22 Oct Name Plate’s at Kumamoto Budokan
In October 2025 Kyoshi took his most senior students to Kumamoto to train with our head of style Hanshi Sakamoto. The training is always hard work, both physically and mentally, but we are grateful to Kyoshi for facilitating the learning opportunity for us, and enabling us to add to the river of Ryusei Chitokai knowledge.
After one training session at the Kumamoto Budokan, Sakamoto Sensei showed us the Shinto shrine inside the Budokan, as well as the wooden name plates inside. We asked why there are some name plate’s on the wall and some stacked up inside the shrine. Sensei explained that each name plate on the wall is a current student, grouped by style and rank, and that if a student remains training until they pass away then their name plate is placed into the shrine. We asked what happens to students who quit the style before they pass away, and he said that they are taken down from the wall and painted over so that a new student may write their name over top.
This was a quiet moment of reflection for the team, thinking on our beloved friend Shihan Ash who was lost at sea and was still a current student and senior leader in our style. It is a shame he never had a name plate that we could place into the shrine, however he lives on in our memory and in the way we train, the discussions we have about technique and application, and the responsibility to continue training.
Shihan Ash encouraged us to engage with our training in a hard working yet playful manner, that this mind set would enable us to better understand the application behind techniques. In the week before out week in Kumamoto, part of the team trained with Ishiki Sensei in Okinawa and competed in the prefectural Kobudo tournament, many medalling. Training with Ishiki Sensei is very playful in its nature, as Ishiki Sensei believes in carrying on Okinawan cultural traditions through Martial Arts as well as dance. He will often put on songs and perform kata as a dance with a choreographed run on and run off, and we will often join in for fun. Kyoshi was also taken by surprise after training one day when Ishiki Sensei asked him to perform his favourite kata for the class. After doing so, Ishiki Sensei and Sensei Arthur Moulas patted Kyoshi on the back and let him know that they think it is time he attained his 7th degree black belt in Kobudo. Kyoshi was both honoured and completely surprised, that was his surprise 7th degree black belt grading!
Sensei Kelie, not being a Kobudo student but a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, sought out a BJJ gym nearby. Shinya Sensei at Carpe Diem in Naha invited Sensei Kelie to help out on some kids classes, as well as teach an adults class! Sensei Kelie was honoured and had lots of fun teaching and training through the week. Meanwhile, Kyoshi sought out the Japanese national kata coach, and Olympic champion Kyuna Ryu’s personal Sensei, Sakumoto Sensei for Shihan Anna to train with at his dojo! Sensei Anna completed five days of three hour seminars with Sakumoto Sensei’s students and learnt 6 new kata, all with unfamiliar basics and stances! It was a phenomenal training experience that will inform Sensei Anna as a kata coach.
We are very grateful for the learning experiences we have been provided by Kyoshi this year, and can’t wait for next year!