All posts tagged: okinawa

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.

Seikichi Iha 10th-dan Okinawa Shorin-ryu Karate

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Seikichi Iha and hundreds of his Beikoku Shidokan Karatedo Association students from across the world came to Okinawa to celebrate his “Tokachi” 88th birthday celebrations. I was lucky to get to spend some time with the group as they visited Shuri Castle, an evening banquet, training at the Karate Kaikan, and an interview and training at the dojo of the late Miyahira sensei. The interview and footage from his trip will form episode seven of the Sensei: Masters of Okinawa Series. A huge thank you to the members of the Beikoku Shidokan Karatedo Association for inviting me into your celebrations, and also for becoming one of the main sponsors of the Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate series.

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.

Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate #5 Kiyomasa Maeda

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Things have been so hectic the last month I forgot to post about the release of Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate #5 with Kiyomasa Maeda. A fascinating interview which shows the real love and respect these masters have for their own teachers, and the humility with which they approach their art.

Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate #4 Takeshi Tamaki

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The fourth episode in the crowd-funded YouTube documentary series Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate is now online! Please share, like, comment, and subscribe as these factors all influence the YouTube algorithm to get it shown to more people. This is a real team effort. Thank you to those who helped make the episode including Gary Hughes, James East, and Yuki Willson. A huge thank you to Jerry Figgiani and Sadahiro Makino for setting up the interview, and of course to Takeshi Tamaki agreeing to be interviewed and sharing his thoughts. I made the decision that I didn’t want this video series monetized by YouTube advertising so a huge thank you to the people and organizations who have donated to help keep this project going. Tomorrow I’ll start work on the edits for the next video which will hopefully be ready at the end of June. Main Sponsors  Fusei Kise, Isao Kise and the OSMKKF-USA   Jerry Figgiani – Shorin Ryu Karate Do International Series Sponsors   Cezar Borkowski – Northern Karate Schools Marguerite “Peggy” Hess …

Success and Sponsorship

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Now that the first three episodes of Sensei: Masters of Okinawan Karate have been published to YouTube I can happily say that the feedback I’m getting has been really positive, and its popularity on YouTube is growing with each video! The first video had 5000 views in its first month, the second video had 62,000 views in its first month, and the third video has had 86,000 views in its first two weeks! I’m in the final stages of the edit of the fourth video with Sensei Takeshi Tamaki, and hope it will be released on May 22nd. This endeavour is possible because of sponsorship and support by the international karate community. If you see the value of undertaking this project, please consider become a main series sponsor, series sponsor, or supporter. More details here. Sponsors and supporters are listed in all subsequent episodes of the series. If you’d like to help, and get in touch before May 21st, I can add you to the credits for Episode 4 before the final file creation and …

Fusei Kise 10th Dan Matsumura Orthodox Shorin-Ryu Karate & Kobudo

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Yesterday we visited the dojo of Fusei Kise and his son Isao Kise in Okinawa City. 10th dan in Matsumura Orthodox Shorin-Ryu Karate, Fusei Kise studied under  Hohan Soken. Located in Okinawa City not far from the Goya Intersection, Fusei Kise has taught several generations of American service members who have taken their knowledge back to the States. Fusei Kise will be 84 years old next month, so although he still trains the majority of teaching is done by his son Isao Kise who has also reached the rank of 10th dan in Matsumura Orthodox Shorin-Ryu Karate and Kobudo.