Looking for a serious club in Vancouver.

[bobby66]

Hi All,

I am looking for a serious Dojo in Vancouver, Canada. Prefer something associated to JKA (hoping that will set some standards). There seems to be a lot of family dojos but I have not yet found anything that is more hard core.

If anyone does anyone have any suggestions , I would highly appreciate it. I prefer shotokan but if I find a quality instructor from a different style why not. though I am not open to kyokushin, I would rather kickbox than do that.


Cheers,

[kensei]

take a shot and go to a Gima-Ha shotokan ryu club, I have been told they are super serious.

[Makoto]

Don Sharp??? Isn't he JKA in Vancover. His instructor is or used to be Sakurai.

[Robert S]

Don is in Chilliwack.

Try James Johnson at the Cameron Rec Centre, Burnaby
Bino Felix St Mary Rec Centre, Ash St
Rick Chernoff is available west vancouver www.vancouvershotokankarate.com
Andy Holmes in Port Coquitlams www.torakai.ca
There is Mike Scales Coquitlam Shotokan
Bob Lashin at Vancouver and Surrey YMCA's

There are lots of Shoto dojos there.

The above are all reputable.

[bobby66]

take a shot and go to a Gima-Ha shotokan ryu club, I have been told they are super serious.

The dojo in white rocks seems to be the best one, with a japanese instructor, finally. But it's 60kms from me. arg. a little too far.

But thanks for the suggestion.

[bobby66]

Don is in Chilliwack.

Try James Johnson at the Cameron Rec Centre, Burnaby
Bino Felix St Mary Rec Centre, Ash St
Rick Chernoff is available west vancouver http://www.vancouvershotokankarate.com
Andy Holmes in Port Coquitlams http://www.torakai.ca
There is Mike Scales Coquitlam Shotokan
Bob Lashin at Vancouver and Surrey YMCA's

There are lots of Shoto dojos there.

The above are all reputable.

Thank the last three are too far. but I can give the first three ones a shot.

Out of those , is one more serious than the other? I mean I am looking for very rigid training and hard grading and all that good stuff...

[bobby66]

Has anyone heard of Michael Dohorty in North Vancouver?. He is also officialy JKA associated.

Here is his website. It seems to be a family dojo, but Sakurai actually founded the dojo.

http://www.jkavan.com/

[Robert S]

If it is Shidokan then it is the Sakurai/Don Sharp lineage.

If I was to ask you what you want from your karate, i.e. kumite or kata, then perhaps I could direct you.

Tak Sameshima Sensei in Whiterock is of course a great all round karate dojo. James and Bino are from the same stable.
Andy and Mike are CKSA.

Rick and Robert Lashin and Co are JKA.

There are other non SHoto dojos in Vancouver that are good.

But if it Shoto you look for then try looking in on James Johnson, 4 x Candian Kumite Champion and well connected internationally.

Wherever you go I hope you enjoy.

[bobby66]

If it is Shidokan then it is the Sakurai/Don Sharp lineage.

If I was to ask you what you want from your karate, i.e. kumite or kata, then perhaps I could direct you.

Tak Sameshima Sensei in Whiterock is of course a great all round karate dojo. James and Bino are from the same stable.
Andy and Mike are CKSA.

Rick and Robert Lashin and Co are JKA.

There are other non SHoto dojos in Vancouver that are good.

But if it Shoto you look for then try looking in on James Johnson, 4 x Candian Kumite Champion and well connected internationally.

Wherever you go I hope you enjoy.

I prefer more kumite and practical schools. I also want rigid training and very hard grading criteria. I don't want to see people with poor form and high grades . I prefer the japanese , militrastic training regiment.

Somone recommended the japanse cultural center. I found out that they teach shito ryu there. I am a little biased towards japanese instructors as I preceive them to be hard core but might me a misconceptions.

Hopefully that will make it easier for you to narrow the selections.

Cheers.

[Robert S]

Akira Sato - SHitoryu - Ash St - Vancover - great teacher
Takeshi Uchiage - Goju Ryu (Steveston - Richmond)

both good instructors.

Check if Hiroo Yamashiro is still teaching in Vancouver - JKA - but he is old now and may not be as active.

In the case of Vancouver, as with many places, Japanese sensei does not equate to a better dojo. Some of the guyss I named are great karate-ka and good instructors.

Look around, visit a few.

Whiterock has special classes on a Saturday, so even if you went to one of the other clubs in their association, you still can train with Sameshima sensei as well.They are all good, just be open minded.

For kumite, I would have thought James' credentials speak for themselves.

[nathanso]

[
I prefer more kumite and practical schools. ... I am a little biased towards japanese instructors as I preceive them to be hard core but might me a misconceptions.

IME, these are frequently unrelated. First, if by kumite you mean tournament sparring, that is not "practical" from a SD point of view. Also, I have had JKA Japanese instructors who did a lot of free sparring in class, and some who essentially only had us do jiyu-ippon. To amplify what Robert said, some of the best instructors that I have had, both from the point of view of what they taught and how they taught, have been non-Japanese.

[bobby66]

Thanks all for the information.

The shito-ryu club by Sensei Sato really looks good. He is 8th dan, japanese (I know it shouldnt be a main criteria as others have said) and the main instructor.

My questions is now , what does everyone think of the style? I am not finding any concrete pros and cons on the internet. Has anyone sparred against Shito guys? What is the overall preception of the style from the prespective of shotokan students?

Other than that I am planning to visit James Johnson's dojo, though he is advertising his style as shoto-ryu. The website says it includes the original aspects of shotokan and I have no idea what that is, but he certainly has the credentials.

Sorry about all these questions, but there is so much stuff out there.

Cheers.

[paige78]

Sensei Tsukada ex-JKA and ex-ITKF has a small dojo in West Vancouver. He is great technically himself and a fantastic teacher. If you cannot find him, email me directly for more info.
I also have a small dojo in North Vancouver. Serious training for more advanced students (adults only), 3 times a week. Capilano Shotokan Karate.You are more than Welcome to drop by.
Regards
Paige (Pejman) Hedayati

[nathanso]

My questions is now , what does everyone think of the style? I am not finding any concrete pros and cons on the internet. Has anyone sparred against Shito guys? What is the overall preception of the style from the prespective of shotokan students?

I know several people who switched from shoto to shito becaue they preferred shito. Some have argued that shito is more "traditional" than shoto because the former has always taught bunkai with their kata.

I think that the quality of the instructor and emphasis of the club relative to your goals is much more important than the style.

[kensei]

The cross over is normally not to difficult. The Shito ryu guys in WInnipeg are "sub par" to say the least. Their leader was trying to get a Shodan from our organization and never did...then went back to Shito and ended up skipping ranks ext.....the kind of McDojo stuff that really ticks me off...oh, and he's a Ninja...Shhhh dont tell anyone!

Fact is that Shito and Shoto grew out of the same era, Shito is no more "Traditional" than Shotokan is and to be frank, lots of their "bunkai" is just as crappy as the stuff we laugh at in Shotokan Demos...but they take it way more serious.

never sparred with one not from here, so I can not comment in general, the fact is that the guys I sparred with and the videos of the guy from here all point to them not being good at fighting at all! However, the dojo is not very good.

As always, go and see what the other club is like before taking classes, Shotokan, Shito ryu, Goju, Kyokushi or any other style will have good instructors and bad ones and great clubs and horrible ones.