After a 3 year hiatus, the European Seiwakai Goju Ryu Karate Seminar returned with many members from across Europe and England making the trip down to East London. Led by chief instructor and president of Seiwakai International; Seiichi Fujiwara, 8th Dan Hanshi. He was accompanied and assisted by Europe’s top shihankai; Paul Coleman, 8th Dan Renshi; Rastislav Mraz, 8th Dan Renshi and Abel Figueiredo, 7th Dan Renshi.
Thirteen hours of high level tuition that covered kihon, kata and kumite, with focus on stability and finding the balance between ‘go’ and ‘ju’ and applying that in all aspects of training, as well as away from the dojo. The seminar was understood with far more depth and meaning, with huge thanks to the excellent Japanese translations provided by mother and son, Chiho and Sean Sharp. We were also thrilled to see many members below black belt level willing to join such an advanced group with our higher ranked group of women and girls leading the way for the next generation.
Many of our students were given the opportunity to test (shinsa) for their Seiwakai and Japan Karate Federation (JKF) Goju Kai dan grades. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the following students on their testing successes and milestone achievements!
Senior Rank Students:
Emmie Brown passed both Seiwakai Goju Ryu 4th Dan and JKF Goju Kai 4th Dan
Matthew David passed both Seiwakai Goju Ryu 2nd Dan and JKF Goju Kai 2nd Dan
Dominik John passed Seiwakai Goju Ryu 2nd Dan
Larry Achiampong Seiwakai Goju Ryu 1st Dan
Ridhwan Karim Seiwakai Goju Ryu 1st Dan
Tanvir Karim Seiwakai Goju Ryu 1st Dan
Junior Rank Students:
Yazeed Md-Kaleel Seiwakai Goju Ryu 1st Dan
Tymon Pecak Seiwakai Goju Ryu 1st Dan
Callum Jackson Seiwakai Goju Ryu 1st Dan
Karissa Ho Seiwakai Goju Ryu 1st Dan
Sara Zaher Seiwakai Goju Ryu 1st Dan
Also, the club’s principal instructors Marie Tanabalan Sensei and Indy Tanabalan Sensei also attempted their next dan grade and it was a resounding success for them both too.
Congratulations to Marie Sensei for passing her Seiwakai Goju Karate 5th Dan, and Indy Sensei passing his Japan Karate Federation (JKF) Goju Kai, 5th Dan!
Finally, thank you to our junior and novice students who attended this very enriching karate experience, who trained alongside students from Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. They are paving the way as the next generations from the club. The next European Seiwakai seminar with Fujiwara Hanshi will be in Portugal 19-21st May 2023.