All posts filed under: Okinawa

Kadena Gift Corner Print Sale

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On Saturday 30th November I will be holding a special print sale at the Kadena Gift Corner. I’ll be selling a wide range of photographs from Okinawa and mainland Japan, all printed on archival cotton rag paper with archival pigment inks. Prints range in size from A4 (8″x11″) to A2 (16″x23″) and in price from $60 to $240. I’ll be at the Kadena Gift Corner from 10AM to 3PM only on the 30th November 2019, but a smaller selection of prints are available to purchase from the Kadena Gift Shop when I am not there. Stop by for a chat, and maybe grab something for your wall!

Sensei Kenyu Chinen at the Yomitan Dojo

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Last Monday I had the opportunity to take some pics of Chinen Sensei in his organization’s Yomitan Dojo which is located inside Murasaki Mura. A beautiful location to get a few new portraits of an Okinawan master. Images shot with the Pentax 645Z and the 55mm lens. A Profoto B1 strobe with a OCF softbox was used for off camera flash to balance the interior of the dojo with the outdoors. Video shot with the Sony FS5, Atomos Shogun and Rokinon cine lenses.

Shuri Castle Destroyed by Fire

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 At approximately 2:30 a.m. on Thursday 31st October 2019 a fire started inside Okinawa’s Shuri Castle which destroyed the main hall and several adjoining buildings. Now, one week later, the Governor of Okinawa and the Prime Minister of Japan have both promised that it shall be rebuilt. The challenges of doing so, and the timeline are not yet clear, but I look forward to it rising once again from the ashes of destruction. Below are a few pics of Shuri Castle taken over the last 19 years. Most were taken at the New Year Festival or the Shuri Castle Festival which they were preparing for when the fire broke out.

Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate #6 Kenyu Chinen

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In this sixth episode in the series, karate and kobudo master Kenyu Chinen talks about his life in Okinawa and France, his own sensei, and his philosophy on martial arts. We are also invited into one of his seminars, and even his Okinawan home to see how he teaches and trains.  Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate is a crowd-funded YouTube documentary series about the legendary martial arts teachers of Okinawa, Japan. A huge thanks to Chinen Sensei and his students, plus all the volunteers, sponsors and supporters of the series. Couldn’t have done this without you.

Kiichi Nakamoto 10th-dan Goju-ryu Karate / 10th-dan Ryukyu Dento Kobujutsu

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Born in 1927 Kiichi Nakamoto 10th-dan Goju-ryu Karate / 10th-dan Ryukyu Dento Kobujutsu is one of the elder statesmen even among the karate masters. At a young age Nakamoto Sensei studied karate under Chojun Miyagi Sensei then later under Eiichi Miyazato Sensei. Nakamoto Sensei studied kobudo under Shosei Kina Sensei, then Shinei Kyan Sensei. He now hold the rank of 10th-dan. Hopefully in the future I will be able to interview Nakamoto Sensei and receive more information about his life in martial arts.

Can you help?

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It is clear from the numbers of views and viral sharing that thousands of people (maybe hundreds of thousands ) around the world really value the images and interviews from the Karate Masters Portrait Project and the Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate Video Series. The video series in particular takes up a massive amount of time, gear, and data storage. Shooting long interviews in 4K, Pro Res & Pro Res Raw, and multiple cameras uses a lot of data. After publishing the data to YouTube I could go back and delete the original files, but in a couple of years or a couple of decades, maybe the karate community will want to see the entire unedited footage, or want to a different edit or grade of the footage. So I need to get more hard drives like the one below now my current 24TB drive and 20TB back up are full. At the same time I keep wanting to improve the production values with more professional gear to improve audio, lighting or camera movements. Here’s …

Meitatsu Yagi 10th-dan Goju-ryu Karate

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I’d been hoping to photograph Meitatsu Yagi for the project for several years. In March 2014 I took portraits of his younger brother Meitetsu Yagi, and his nephew Ippei Yagi, but hadn’t been able to coordinate a time with Meitatsu Yagi. Luckily at the Tookachi seminars for Iha sensei’s students I had the opportunity to photograph Yagi sensei and some of the other masters of Okinawa karate. Amazingly Meitatsu Yagi was one of the first karate masters I ever photographed. I shot him with my Pentax 67 film camera in around 2004. I was visiting Murasaki Mura and asked the man in the white uniform with a black belt if I could take his photo. At that time I didn’t know his name, or that 15 years later, I’d still be on Okinawa, and spending most of my time photographing and interviewing karate masters.

Tookachi – Celebrating 88 years

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Thought I’d post a few pics from the Tookachi 88th birthday celebration for Seikichi Iha. These are actually low res video stills but they’re enough to give an idea of what happens. Traditional Ryukyu dancers wearing hanagasa hats open proceedings. Iha Sensei pouring sake for honored guests and greeting those who come to give their best wishes. (His son sits to his left, his daughter to his right.)  Masahiko Tokashiki sensei chatting with Iha Sensei. Miguel da Luz catching up with Iha sensei. So many members of the Beikoku Shido-kan Karate-do Association in attendance, along with numerous Okinawan karate masters. Thank you for having me to your party! Congratulations Iha Sensei.

Sensei Arcenio J. Advincula

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On August 20th 2019, I had the pleasure to meet, photograph and interview Sensei Arcenio J. Advincula a master of Isshinryu karate. He was a fascinating person to interview because of his role in bringing this style of Okinawa karate to North America, and also developing martial arts in the United States Marine Corps. It will be a few weeks until the interview is posted to You Tube, but here are a selection of portraits documenting another thread in the fabric of Okinawan karate. Thank you to Advincula sensei and his students for traveling up to Motobu. It was a pleasure to have you in my studio.

Gamelan Dancers

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Early Sunday morning I had the opportunity to photograph the musicians and dancers of a Gamelan Indonesian dance group. I shot portraits using natural light and a wide aperture against green vegetation. I also used the felt black background and a single strobe setup from the karate masters series to create a second set of images. Here’s a quick behind the scenes shot showing the black Lastolite background leaning against our car, and a Profoto B1 strobe with OCF beauty dish on the stand. Portraits were shot using the Pentax 645Z with the 90mm and 55m lenses. A huge thank you to the Gamelan dancers and musicians, and to Michael Lyon for setting up the shoot. Looking forward to seeing your performances in the future.