean Connery drove the Toyota 2000GT in the 1967 Bond movie “You Only Live Twice.” In Japan, a 13-year-old boy called Michio saw the iconic Toyota on the cinema screen, and it became his dream car. The 2000GT was Japan’s first supercar, extremely expensive and very rare. This mini documentary is the story of how Michio spent the next 40 years striving to achieve his goal.
We filmed the interview and driving sequences in winter 2019 and spring 2020 just before COVID-19, and I spent lockdown editing when possible. Murata-san, his wife (a jazz singer whose tracks are used in the documentary), and his 2000GT are doing well. He’s even started restoration on an early VW Beetle convertible.
I’ve had the pleasure of photographing Murata-san’s various restored cars over the last decade. And although I haven’t driven any, there are a few pictures I’ve shot that make Yuki and I look like we’ve upgraded our vehicles recently!
Yuki as part of Okinawa Five-0Chris in “Fast and the mildly amused”
I hope others enjoy watching this documentary as much as we enjoyed making it. Murata-san has introduced us to the local Okinawa car community, so there may be another video later in the year, it may even include an orange and black Nissan with the numbers 432 on its side.
The sequel?
Daniel Craig has stated that the Toyota 2000GT is his favorite Bond car of all time. As for me, I actually own my favorite Bond car, it even has a working ejector seat!
Corgi Toys (261) Die-cast Model of James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger with ejector seat produced in 1965
Our team have worked with the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology for several years. We’ve photographed and videoed several events including graduations and TEDx events.
Recently we were one of the teams asked by OIST to produce some new commercial photography. The photographs will be used in a variety of media, and as they appear in public, we’ll be able to share them. This week a new banner promoting research appeared with two of the four images created by our team. I shot the first pic and underwater specialist Shawn Miller shot the third pic.
A couple of weeks ago I spent the day exploring the northern part of Okinawa known as Yanbaru. Here are a few snaps from a fun day out.
I joined a guided walk that meets up at the Yanbaru Visitors Center and “Road Station” that opened in February 2020. There’s a mini supermarket packed with local produce if you need to stock up with snacks before your hike, or to buy ingredients for dinner after your adventure.
A guided walk teaches you far more about the local flora and fauna than if you just treated the hike as a way to burn off calories.
The guide was able to spot numerous critters, and explain the names and special features of the many plants along the trail.
An interesting land snail possibly Yakuena species? Okinawa kiserugaiThe tree palm produces these unusual patterns each time one of the giant palm leaves falls from the stem. Learn more by using a local guide. My forest guide was Yuya Ishii.Looking out toward Okuma.
There was a good viewpoint from the summit on the trail looking out towards the Okuma Peninsular, and then we descended back down through the forest.
We stopped for lunch at Maruhira restaurant while heading north on the west coast. If you contact the restaurant in advance they can prepare a vegan lunch menu which is delicious and cheap. (Call Taira-san on 070 5536 2802)
In the afternoon we took another short hike around Daisekirinzan the rocky trails in the national park just south of Cape Hedo.
My Yanbaru guide for the day Kemmochi-san
At Cape Hedo there is a fantastic new visitors center with an ocean-view cafe on the second floor. The cafe was closed on the day I went, presumably due to COVID-19 precautions at the moment, but looking forward to getting a coffee there on my next trip up north.
On December 19th, 2020, James and I visited the dojo of Zenshu Toyama, in Awase, Okinawa. Toyama Sensei is 10th-dan, Goju-ryu Karate, and one of the style’s most senior practitioners. We photographed Toyama Sensei in October 2013, but on this day we returned to interview him for Episode 12 of the Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate documentary series. As it had been 7 years since our previous visit, we also shot some new portraits.
Zenshu Toyama, 10th-dan, Goju-ryu Karate
當山 全秋 範士十段 剛柔流空手 Photographed December 19th, 2020 at his dojo in Awase, Okinawa.Zenshu Toyama, 10th-dan, Goju-ryu Karate
當山 全秋 範士十段 剛柔流空手 Photographed December 19th, 2020 at his dojo in Awase, Okinawa training with his daughter Hideko Toyama 7th danZenshu Toyama, 10th-dan, Goju-ryu Karate
當山 全秋 範士十段 剛柔流空手 Photographed December 19th, 2020 at his dojo in Awase, Okinawa training with his student Scot Mertz 7th-dan.Zenshu Toyama, 10th-dan, Goju-ryu Karate
當山 全秋 範士十段 剛柔流空手 Photographed December 19th, 2020 at his dojo in Awase, Okinawa.Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate Episode 12 filming Zenshu Toyama, 10th-dan, Goju-ryu Karate 當山 全秋 範士十段 剛柔流空手 at his dojo in Awase, Okinawa. (Photo by Scot Mertz.)
Our goal is that Episode 11 with Oshiro Sensei will be released in February 2020 and then Episode 12 with Toyama Sensei will be released in March or April 2020.
Thank you to Toyama Sensei, his daughter Hideko Toyama, Scot Mertz and Andy Sloane for their assistance on the day of the shoot.
Last Saturday, I photographed Toshihiro Oshiro, 9th dan Shima-Ha Shorin-Ryu karate, 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu kobujutsu, for the Karate Masters Portrait Project. We shot the studio style portraits at his dojo in Itoman, and then yesterday photographed him again on his local beach. We also interviewed Oshiro Sensei for the Sensei: Masters of Okinawa Karate series, and the episode will be available on YouTube and Bujin.tv early next year.
Toshihiro Oshiro, 9th dan Shima-Ha Shorin-Ryu karate, 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu kobujutsu. Photographed for the Karate Masters Portrait Project on 21st November 2020 at his dojo in Itoman, Okinawa.Toshihiro Oshiro, 9th dan Shima-Ha Shorin-Ryu karate, 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu kobujutsu. Photographed for the Karate Masters Portrait Project on 21st November 2020 at his dojo in Itoman, Okinawa.Toshihiro Oshiro, 9th dan Shima-Ha Shorin-Ryu karate, 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu kobujutsu. Photographed for the Karate Masters Portrait Project on 21st November 2020 at his dojo in Itoman, Okinawa.Toshihiro Oshiro, 9th dan Shima-Ha Shorin-Ryu karate, 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu kobujutsu training with his student Kenshi Hirai. Photographed for the Karate Masters Portrait Project on 21st November 2020 at his dojo in Itoman, Okinawa.Toshihiro Oshiro, 9th dan Shima-Ha Shorin-Ryu karate, 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu kobujutsu. Photographed for the Karate Masters Portrait Project on 21st November 2020 at his dojo in Itoman, Okinawa.Toshihiro Oshiro, 9th dan Shima-Ha Shorin-Ryu karate, 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu kobujutsu. Photographed on Chura Sun Beach near his dojo in Itoman, Okinawa.Toshihiro Oshiro, 9th dan Shima-Ha Shorin-Ryu karate, 8th dan Yamanni Chinen Ryu kobujutsu. Photographed on Chura Sun Beach near his dojo in Itoman, Okinawa.
It was a real pleasure to hang out with Oshiro Sensei and his students. I got to learn some more fascinating aspects of Okinawan culture (use a light grip on the weapon), and the stormy weather conditions worked in our favor for photographs.
Episode 10 in the series Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate is now online on YouTube and on Bujin.tv
Jasmine and Gaja Sensei at the Dojo Bar, Okinawa.
Thank you to all those who helped film, edit, transcribe, translate, and check this episode. Thank you also to the sponsors and supporters of the series. If you’d like to learn more about the series, please click here.
Main Sponsors
Fusei Kise, Isao Kise and the OSMKKF-USA
Jerry Figgiani – Shorin Ryu Karate Do International
Anderson’s Crocodile Newt by Shawn Miller of Okinawa Nature Photography in the November 2020 issue of National Geographic.
This post is to highlight the amazing work that photographer Shawn Miller is doing to document endangered Okinawan wildlife. Shawn has lived most of his life in Okinawa, and has dedicated himself to capturing its beauty and protecting its creatures.
It is a fantastic for Shawn to be able to get one of his images of Okinawan wildlife into this month’s National Geographic. The fact that the image is also selected by Canon to showcase what you can achieve with their equipment, is a great testament to Shawn’s skill.
For most, this would be a lifetime achievement, but this isn’t a first for Shawn. His photographs of Okinawan wildlife were used in May 2016, October 2017, and August 2019. When you consider that Canon could pick any photo, of any species, by any photographer in the world, the fact that four shots in less than five years were taken by Shawn is a massive achievement.
Photography by Shawn Miller in National Geographic May 2016Photography by Shawn Miller in National Geographic October 2017Photography by Shawn Miller in National Geographic August 2019
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 